More Bad News

Manchester City Council have announced the closure of Manchester Advice (their in-house advice service), as part of their response to the 20% cut in their grant from central govt.

As usual, it is the vulnerable and the poorest who will suffer most. What price David Cameron’s pre-election pledge to protect exactly those people?

from manchester city council website ...

‘This includes the closure of Manchester Advice, in recognition of the availability of new city-wide legal advice provision, and a concentration of services on those deemed most in need.’

http://www.manchester.gov.uk/news/article/5875/council_publishes_proposed_budget_details

Which looks likely to go down the pan with the end of LSC funding from next April

Ye Gods, who are these people?

I think this is the worst cut yet.
Manchester Corporation, as it was then, appointed the first local authority welfare rights officer in the country in 1973. So, it can claim to be the birthplace of welfare rights.

Surely a short-sighted and plainly wrong decision to cut here. So much expertise and experience in that department that will be laid waste just when it is going to be needed so badly. Very bad and sad news.

As one of those directly affected by this madness I believe it is a sad day for people of Manchester.
The legally funded alternatives do not provide for representation at tribunals.

Given the increasing numbers of IB/ESA appeals we are seeing, there is a real and genuine fear that peoples rights are again being eroded.

Where else in Manchester provides such a professional service which is even recognised by the Tribunals Service as essential for clients to access.

It really is shocking that at a time when there is more need for welfare rights advice than ever before these services face the axe.

My own view is that access to impartial and accurate advice ought to be funded by a precept on council tax, in the same way as the police and fire services are financed. There are very few advice services which are not compromised in some way by the way in which they are currently funded. A precept would not be a magic wand - there would still be funding issues, but I think it would be better than the current LSC/LA model and could demonstrate an increased level of independence. I feel very sorry for the clients and staff in these services that are facing closure around the country. It’s a very slippery slope indeed.

Very good and thoughtful article on the situation in Manchester on Manchester Mule blog

MULE understands that the remaining Council-provided services will be stripped to a bare minimum, with three members of staff currently employed by Customers Services department to take over an ‘internet signposting’ service. In effect they will be able only to direct clients to computers so they can find services themselves via the internet and according to sources inside the Council this will replace the entirety of Manchester Advice. Yet the survival of these ancillary services is likely to be overshadowed by the almost complete removal of all other services.

A Council advice worker who wished to remain unnamed spoke of his colleagues’ reaction to the dismantling of the service: “It seemed like senior management didn’t appear to understand the implications of all the cuts to these services when they are joined up, and what they will mean for those people who rely on them”.