Pickles warns councils over passing on cuts to community and voluntary groups

Ministers could use “statutory force” against councils that fail to conduct themselves within the government’s reasonable expectations over their dealings with voluntary and community groups, the Communities Secretary has warned.

In a speech to the National Council of Voluntary Organisations, Eric Pickles acknowledged that local authorities had challenging decisions to make on budgets but said councils “must resist any temptation to pull up the drawbridge and pass on disproportionate cuts”.

The Communities Secretary warned that there would be “no excuse and no hiding place” for local authorities unless they had squeezed out every bit of waste, were really sharing back offices and had clamped down on senior pay.

Outlining the government’s expectations, Pickles told delegates:

• “First, it is reasonable to expect that councils will not pass on disproportionate cuts to local voluntary and community groups.That they will not inflict bigger reductions to your budgets than they take on themselves.
• Second, any sensible council has known for many months that we were facing tough times – so it is reasonable to expect that they will have been talking to voluntary and community groups at a very early stage about how services need to change.
• Third, it is reasonable to expect that they will have given three months' notice or more when they think they need to end or alter a grant, or other support.”

He added that councils should “as a matter of course” be open to suggestions from voluntary and community groups on alternative ways of redesigning or reshaping the services so that they can continue to be provided even where budgets need to be reduced.

The Communities Secretary said: “"In their approach to budget setting, the best councils are showing that they understand that a strong, thriving voluntary sector is more important now than ever and could be the key to providing high quality, good value services to their residents.

“But this is not the case everywhere. Councils that are failing to recognise the importance of the sector are being short sighted in their approach.”

Pickles pointed in his speech to measures in the Localism Bill, such as the community rights to buy local assets and run local services, that he said were designed to make it easier for community groups “to make a real difference” to their local areas.

The government has also announced that funding for the Asset Transfer Unit will be extended to the tune of £1m, with a view to supporting the takeover of local assets such as youth centres, museums and former town halls.

Decentralisation Minister Greg Clark said: "The Asset Transfer Unit's specialist teams are experts at this, and today's boost in funding will allow them to offer support and advice to many more groups across the country."