22 March 2011
Third sector bosses have called on Chancellor George Osborne to force councils to consider the effect of their cuts on voluntary organisations.
The move follows Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles’ warning that the government could use statutory powers against councils that made ‘disproportionate’ cuts to voluntary sector budgets. The Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations is asking Osborne to use tomorrow’s Budget to introduce such ‘statutory force’.
Earlier this month, Pickles suggested local authorities could be made to give voluntary sector organisations three months' notice of cuts; forced to allow voluntary organisations to propose alternative ways of providing services; and barred from cutting voluntary sector funding more than their own budget.
Acevo head of policy Ralph Michell said the government could enforce any of these policies in three ways: through statutory guidance; by amending the Localism Bill; or by amending the Public Services (Social Enterprise and Social Value) private member’s bill to force local authorities to consider the social and economic wellbeing effect when decommissioning services, as well as when commissioning services.
In a letter sent to the Treasury yesterday, Acevo also asked the chancellor to remove structural barriers to voluntary bodies playing a bigger role in public services, such as VAT and pensions, and called on him to pump extra money into deprived communities that are being hit hardest by cuts.
Acevo chief executive Sir Stephen Bubb said the Treasury must use the Budget to ‘put its weight’ behind the prime minister’s claims that the Big Society and ‘social recovery’ are central to this government’s aims.
Pressure is mounting on the Treasury from elsewhere in the third sector, as representatives lobby the chancellor in advance of the Budget.
More than 300 voluntary sector workers have given Osborne a personal account of how government spending cuts are hitting the service they can provide.
Organised by the Unite union, the staff, from national charities and local, independently run organisations, have urged the chancellor to use the Budget to temper the effects of some of the cuts already announced.
Unite is calling for an extra 1p to be added to income tax for people earning over £100,000 to plug what it estimates to be a £4.5bn gap in funding for the voluntary sector.
Meanwhile, scout groups across the country have said they are being hit by local authority cuts.
A survey of groups by the Scout Association found that 30% of scout troops across the UK face rent rises.
Some groups could face huge increases. Banstead District Scout Group, for example, has paid Reigate & Banstead Borough Council rent of £135 a year for their scout hut for the past 30 years. It has now been told that it will have to pay the market rent of £10,500 a year.
A spokeswoman for the council said that, although the scout troop had been sent a letter outlining the market rent for their property, no decision had been taken on what level of rent the council would levy.
Other troops around the country say they have been hit with demands for huge rent increases as councils move from charging peppercorn rents to something approaching market levels.
Chief Scout Bear Grylls said: ’These crippling rises jeopardise the future of scouting and the enormous amount of voluntary work we provide to communities week-in, week-out.’
