An overwhelming majority of council workers believe services will suffer in the wake of the Comprehensive Spending Review, according to a survey by local government directory the Municipal Yearbook.
A snap-shot poll carried out immediately after the Chancellor’s statement garnered the views of more than 800 mid to senior-level officers working for authorities across the country.
Over 90% of those polled thought it inevitable that services would suffer following a tough CSR, which set out sharp cuts for local government sector.
More than two thirds feared for their jobs, although just less than a third felt that industrial action was the right way to protest at the cuts.
While many respondents acknowledged that further efficiencies could be made in the local government sector, many were concerned about the speed at which the cuts were being imposed on councils.
There was widespread scepticism that local businesses would be able to provide adequate job opportunities for those who have to leave local government. Nearly 95% felt the private sector would be unable to provide these jobs and many respondents thought local companies would struggle without the vital role councils play in revitalising their local economies.
One respondent commented: ‘The proposition that new jobs in the private sector will compensate for the loss of public sector jobs is pie in the sky. Large swathes of the private sector depend heavily on public sector orders that will not be forthcoming.’
The long-term view was a little more optimistic, however. A little over half of officers felt the measures in the comprehensive spending review would benefit local government in the long term by encouraging innovation.
’CSR presents an opportunity for Local Government to make a step change for the better in service delivery,’ one officer said ‘Not through economies of scale, centralising and sharing services where possible, but through driving economies of flow. Services should be set up and operated for the benefit of its customers rather than for internal convenience, audit requirement or an out-moded and outdated 60's / 70's command and control ethos.’
Council staff were still unconvinced over Government pledges to free red tape at the local level to foster a better relationship with central government, with 70% feeling that bureaucracy would not lessen as a result of the review.
’There is clearly a very high level of concern for jobs in the public sector at the moment with even top management being concerned for the future of their own roles,’ said MYB managing editor, Dean Wanless. ‘The anger felt in lower levels of local authority employment, however, may not be shared by managers with only a third in favour of industrial action.
’That said, it seems that the appetite for innovation is strong, with the vast majority of respondents confident that there will be improvements in the sector, although it is fair to suggest that these might have come in spite of the CSR rather than because of it with the relationship with central government still being poor.
’Perhaps the biggest concern is the lack of confidence in the private sector to provide jobs for those that are forced to leave the private sector. It remains to be seen if the coalition will do enough to provide stimulus for the private sector to thrive again.’
