Cameron’s con continues - now he slashes ‘Big Society’ by 61 per
cent
2 August 2011
With the Office for Civil Society - the supposed engine room of
the prime minister's ‘Big Society’ - hit by a hefty 61 per cent cut
in funding, the government's con is well and truly exposed, Unite
the union says today.
The cut to the Office for Civil Society is just one of the hits
revealed in research showing that the UK's charities are crumbling
under an avalanche of central and local government cuts, says the
union.
Recent publication of cabinet office accounts reveal that the
Office for Civil Society’s total spending will be slashed from £192
million to £74 million – a colossal 61 per cent cut.
Unite, which has 60,000 members in the not for profit sector,
says that government’s disjointed policies and indiscriminate cuts
are creating a vacuum of core services leaving the elderly, the
young and the most marginalised in society struggling to get the
support they need.
The latest figures blow apart the government’s claims to be
building a ‘Big Society’.
Unite national officer, Rachael Maskell, said: “The prime
minister needs to stop banging on about his mythical ‘Big Society’
and explain how he plans to fund the crumbling society.
“The ‘Big Society’ is a con, dreamt up by his so-called experts
who have never spent a day working in the sector. Charities and
voluntary sector organisations are struggling to survive now that a
staggering £4.4 billion has been snatched from the sector.
“We don't want airy-fairy notions or blue sky thinkers.
What the people of this country want to know is who will care for
our parents in old age and our children now?
"The government is turning its back on the organisations best
placed to nurture and sustain it."
Unite is calling on the government to give back the funds it has
taken from the voluntary sector and develop a coherent policy which
will ensure it is equipped to deal with increases in demand.
ENDS
For more information please contact Chantal Chegrinec on 07774
146 777
