Council-run parks and leisure centres could be in jeopardy thanks to a £4.3bn funding 'black hole' in adult care services caused by austerity cuts and an ageing population, a new study has warned.
The latest analysis of council budgets led by the Local Government Association (LGA) – which represents more than 370 councils across England and Wales – says that overstretched councils could be forced to divert funds from other budgets to prevent a social care crisis.
In the face of an ageing population, local authorities have seen overall funding effectively drop by 40 per cent since austerity cuts began in 2010, the study estimates.
As a result, services for disabled and elderly care now face a nationwide funding shortfall of £4.3bn by 2020. Given that councils are legally obliged to maintain these services (along with refuse collection), ‘discretionary’ services such as parks and leisure centres are at risk of having their budgets slashed to bridge the gap.
The warnings of leisure services being under threat come just a week after Public Health England
published its Everybody Active, Every Day framework, which noted that the “burden of health and social care will destabilise public services” if current physical inactivity trends continue. With inactivity estimated to cost the UK between £10-20bn per year, it begs the question whether slashing leisure offerings could plunge the health and social care system further into the mire.
David Sparks, chair of the LGA, called on the government to take action to address the issue and lighten the load on hard-pressed local authorities.
"The government should not be knowingly backing councils into a corner where they have to make impossible decisions about cutting other important services just to continue to manage caring and supporting our most vulnerable,” he said.
“We can't stress enough the impact this will have on communities, and of course we must start asking the question about what happens when we have made all of the efficiencies and there are no more services to cut.”
