Wednesday 26 January 2011

Cuts will hit the vulnerable - South Lanarkshire UNISON

The impact of the government's policies will be felt hardest by older people, disabled people, children at school who have additional support needs and poor families. This is the conclusion from an analysis of South Lanarkshire Council's budget cuts package.

Of the £27.7m of cuts that the council need to make following cuts in the budget as a result of the Tory-led government's public sector cuts, 20.6% of the proposals are directly targeted at these vulnerable groups.

The analysis of the proposals has been carried out by the UNISON in South Lanarkshire.

The union's South Lanarkshire branch secretary, Stephen Smellie, said:

"Of the proposals being considered by the council, £5.7m of them are either cuts in services, increased or new charges which directly impact on older people, disabled people, children with Additional Support Needs or poor families. If these are selected by the councillors this would represent 26.3% of the total cuts package.

"This is despite the council trying to protect the most vulnerable by firstly making savings in other areas.

"The government claim that we are all in this together is shown to be a lie. Whilst the poorest and most vulnerable in South Lanarkshire are paying for the crisis they had nothing to do with causing, the bankers are still to get their bonuses and MPs debate whether to give themselves a pay rise.

"Even at this late stage we are urging the council to look again at these proposals and try to protect the most vulnerable.

However it is government policy which needs to change."

The UNISON analysis has been sent to all South Lanarkshire councillors and council directors.

ends

Click here for 'South Lanarkshire cuts will hit the vulnerable - a budget analysis by UNISON - January 2011' (pdf)

For further information contact:
Stephen Smellie, South Lanarkshire UNISON Branch Secretary, 01698 454690 or 01698 454225
Trisha Hamilton, Communications Officer, UNISON Scotland, 0141 342 2877 or 07939 478 461

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