local government cuts

England’s nursery schools driven towards extinction, says survey

, ,

This is very serious stuff and something we should be very worried about, particularly in rural settings where choices are very limited and the relationship between nurseries and work is very strong. 

England’s remaining state nursery schools are being driven towards extinction by budget pressures and uncertainty over future government funding, according to a survey of the sector’s financial position.

A third of the maintained nursery schools – which offer pre-school provision through local authorities – said they were having to cut staff and services, including reducing opening hours, because of falling income and higher costs since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Maintained nursery schools during the pandemic were a lifeline for local families. They stayed open for the most vulnerable children and children of critical workers, often taking in children from other settings that closed,” said Beatrice Merrick, the chief executive of Early Education, which represents the sector.

“Instead of this lifeline being supported, it is being put at risk by government failure to address their routine funding needs.”

The survey, by Early Education and the sector’s leading unions, including Unison and the National Education Union, found nursery schools were losing an average of £76,000 in annual income and having to spend an extra £8,000 in costs directly related to Covid-19.

Almost half of the 200 maintained nurseries across 75 local authorities said they would be running deficits for the financial year, and only one in four said they could continue to operate with current funding. One in five reported they had emergency financial recovery plans in place or under discussion.

Council funding freeze ‘means cuts to many essential services’

I know Gary Porter and I am impressed with what must be a difficult political challenge for him in making the case for better resourcing of those issues where local government has been left “holding the baby” This report tells us:

A senior Conservative peer has warned that councils will need to slash a range of essential services after ministers released a funding settlement for councils that offered no additional money during 2017/18.

Gary Porter, who chairs the Local Government Association, said authorities would have to cut back on filling potholes, collecting waste, maintaining parks and running children’s centres and libraries in order to plug growing funding gaps.

He expressed “huge disappointment” about the decision not to increase funding, warning that while councils would impose tax rises, the money would not be enough to prevent services, including social care, from being hit.

“Councils, the NHS, charities and care providers remain united around the desperate need for new government funding for social care,” said Lord Porter. “By continuing to ignore these warnings, social care remains in crisis and councils and the NHS continue to be pushed to the financial brink.”

The head of the body representing hundreds of councils across England and Wales was responding to the Local Government Finance Settlement, published late on Monday without any notification to the media.

He said that council tax rises were inevitable because of funding constraints but said that wasn’t enough because the extra revenue was being swallowed up to pay for the government’s “national living wage”.

“Social care faces a funding gap of at least £2.6bn by 2020,” he said. “It cannot be left to council taxpayers alone to try and fix this.”

Porter urged ministers not to ignore the issue, which caused anger when it was not addressed during the autumn statement. He said he hoped next month’s budget would take “urgent steps” to help the situation.

Kiss and you have to tell, says Ipswich Borough Council

,

No office parties in the East of England then, or anywhere in Local Government if this trend catches on…..

A furtive kiss at the staff Christmas party may have to be reported to a line manager, according to new council rules.

This is part of a broader rule that says line managers should be informed about “close personal relationships” among staff, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Similar rules have been adopted by other employers but Ipswich appears to have gone further by including fleeting affairs.

Julie Temple, an employment lawyer with the firm Quantrills, said the code of conduct could ultimately be found to be against the law.