I was sent this by a friend who lives in Cardiff and yet again I find myself asking where are the press and opposition when you need them and also how many of people who voted so comprehensively for Labour last May would do so again knowing about this.
Cardiff Council is faced with a ‘Budgetary Armageddon’ with proposals out for consultation to make savings from next year’s budget by over £22 million.
The effect of what they are proposing is going to be felt by those most ill prepared to take the hit and in a significant way it will hit the aspirations of the Labour administration to tackle poverty and worklessness, and increase job prospects for those most in need. Cutting right across the manifesto promises that saw them back in power.
While lots of publicity is centred on the closure of some stables in the Capital. The closure of a lifeline out of poverty by some of Cardiff’s poorest communities is being total passed over.
One of the single biggest proposals is to reduce the Learning, Training and Enterprise (LTE) Service budget by £500,000. That’s a 50% reduction. No, that’s not a reduction that’s an assassination.
To achieve that it means shutting down the St Mellons and Jasmine Centres (Caerau & Ely) Enterprise Centre, plus cutting the three remaining centres (City Road, Grangetown & Butetown) from five days per week to four.
The current Labour Administration came into power last May with a stunning victory, ousting the former Liberal Democrat/Plaid Cymru coalition and taking outright control of the capital city. One of Labour’s stated aims is to make Cardiff a NEET free city. Is this a way to do that? Who is the architect of this stupid move?
The LTE Service has opened the way for 3,000 Cardiff residents a year to move into training and employment. This includes NEETs, newly made redundant, women and harder to reach people. The LTE specialist staff at the five Enterprise Centres intervene and support and mentor people and make them employable.
What’s the cost? An unbelievable £260 per job or training place - How much is being paid thorough the Welfare to Work programme to achieve this?
Currently savings to tax payers every year is almost £19 million (conservative estimate) as the LTE clients move from means-tested benefits to gainful employment. It is estimated the average wage of job seekers placed into the labour market in Cardiff by LTE is £268 per week. A conservative estimate of the total wage (excluding overtime payments) per annum for 3,000 former LTE clients is £42 million per annum in household income for the Cardiff economy. This represents a net increase of approximately £23 million per annum over and above the means tested benefit total of £19 million referred to above.
The 3,000 become contributors to the UK Exchequer in terms of their own tax and National Insurance contributions. ‘While anyone has to sympathise with the very difficult decisions faced by Cardiff’s Elected Politicians and the Senior Management Team –this cut is one too far.’
‘Over 40,000 households are living in income poverty. Income poverty is at its worse in the areas where the closures are being targeted at. These areas are where life expectancy in Cardiff is 11 years less than the more affluent parts.’
Health and well-being, educational achievement and employment prospects are significantly worse for those who live for any length of time in income poverty. The longer young people live in households and communities suffering income poverty, the less likely they are to achieve their potential as and more likely to become trapped in a multi-generational underclass.
The Council’s draft proposal of swingeing cuts for the LTE service will make living so much worse long term for the communities of Ely and St Mellons.
The ramifications of the proposals clearly have not been thought through the impact they will have on people’s lives; on wider social and economic impact or on the reputation of Councillors and the labour party in the Capital
The public sector has to provide more from less in the coming years and this proposal shows a total lack of vision and leadership, ignoring as it does the use of intelligence to make better informed decisions, Cardiff Council needs to rethink this..
The facts and figures
St Mellons and Jasmine Enterprise Centres are located in two of Cardiff’s traditionally most deprived community areas.
The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE); ONS 2012 reveals that the 30th percentile of weekly wages for full-time employees = £268.30, the overall mean weekly wages excluding overtime and other additional payments in Cardiff for full-time employees = £465.10
2011 Household Income poverty is defined by those households whose annual income is less than 60% of UK median income levels.
Figures produced by the CACI Data Consultancy highlight that 46.4% of households in Ely and 40.3% of households in Caerau live in income poverty, compared with a Cardiff Average of 28.6% and UK Average 27.2%
Please see the table below.
| Cardiff LEA Key Stage Attainment Levels | |||
| 3 of Neighbourhood Management Areas | Key Stage 2 (Aged 11) | Key Stage 3 (Aged 14) | Key Stage 4 (Aged 16) |
| South-West Cardiff | 74.8% | 60.9% | 38.1% |
| | 74.6% | 57.6% | 31.7% |
| | 86.8% | 79.8% | 64.2 |
No comments:
Post a Comment