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??
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