The British Conservative government halved the amount of money that it gave to local councils between the years 2010 and 2018. This has already led some councils to go bankrupt while many others have been forced to sell off assets and cut services in order to plug their deficits. After more than a decade of this austerity, however, the system is finally buckling at the seams.
According to research done by the County Councils Network, one in ten well run local authorities, which have cut services over the previous decade in order to balance the books, face operating at a loss this year.
This comes at a time when people throughout the UK have seen local services such as libraries and swimming pools shut down in order to save cash.
Some services can’t legally be cut however. Councils are obliged by law to offer services such as children’s protection services and social care provisions. Inflation in the cost of providing these services is helping to drive councils into debt – though of course the primary culprit is the slashed funding from the central government.
Early intervention child protection services have seen their funding slashed by 45 percent over the previous 12 years. This means that many vulnerable children are left in danger until their situation escalates, rather than councils stepping in to take preventative measures when they first see that a child is at risk. These delays can have a lasting impact on children’s well-being.
“We know that failure to provide the right support at the right time has a lifetime cost for children. Nearly half of those in care have a mental health disorder and four in 10 young people leaving care are not in education, employment or training by the time they reach 19,” said Lynn Perry, CEO of children’s charity Barnardo’s.
“Failing to invest in local hubs and youth work which help families early means children miss out on the support they need and challenges can escalate – especially with the added pressure of the cost-of-living crisis.”
Based on a review of 90 research papers, researchers funded by the Nuffield Foundation found that poverty increases the rate of child abuse and neglect, meaning that the government imposed cost of living crisis is harming children and increasing the demand for children’s social care services.
Through inflicting avoidable poverty on the population, the government is increasing the likelihood of child abuse and neglect, while at the same time leaving the services that deal with it underfunded.
“A growing number of children are reaching a stage where they need to live with foster families and especially in residential care – including a growing number of teenagers with complex needs,” Barnardo’s CEO, Lynn Perry added.
The destruction of the UK’s public services is part of the neoliberal ideological agenda, which seeks to remove public services provided by the state, and turn every area of life into a marketplace for private business. This only benefits those with the capital to own businesses and profit from the increased marketization. Meanwhile, the quality of life for those who don’t manage to secure a rare good wage is drastically reduced.
While imposing the cost of living crisis on the UK population, the government has chosen to keep transferring wealth up to the capitalist class. As recently as September, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was talking about reducing inheritance tax, which is only paid by the top four percent of the population.
It’s clear to everyone that the state is being run for the benefit of the owning class. The only way for us to fight back is for us to organize with the rest of our class, and educate ourselves politically. Join a union. Join campaigns against government cuts. Start a reading group to learn about political theory with your friends, colleagues, or loved ones.
You could start with our Marxism 101 articles or with a reading of The Communist Manifesto.
Just do something to get involved with the struggle for working class liberation. Unless we fight back, we’re only going to get exploitive more
