By Lucy Phillips
9 September 2010
Over half of the public are willing to pay for some council services to protect budgets for other ones, a recent poll shows.
Some 56% of people think it is fair for councils to charge for services to safeguard others, according to the poll of more than 2,000 members of the public. Only 14% believe charging is always wrong and councils should raise council tax to cover any shortfall.
The findings, published yesterday by accountants BDO, chimed with the views of 163 local authority chief executives and finance directors who were also interviewed in the survey. Almost three-quarters (72%) expect income from charging for services to increase over the next three years. The most likely area council officials expected a rise in charges is transport (68%), followed by adult education (67%) and day care services (57%).
But the surveys show public support for charging is conditional. Over half (53%) of citizens were opposed to charging for waste collection, which they considered to be a core service, yet a similar proportion (58%) would accept higher charges for adult evening classes. Similarly, almost two-thirds (63%) of council officers worried that public opposition would be a barrier to new or increased charges.
Andy Mahon, a partner at BDO, said the key to winning support for new or increased charges would be to show how other services would be a protected as a result. ‘Unless councils achieve this, they face a potential backlash,’ he warned.
Anna Turley, acting director of the New Local Government Network, said the research showed there was ‘scope for local authorities to find a balance which local residents will accept – greater use of charging and trading in some areas but maintaining high standards of service at the front line’.
