2 August 2010
Almost a third of local government managers believe the prime minister’s Big Society initiative could cost individual councils more than £10m, according to a survey.
A poll of 300 council executives found that a clear majority (71%) were worried about the financial implications of devolving more money to town halls, which are already facing a funding squeeze.
When asked to estimate likely cost implications, 31% said they thought it would be more than £10m, 24% thought it would cost between £1m and £5m and 43% indicated it would be less than £1m per council.
Software company Lagan Technologies, which conducted the survey, said that if these cost estimates were projected on to a national level they could lead to an additional annual local government bill of around £1.7bn.
Just over half (54%) of those surveyed felt the Big Society idea had not been thought through properly, while 47% were concerned at the lack of detail on how the government would monitor the compliance of community organisations that take charge of public services.
Fewer than a third (31%) said the Big Society was a positive initiative that would bring about social benefits.
Des Speed, chief executive of Lagan Technologies, said: ‘These cost estimates are preliminary, but it’s clear that local government executives don’t see a straight line between devolved power, community involvement and cost reduction.
‘In fact, the vast majority see cost increases as councils and authorities pick up new responsibilities for compliance and support of local initiatives. What’s clear is that local government executives believe that they will need to work even harder and even smarter.’
