Agenda item

To consider the following Motions in accordance with Council Rules of Procedure No. 13

Motion B: Becoming a Living Wage Employer

Proposer:  Cllr Barnes

 

Seconder:  Cllr Dixon

 

Council notes:

The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings by the Office of National Statistics, showed that 34% of Haringey residents are living in poverty.

 

That the Living Wage Foundation recommends that to enable their employees to “meet their basic needs and participate in society at a minimum level”, employers in London should pay each member of staff at least £10.20 an hour.

 

That six current members of Haringey Council (including the Leader) attended an event organised by Citizens UK and pledged to make Haringey Council a Living Wage accredited employer.

 

That 92 local authorities are accredited Living Wage employers. Among their number are the GLA and six of the seven boroughs that border Haringey.

 

That Haringey has just 20 businesses that are London Living Wage accredited compared to 132 in Islington and 80 in Hackney.

 

Council believes:

That low pay is a major problem in Haringey, London and the UK.

 

That given the high costs of housing, public transport and childcare in Haringey, the statutory minimum wage rates are not adequate to enable someone to maintain a decent standard of living whilst residing in this borough, even if they work full-time.

 

That as the local authority, Haringey Council should provide leadership and set an example for other employers in the borough.

 

Council resolves:

To be accredited by the Living Wage Foundation as ‘Living Wage Employer’ in time for London Living Wage week (4th-10th November 2018). In order to achieve this, all directly employed staff must continue to be paid above the London Living Wage. In addition, arrangements must be made for the phased implementation of the London Living Wage for anyone employed by a contractor who regularly works on council premises or on premises necessary for the work of the council to be carried out.

That the same standard should be expected of ALMO and other entities, over which the Council has control (for example, the proposed wholly owned company for housing development).

 

That where the Council has representation on outside bodies, it should use that influence to advocate for paying a Living Wage.

 

 

Motion C: Fair Funding for Haringey Council

 

Proposer: Cllr Moyeed

Seconder: Cllr James

This Council notes:

A recent report commissioned by the Local Government Association (LGA), ‘Local Government Funding, moving the conversation on’, outlines the significant challenges that Local Authorities face as a result of eight years of cuts to local government funding, forced through by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition and the current Conservative Government.

These cuts equate to a ‘reduction to core funding from the Government of nearly £16 billion over the preceding decade’, with Councils losing ‘60p out of every £1’ that ‘the Government had provided to spend on local services in the last eight years’.

In Haringey, these cuts mean a 40% real term reduction in Government funding since 2010.

Simultaneously, central Government is intending to reduce the funding for Public Health by 14% from 2015-2020, which after 2013 is the responsibility of the Council. And has removed the £1.7 billion from Council Tax Support schemes, both increasing the Councils spending requirements in order to look after those most in need of support.

That revenue support grant funding has now been phased out in London and Haringey Council is a pilot in the business rates pool.

The LGA recently published research outlining that 87 per cent of Councils believe national taxation is the only solution to funding adult social care properly.

That the Government has launched a ‘Fair Funding review’ to assess the relative needs of Councils but that this does not guarantee that any local authority will not be worse off, nor that there will be any extra funding available to local authorities.

The LGA estimates that at current trajectories ‘local services face a funding gap of £7.8 Billion by 2025’, merely to keep the services at the same level as currently provided.

Based on the Sunday Times rich list, between 2011 and 2018 the total wealth of the top 1000 had increased from £396 billion to £724 billion.

This Council Believes:

Cuts to local Government funding have a detrimental effect on the lives of residents, making it substantially more difficult for Haringey Council to invest in preventative measures.

Austerity is a political choice, not forced by economic circumstances, pursued by the Coalition and the current Conservative Government.

Reliance on Local Business rates increases the council’s financial risk, particularly given the crisis in numerous high street retailers.

The removal of revenue support grant funding significantly increasing the council’s funding challenges, meaning funding no longer matches actual deprivation.

The up to 3 per cent increase in Council tax afforded by the Government to pay for adult social care fails to address the significant funding problems that Councils face in this sector.

That models designed to grow the tax base, for example through housing developments, may generate an initial boost to locally collected tax revenues but often this will be balanced out by a later draw down on services and these fail to address the structural problem Councils face.

In the short term, increases to Council tax provide the only means to mitigate the impact of local Government cuts but that this alone is not sustainable in the long term.

Government restrictions on how the Council is allowed to spend money effectively cost the Council more, for example, restrictions on right-to-Buy receipts stop us replacing housing stock which is sold off, effectively forcing us to spend more money on temporary accommodation.

Any future funding settlement for Haringey must address the situation of Haringey, which has the needs more akin to an inner-London borough but only receives the funding for an outer-London Borough, whilst having fewer businesses to rely on than an inner-London Borough.

This Council Resolves:

To proactively work with the Leader of the Opposition, Mayor of London, the LGA, other Local Authorities, Local elected Representatives, Trade Unions, Charities and Voluntary Organisations in order to lobby the Department for Communities and Local Government, Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Prime Minister by doing the following:

·         Explicitly call for the restoration of all money cut from Haringey Council since 2010 (plus inflation) whilst also addressing the historic underfunding of Haringey Council relative to other boroughs.

·         To support calls by the LGA to lift the referendum on raising Council tax about the Government imposed limit.

·         Call for an end to restrictions on how a Council is able to spend money, such as limitations on right-to-buy receipts, which effectively limit the ability of a Council to replace its’ social housing stock. 

·         Restore Revenue Support Grant funding for local authorities to ensure funding matches need in their local area.

·         Lift the restrictions on Council borrowing through the Housing Revenue Allowance.

 

To educate and inform local residents through a public campaign on the impact of central government cuts and legal restrictions on how a Council is able to spend its’ money, and the impact these both have on how the Council is able to deliver services in Haringey.

 

 

Supporting documents: