Save Your Excuses

An uncomfortable truth has bubbled its way to the top of my consciousness over the last few months.

As the cuts in public spending start to bite and many local authorities slash costs and services, my logical left brain calmly assures me that this is necessary evil. Fortunately my right brain has gone mental, throwing a dozen or more factors into the equation.

There are plenty of people who have already accepted the 'we must cut' agenda. Most people if challenged would not be able to refute these cuts. UK plc has to cut its cloth. No jam tomorrow as it were.

The trouble is, it's doesn't need to be this way. A green paper, a white paper and some good old fashioned primary legislation by the government can close some gaping corporate tax avoidance loopholes.

Admittedly there is a disagreement about the level of tax avoidance that takes place:

UK Uncut cites a TUC estimate that UK tax avoidance costs £25bn a year.

By contrast, official statistics published by Revenue & Customs estimate that avoidance costs about £7.4bn a year, of which £2.9bn is due to avoidance by big companies.

Either way, these are substantial sums of money. Money that could go some way to offsetting the worst of the cuts to essential services.

The time for excuses has come to an end. This situation cannot persist.

Q and A

1) So will the Government legislate?

Probably not.

2) Will tax avoidance carry on unchecked if nothing is done?

Absolutely.

2) Shall I go to a UKuncut protest at NatWest in Nottingham on Saturday?

Yes I probably should.

Reinstate the Ringfence.

FAO: the Department of Communities and Local Government. (Grant Shapps)

I read a response yesterday to an article about Supporting People cuts that said the voluntary sector was corrupted.

The general thrust of the argument; that Government funding of charities was wrong. State funding took away the right of the masses to decide alone which charities prospered or which went under.

Natural selection in the voluntary sector. Get donations from the public or disappear and fold. It is quite a seductive argument.

That is, until you consider the reason why we do not have Capital punishment in Britain. We don't have it because the general public have never been given the opportunity to vote for it. If they were, we'd have state sponsored executions.

Sometimes, doing what is popular is entirely separate to doing what is right. A good political administration would recognise this.

Some of the clients the voluntary sector work with are 'unpopular'. Most people have very little understanding of drug users, offenders and anti social behaviour. Most people wouldn't want their taxes going anywhere near 'these kinds of people'.

This is why the Supporting People ring fence needs to be reinstated. Allow the voluntary sector to keep the lid on the worst excesses and carry on repairing the fabric of our society.

Do the right thing and take your medicine Grant Shapps and we'll do our best to try to cure some of our city and county ills.

Access Denied

I met recently with an official from Newark and Sherwood District Council who told me that applications for mortgage rescue had more than doubled in the month of January 2011.

Several of my workers are reporting a perceived upsurge in the numbers of clients experiencing mortgage difficulties.

So the signs are out there. More people are at risk of losing their home. This is a worrying development. Especially in light of the imminent closure of the Newark County Court in September.

At the moment, individuals can turn up to court on the day their property is due to get repossessed and get help (and representation in court) from our Court Desk Specialists.

At the very least we would secure an adjournment to stop the repossession.

This gives more time for our Floating Support Services to go in and sort the underlying social problems and for CAB to deal with the complex debt issues.

We've saved many peoples homes from repossession this way.

Now though, the Newark Court is closing with all its business being transferred to Nottingham.

Of course we are going to try to carry on delivering this service but The floating support services which underpin the court desk are being cut by 60%. Our partners in the CAB also have an uncertain future.

However you divide this shrinking cake, the most disadvantaged are going to end up with crumbs. In other words..

Reduced access to justice
Reduced access to support
Reduced access to advice

Communities with nothing

A quick scout through this weeks Chad newspaper will tell you a sorry story.

Frontline services in our poorest communities are likely to close. Ashfield CAB, where I started my career many years ago, will struggle to offer the range of services that are now seen as essential in the disadvantaged communities they serve.

At a time when advice and guidance is sorely needed, services are drastically being cut.

Similarly with the charity I work for, homelessness prevention services are being cut by 70%. I'm not sure what the impact is going to be but I can take a fairly educated guess:

There will be more repossessions (we currently prevent hundreds every year)

.. more homeless presentations (and more cost as a result for district and borough councils)

Eventually, this entirely foreseeable disaster will be chalked up as a learning point for politicians. I'd be quite happy to produce a small leaflet: 'What NOT to do in a Recession' ..

I think that cutting adrift disadvantaged disenfranchised communities is a lazy and reckless way to save a relative pittance... and potentially lose a generation.

County and City counsellors .. Are you listening??