I have been sent some figures on the proposed cessation of all funding for local welfare schemes. This shows the government at its most callous and disorganised. Within less than a year of forcing local authorities to design their own schemes with reduced budgets, the government then takes the money away entirely. Thus, authorities have put in significant effort to designing schemes that most of them will now have to abolish. Of course, the Councils can cut other areas of expenditure to pay for the schemes, but with a cut of 44% in funding for London Boroughs between 2010/11 and 2015/16, how likely is that?
Local Welfare Provision was worth about £33 million across London this year. During 2011/12, the DWP had shelled out about £23 million in community care grants, and a further £42 million was loaned as crisis loans in London. The average London Borough gets about 230 applications a month now, with just over half succeeding.
Most of the demand for these funds actually comes from the central government making errors in processing benefits, which particularly hits people on very low incomes with no financial resilience. Unless one is foolish enough to believe Iain Duncan Smith when he claims that there are no problems with universal credit, one can only expect demand to go up as his new arrangements are implemented in what will no doubt be a thoroughly chaotic manner.
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