EDITOR’S COMMENT: Budget cuts start to hit close to home
These are tough times indeed in the corridors of power.
Suffolk County Council approved a whopping £38 million of cuts last week – yes, £38 MILLION.
Social care services – including children’s services, specifically – look like being the biggest losers as the council is forecasting a £120 million shortfall in cash over the next three years.
Add that to a reduction in staffing of almost 50% over the past five years and you start to get an understanding of the scale of the problem at hand across Suffolk.
Closer to home in Bury, the Women’s Aid Centre has been dealt a crippling blow with the loss of £26,000 of funding from the county council. While that may not seem like a huge amount, this refuge for victims of domestic abuse now faces real uncertainty about who will run it in the future.
You get the feeling that other vital support groups across Suffolk might be sitting a little uncomfortably at the moment and just waiting for the bad news to arrive.