Cuts will hit pensioners and the disabled, council boss admits

Jun 17 2010 by Paul Dale, Birmingham Mail

BIRMINGHAM’S social services chief has admitted emergency council budget cuts imposed on voluntary groups and charities could result in reduced services for elderly and disabled people.

Sue Anderson, the cabinet member for adults and communities, has decided to cut funding for 96 organisations across the city by 15 per cent.

Many of the bodies who will lose money, including churches, work with the council to provide vital day care for older people.

In the past, the council’s controlling Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition insisted cost-cutting would not harm front-line services.

The city’s adults social services department has to find an additional £27 million this year to meet the cost of looking after an ageing population and a sharp jump in the number of people with learning disabilities.

Most of the additional money will come from a cuts programme which includes reducing grants to voluntary organisations by £500,000.

Voluntary organisations have been told one-year contracts with the council will be extended for six months from October, but the amount of money they are paid will be cut by 15 per cent.

Coun Anderson (Lib Dem Sheldon) admitted: “This will require some sensitive negotiations with the organisations around possible reductions in service delivery.

“I am being honest with the organisations, but we all have to make savings.”

She urged voluntary groups to adopt a “sense of realism” and join forces with each other to cut costs.

Opposition Labour councillors hit out at the decision and gave examples of two organisations where the cuts would hit home – St Luke’s in Lee Bank and St Martin’s in Kingstanding, where a range of day care facilities are provided as well as a drop-in breakfast club.

Coun Anita Ward (Lab Hodge Hill) said: “The most vulnerable people in our city will be hit by these cutbacks at a time when care facilities for older people are also being reduced by the NHS.”

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