There was much to cheer weary public sector hearts in Ed Miliband’s speech yesterday, but sadly nothing on local government specifically. It’s important that council and school support workers are not left behind.
For those of us with a constant headache caused by the downward spiral in pay and conditions for UK workers and the impact of coalition austerity on our public services, Ed Miliband’s speech to Labour’s conference yesterday gave some very welcome respite. A desire to tackle low pay, big support for the NHS and nurses and conditions on government contractors to provide apprenticeships all lifted some of the gloom. But for those of us with a particular interest in local government and its workforce, there was a worrying silence.
To be fair, devolution from central government to localities and regions was also mentioned in Ed’s speech, but that was really it on the local government front. There was no mention of how the searing cuts to council budgets and services might be tackled or how they may affect other positive aspects of the Ed pledge.
So…. we really enjoyed hearing that under a Labour government all working people should share in the wealth within our economy – most of which they generate of course. We liked the news that Labour will use ‘historic values to transform the front line of the modern workforce’. We also applauded very loudly at the promise to employ 20,000 more nurses and the recognition that ‘a hospital is only as good as the services in the community’ – many of them provided by local government workers. And we also look forward to Andy Burnham’s trailed speech today on integrated care.
But what is to happen to councils who will have had at least 40% of their budgets cut by the end of this parliament? What of the Labour councils in the Thatcher-blighted North who have been singled out for even harsher treatment? How are we to deal with the deep wounds being inflicted on adult social care and children’s services throughout the land? Local Government Association funding predictions are very gloomy indeed. With ever-increasing spend on adult social care, there will be little left for anything else by 2020.
Even more importantly, what of those front line workers charged with caring for our elderly and vulnerable in day care or residential care homes? What about the nursery nurses and teaching assistants? Who will speak up for the social workers, the planners, the engineers, the highways lighting technicians, the refuse collectors and the street sweepers who all work hard each day to keep our communities together, caring and safe – the people who are key to that very special ‘togetherness’ that underpinned Ed’s speech.
At this moment in time, those very frontline workers are enjoying the fruits of five years of pay cuts – made up of a three-year pay freeze and two years of below-inflation pay offers. Things are so bad that the National Minimum Wage almost overtook the bottom rate of pay this year. Local government and school support workers are the only public sector group for whom the lowest rate of pay falls below the Living Wage. Add to this the dramatic cuts to unsocial hours payments, car allowances and annual leave that are being imposed by local councils and you have a picture of a workforce that has not been loved and cared for in the way our NHS workers have rightly been.
So far, Ed’s Labour has placed a high value on the role of local government and no doubt he envisages that it will play a key role in constitutional reform which gives power back to the people. But the spectre of emaciated councils and a demoralised and stressed-out workforce that we face does not provide an auspicious basis for what should be an exciting shift to local power and service delivery.
Towards the end of his speech Ed warmed our hearts when he said ‘every public service worker – we salute your dedication’. Such a contrast to the coalition’s barely-disguised contempt for those who keep our society ticking must be given a warm welcome. But it must mean ‘every’ public service worker. And that in turn requires a new deal for local government and school employees who epitomise the altruistic ‘Englishness’ that Ed wants to harness for a much-needed brave new world.
