Speaking in the local government debate at the Labour conference in Brighton this morning, UNISON member Merv Butler quoted figures from the Office of National Statistics that show that in the UK 407,000 local government jobs have gone since the election of the new government in 2010.
“That is the equivalent of over 350 jobs disappearing every day.”
As well as job losses the cuts meant that day centres, libraries, swimming pools, youth centres, police and fire stations are closing across the country, “grants to the voluntary sector are being cut, eligibility for social care ended, respite care removed, service after service either shut or hollowed out,” Mr Butler reported.
He moved on to talk about “the reality of care” quoting UNISON’s report on homecare workers, ‘time to care’, which highlighted “how homecare workers are personally propping up a deteriorating system of adult social care.”
He called for “a Labour government that understands the scale of the problem, and backs it up with the resources carers need, and older people deserve.”
