Council led by a bunch of Tories

There was a photograph of a shiny new BMW for Pembrokeshire’s senior councillors on the front page of the Pembrokeshire Herald last week. Some might say this was a cheap shot coming at the same time as the council was announcing spending cuts and a council tax increase for 2016-17. I say it is evidence, if any is really needed, that the council is led by a bunch of Tories.

 

Pembrokeshire county council's new chauffeur-driven BMW

The council blames the Welsh Government for the spending cuts and the council tax rise. They say they’ve been forced to make them because the Welsh Government has ring-fenced minimal levels of spending to protect education and social care at the expense of other services. “If this continues over the long term, there would come a point where the Council could only afford to fund Social Care and Schools,” the Council’s Cabinet warned.

However, in the budget it set for the coming year, the council still hit social care the hardest. Of the total £10,971,000 cuts to its overall services, social care will bear nearly half. Adult social services will be hit most with residential care for older people, home care and day care services facing £3m cuts. That is to say, the most vulnerable people in Pembrokeshire will take the biggest hit.

This reflects the values of our, in effect, Tory led council. Indeed, the decision fitted very well with this week’s UK budget when George Osborne reduced subsidies for aids and appliances for disabled people, saving £1.2 billion, at the same time as raising the tax thresholds for the better off.

The attitude of Pembrokeshire council’s Tories became clear in last week’s budget debate when they voted against signing up to the Time to Care charter. Promoted by the Unison union, this aims to improve the employment standards of carers, particularly in ensuring they are paid at the right amount and for the actual time they spend working, including time travelling from one client to another.

The proposal followed research in Pembrokeshire which found great deficiencies in the service being provided. Researchers said continuity of client-carer relationship was hard to maintain because clients do not see the same carers regularly. There are concerns, too, about the standard of care. In particular the requirement that carers should spend no more 15 minutes with each client is too rigid. It undermines the professionalism of the carer and the dignity of the client.

Jamie Adams, leader of the ruling Independent Group, has conceded that it is within the council’s authority to sign up to the charter. But surprise, surprise, he said it would drive up wage levels and so cost too much. This is despite the fact that many carers are on the minimum wage.

 The vote against signing up for the Charter was only carried by a narrow majority. The ruling Independent Group needed the votes of the couple of card carrying “formal” Tory councillors to secure a majority, against the combined opposition of the Plaid and Labour groups and the rather comically entitled group of “independent Independents”. All this is why, I say again, Pembrokeshire county council is led by a bunch of Tories whose instinct is always to favour the better off against the most vulnerable in our community. I hope they enjoy their new BMW in the time they have left. There will be council elections next year.