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
|
