Libraries are shutting, waste collections are reducing, and social services are shrinking. More and more essential services that we all rely on every day are crumbling away.
Local authorities keep our communities together and protect the most vulnerable, providing a range of services that make a real difference to us all, whatever stage of our lives. Yet as more news stories tell of councils experiencing major financial difficulty, the local services that you work so hard to deliver continue to face devastating funding cuts.
Staff working in local councils are finding their budgets slashed to the bone – and after 13 years of constant cuts, there’s not much left. We face the very real risk of the number of councils declaring effective bankruptcy growing rapidly this year.
Watch the video to find out what is happening to our communities:
Local services must be resilient and properly funded, yet even our most basic services are facing drastic cuts because of an unacceptable lack of funding from the government in Westminster.
The recent news of an additional £500 million for social care and £100 million in grants is frankly not even a short term fix – councils need proper and sustained funding, not panicked quick fixes to keep the wolf from the door in an election year.
What can we do?
Our research has uncovered that there is a funding gap of just over £3.5 billion for 2024/25 and predicts a cumulative shortfall of £7 billion by 2025/26 in local government. Use our map to see the shortfall in your council.
Local services will turn to dust without emergency government funding now. That’s why we are calling on Westminster to #SaveOurServices and provide more sustained funding for local councils. And you can help – click to use out tool to send an email to your MP* now, it takes 1 minute.
* If you’re in Scotland you can also email your MSP, and in Wales your MS, using our tool as the devolved governments control how much money councils get there.
Other ways to get involved
If you’re a UNISON activist, you can download campaign graphics and videos here. We have also launched a comprehensive campaign toolkit that you can download here, as well as a quick guide to help you get started that you can download here.
If you’re a UNISON branch secretary, we’ve created a template email you can send to your colleagues to encourage them to use our interactive map and lobby their MP: