Coventry locals rally together to protest the budget cuts
Written by Harrison Pearce
Sourced by BBC
Coventry City Council are considering £8.4 million in budget cuts to public services for the 2024-2025 financial year to help balance their books. The cuts are a part of the council’s effort to plug a £20 million gap in the finances. The latest budget update approved by the council was in February. It was agreed that there would be a 4.99% rise in council tax, a reduction in overnight street lighting, and a £40-a-year charge for garden waste collection.
A 4.99% rise in council tax will mean that the pressure the council faces to help public services has increased to the point of having four libraries closed and potentially having to shut some other services down in Coventry, but it hasn’t been revealed yet. Jane Nellist, President of Coventry Trades Union Council stated, “Compared to 2010, the net budget of Coventry City Council is £100m less every year from the Government. We have seen many services that our communities relied on ended or severely cut.” However, in recent years, the collective result of these severe cuts in funding and rising demand for services such as social care and homelessness has brought this to a head, leaving people in desperate need.
The city receives one of the lowest funding per head of the population in the country (Coventry £821, England average £910) as well as one of the lowest in the West Midland. As a result of this, the council, like all public sector services, has been hit with inflationary pressures. The cost of fuel, electricity, gas, and other essential things we need to deliver, is more than 600 services across the Council has risen unprecedentedly over the last 12 months.
Sourced by Coventry City Council
Coventry City Council is making so many cuts because they need to set a balanced budget where doing nothing is not an option. No action now would mean that they would be forced to issue a Section 114 notice in a couple of years meaning that Coventry go bankrupt.
A Section 114 notice restricts all new spending apart from protecting vulnerable people, statutory services, and pre-existing commitments. A 114 notice would also mean that commissioners would be brought in to run the Council, making decisions to cut services and reduce jobs without consultation. You don’t have to worry because Coventry Council are not bankrupt, they are just trying to highlight how funding needs to be reformed as it is no longer fit for purpose.
Coventry locals were furious with the council’s decision and decided to protest what would happen next year. They decided to fight back against these claims the Coventry City Council has made because of how their actions can have a lasting effect on people’s lives. Jane Nellist stated, “We aim to build an anti-cuts campaign in the city and to support those organisations and trade unions in the city who are fighting against the cuts.” Coventry TUC opposes the cuts to jobs and services and the rises in fees, which Coventry’s Labour Council will be put forward on Tuesday, 20th February.
Sourced by Coventry Council Website
The Council now spends 79 percent of its net budget on social care and housing (£206m) and homelessness, up from 40 percent in 2010. This means £54m is available from its net budget for other Council services. If Coventry Council decides to act and close some of these services, then it will have a massive impact on people’s lives. They might rely on these services to help them with their everyday life, make them feel safe, or provide them with warmth and comfort. If Coventry City Council must make cuts on adult social care services and home-to-school transport, then that will leave hundreds of people without the chance to develop into the best version of themselves. The parents of these people who might need extra support will lose the help they might need to ease the pressure off them slightly as they might have other problems to deal with at the same time.
Sourced by Coventry Rape and Sexual Assault Centre
Coventry Rape and Sexual Assault Centre is the only specialist service that provides adults and children who have been impacted directly or indirectly by sexual violence at any time in their lives. As a service, they aim to provide support through specialist advocacy, counseling and psychotherapy, and training to address trauma and potential injustice of sexual abuse.
Funding in this sector is tighter than ever, and there is more demand for charity funds. Chief Executive Officer at Coventry Rape & Sexual Abuse Centre Natalie Thompson stated, “Our charity lost 15% of revenue where the figure is around the £195,000 mark from the council. This has resulted in the loss of six charity staff members.” They have another £80,00 to save from next year’s budget. As most of their budget is spent on people, they try to keep their overheads to an absolute minimum.
The demand is constantly going up, and the money is getting less to a point where it has become a very difficult place to be. As a charity, they used to have the capacity to support 300 people in counseling, but they don’t have enough staff after having to let six go. “We have tried to hone in on trying to prioritize giving people as much service as possible, which has left the infrastructure of the charity quite vulnerable.” They had to close their waiting list on the 1st of February 2024 because 600 people were waiting for counseling and recently reopened on the 29th of November 2024.
Coventry Council is aiming to balance its books for the upcoming financial year, where doing nothing will be a bigger risk in the long term, so potentially losing these services will have a massive impact on the community because a lot of people will rely on all the different experts depending on their needs. Unfortunately, it is something services and charities are already used to dealing with, so it’s about trying to overcome their problems in the best way possible along with the people involved.
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