Thanks for 2bn for Adult Social Care but will it make a difference.....

Wow finally social care got some money! Hurrah! We can all relax, or can we? 

I never believed that money was the main issue. Yes it’ll help, but where I live in Lincolnshire I don’t think it’ll make a difference.

The reason behind my belief is that for the last few years if you look closely Lincolnshire social services have not only come in under budget, but savings from the underspend was ploughed back in to the Local Authority Pot. The issue isn’t just money it’s the political thought process of austerity, the attitude by the political masters that we owe you nothing and you have to pay for everything, Along with a system that believes in making profit over everything and finally bad management at most levels.

So let’s break these down, if you continue down a route which over the last ten years plus hasn't worked and in fact has increased the fiscal debt substantially, then any money ploughed in too spending will be reluctantly held back, as the thought process of those running the Councils will always be to save ourselves from debt we can’t spend.

So firstly the government would have to give the ok for spending which they haven’t actually done.  Also if the authorities already managed to under spend and save, when it could have been spent and didn’t, given them more isn’t going to make any difference until the government actually says.

The second thing is the attitude of those in power, even though those who need the services most, the elderly and disabled will have paid more than their due over the years in to the pot. The thinking that prevails in society due to certain political thought processes which has permeated through every level is everyone for themselves. We moved away from the We as nation, to an I almost over 35 years ago, it’s now become ingrained and to move back will take a social conscience that unfortunately we don’t seem to want possess anymore.

The message coming through Local Authorities and the NHS of self-care and STP's is very clear. Don’t rely on us. Similarly the cuts in social care services with more reliance on volunteer and charitable organisations taking on work shows the political thought process very clearly. To back this up just look at the rhetoric that’s come out of government all about people abusing the benefits system and the linked increase in hate crime against the disabled. Along with the insistence that a UN report on abuses against the disabled is just nonsense.  This just shows to me where we as a nation are being led to not really caring about our elderly and venerable.

Let’s not even mention the same charitable organisations set up to support and give a voice to the elderly and disabled having their voice actually been stifled by commissioning polices which state, yes will fund you but then you can’t campaign anymore. In essence gagging those same organisations. Most of the organisations are also given lucrative contracts from which senior managers make more than a comfortable living, while nearly all the work is done by volunteers or low paid workers. These organisations no longer shout or even whimper, the clever manipulation by the government means that they won’t or cant. After all you’re not going to bite the hand that feeds you.

Finally its clear if your rich, the government will support you with lucrative tax cuts and loopholes whereas if you’re a striver they’ll let you think you too can join us with hard work and perseverance, when in fact the total opposite is true. The amount of investigators tackling tax evasion compared to those investigation benefit fraud just proves this fact along with the actual numbers of cases prosecuted for benefit fraud against those companies investigated but not prosecuted for tax fraud. Even our social services seem to be keen to give everything over to private industry. Now really if you’re a shrewd businessman you’re not going in to a business if there’s no real profit are you? Wake up. In essence our services are being stripped piece by piece and sold off to those with money so they can make even more money. It’s not science its basic arithmetic. 

If business can make a profit from these services then why can’t local authorities actually manage them on a budget? I believe some of this is down to drive if there’s one thing all political parties agree on is that local authorities are badly managed. With effort this can change, one of the issues I saw regularly as a local authority employee was staff doing a great job being promoted regularly, regardless if they had the aptitude, training or drive for a supervisory or management job. If this attitude prevails all along the chain, and people always want to earn more and therefore go for higher paid supervisory/management jobs. Some people are great natural managers but there are a lot of people in authorities who get put in to positions without the knowledge and experience. Again for this to change it would take time and effort, proper training for mangers and then regular supervision to make sure they are using management principles and tools. 

Finally show some gratitude. Local authority work has to be considered important. Nobody goes in to LA work thinking they’ll get rich. It’s not even a job guarantee for life anymore. It is a service to society. This forms the perfect circle back to my original argument, if you don’t care about people, they aren’t going to care back.