Standing Up for Public Sector Pay

Liberal Democrats MPs have supported plans to end the public sector pay cap in amendments on the Queens Speech being considered by Parliament. This follows a clear Manifesto Commitment to end the 1% pay cap by the Party.

After the Conservatives were elected as a majority government in 2015, then chancellor George Osborne said that he would continue with the 1% limit until 2020 as part of the government’s deficit reduction plan. Representatives of civil service employees have said that there was now “an emerging consensus that the 1% pay cap is damaging the capacity of our public services to respond to the challenges facing the UK – public services have seen their living standards cut by 15% or more since 2010 with further cuts still to come under current government plans”

Around a quarter of people in Bury work in the public sector (stats from 2011). Figures were announced this week that more midwives and nurses are leaving the profession in the UK than joining for the first time on record, with the number departing having risen by 51% in just four years. The figures, which will add to concerns about NHS staff shortages, show that 20% more people left the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register than joined it in 2016/17.

Vince Cable MP, who is hoping to be the Party’s next Leader said that “public sector workers faced a double blow under the Conservative government, with years of “pitiful” increases to pay combined with higher inflation”.

“Our NHS and schools are already struggling to recruit the staff they need. A better future is available. We will stand up for our schools and hospitals and give hard-working nurses, teachers and police the pay rise they deserve.”

 

Reporting Back: 10 Libraries to Close

Bury Council’s Cabinet met last week to consider the future of Bury’s 14 Libraries. The meeting was the end of a nearly year-long process to review the library provision across Bury.

The outcome is that TEN libraries will close. Ainsworth, Brandlesholme, Castle Leisure, Coronation Road, Dumers Lane, Moorside, Topping Fold, Tottington, Unsworth and Whitefield.

FOUR Libraries will stay open: Bury central library, Ramsbottom, Radcliffe and Prestwich. Radcliffe had been threatened with possible closure, but the conclusion of the review is that this should stay open.

Opposition Leaders are no longer allowed to vote on the Cabinet (we had our votes taken off us in May), but if we had been able to vote we would have voted against as we have at previous stages in the process.

We would be the first to agree that libraries are not for everyone. Changes in society have meant that the function libraries provided 40 years ago can be met in other ways for many people. But, for some other people, those needs are still there. Crucially libraries are also community spaces and we have precious few of these left. Age UK research shows at 1.6 million older people in the UK are chronically lonely (e.g. no contact at all with friends, neighbours or family in an average week). The outcome of Bury Council’s conclusion is that whole areas of Bury (e.g. Whitefield, Unsworth and Tottington) will have no library at all in their community.

Secondly, we believe Bury hasn’t done enough to see whether there are other ways of keeping places open using community groups and/or volunteers. Other places in the country haven’t closed a single library, by using volunteers and community groups to keep smaller libraries open (the books and the systems are already in place for the bigger libraries). Although the Council says that it is open to community groups coming forward to take on the 10 libraries that are open BUT we believe that the timescale now makes this highly unlikely in almost all cases (the 10 libraries will shut their doors in less than 3 months now).

Thirdly, we believe that the Council’s consultation process didn’t provide a real chance for people to say what they wanted for their local libraries. The first stage of the Library consultation asked people what they through of a number of ‘principles’ for libraries – it was difficult to disagree with any of them and not many people did! The second stage asked people whether then wanted to CLOSE 10 libraries, or close 11 libraries. Hardly much of a choice!