Member News
31st May 2011
Rachael Maskell, national officer for trade union Unite, describes the Big Society as "a smokescreen for cuts in jobs and services."
When David Cameron first dreamt up the Big Society, Unite was very sceptical how the professional operations carried out by charities could be replicated by armies of yet-to-be mobilised volunteers.
The prime minister keeps relaunching his Big Society project on the false prospectus that the public don't understand what he is talking about. However, the public understands only too well what it all means – a smokescreen for cuts in jobs and services in the public and not for profit sectors.
For example, youth services across the UK have been slashed - on average by 30 per cent. This service was available to young people of all backgrounds throughout the year. Instead the prime minister wants to put money into summer camps for a one-off experience.
All the evidence shows that to bring real enhancement to lives you need to build sustainable relationships. This new one-off idea is just a 'boot camp' gimmick - a waste of time with no evidence to demonstrate that it will tangibly benefit young lives.
Because of the massive size of the £4.5bn voluntary income shortfall, caused by the coalition's own policies, civil society is at risk. Local authority budget cuts have hit the amount of money they can earmark for charities particularly viciously.
There will be increased demand on charities due to the rise in unemployment, especially those in the 16-24 age bracket; and those with housing problems and debt issues.
Cameron eventually recognised money would be needed to implement the Big Society - Liverpool had to withdraw from the Big Society as the pace of cuts in the city, one of the most deprived communities in the country, accelerated.
The budget in March was Cameron's chance to save the Big Society by injecting the large amounts of cash needed for it to function properly with the right mix of paid, skilled professionals and volunteers in a structured manner – not the vague mirage continually conjured up by Cameron.
There are dribs-and-drabs of money being made available by ministers, but a drop in the ocean against the scale of the need.
What David Cameron needs to do is, instead of repeated and increasingly irrelevant relaunches of his pet idea, is to sit down with the leaders of the not-for profit sector, including the trade unions, have a serious discussion about the funding crisis; the loss of tens of thousands of voluntary sector jobs and future demands on charities.
Unite has 60,000 members in the not for profit sector.
Article Comments
The more David Cameron relaunches and refounds his Big Society the more of an albatross around his neck it becomes.
David Brede
31st May 2011 at 2:02 pm
Rachael Maskell is right! I wrote a letter to Cameron about how the administration costs of keeping someone on the dole could be used in a different way to employ people, briefly, it costs between 18-20K pounds per year to keep 1 person on the dole, why not pay people 10-14k pounds per year to deliver services in Elderly care, schools and public services.
A bit like the New Deal in the 1930's in the US. (though a lot of the policies were flawed) I'm not talking about highly skilled work, there are many jobs within these industries that offer support to highly skilled professional, for example, I deliver singing and music sessions to schools and in elderly care homes on a freelance basis, I am not on the dole, but my work has disappeared since April 2011. At the moment I am living on 52.00 pounds per week! working Tax Credit,
I'd like to have a basic income of 12-14k pounds so that I can add to that as a self employed person.
Anyway,here is my song to support the TUC/Unison and other protest groups about The Coalition Cuts to public services and the Big Society.
Sunnie
31st May 2011 at 12:43 pm
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