Property News · February 5, 2017

System is ‘close to failure’ as PM’s council raises tax for social care


Prosperous authorities like Theresa May’s constituency in Maidenhead and nearby Surrey look to local taxpayers to fill a gapIn her first speech as prime minister last year, Theresa May pledged to govern for those who found themselves “just about managing” to survive financially. With Britain’s overstretched and underfunded social care system at breaking point, she can add the council in Maidenhead, her Berkshire constituency, to that growing list.The Conservative-run royal borough has not raised council tax for almost a decade, but this year residents will have to pay the maximum 3.95% increase allowed without a referendum of the sort planned by neighbouring Surrey county council. This, say town hall bosses in Maidenhead, is enough to ensure it does not have to cut any of its social care services. But even on May’s doorstep in this prosperous corner of Berkshire, the warnings from senior council figures are stark: Surrey is “the canary in the coal mine” and a complete rethink of Britain’s social care model is needed – fast, they say. “So far, we’ve managed,” says Maidenhead councillor David Coppinger, its cabinet member for adult services and health. Continue reading…

Source : theguardian.com
Read more…System is ‘close to failure’ as PM’s council raises tax for social care

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