Adult Social Care Merits Fair Funding, say Haringey Greens

'Nobody likes their bills to go up, but we need to fund decent social care despite facing savage threats to local authority budgets from the Conservative government', says Ronald Stewart, Green Party candidate for Enfield and Haringey in the London Assembly elections.

Haringey Council have decided to raise Council Tax by two percent in order to raise an additional £1.7 m. Haringey Green Party recognises that paying taxes for public services is the price for living in a decent society, and supports this council tax increase.

But, what will be funded from the extra money? It was expected that money would be used to avoid the closure of the adult social care day centres. But the Council has not agreed to this, with Cllr Jason Arthur saying “the two percent precept would not be enough to prevent some services from closing.”[1]

Threats to adult and social care in Haringey illustrate how the poorest in society suffer disproportionately from the policies of the current government. A report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation says 'the most deprived areas have borne the brunt of the cuts. On one key measure, the most deprived English authorities have had a level of cut nearly six times higher than the cut experienced in the least deprived areas.'[2]

We think this decision by the Council - to increase Council Tax - has to be welcomed; but there should be an equal commitment to protect our local services. Ronald Stewart adds: 'The Labour-run council in Haringey must now commit to use this tax increase to fully protect adult and social care from closures.'

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