Unison to rally against cuts to Connexions services

In Surrey, the union has launched a campaign called Fight for their Future: Save Surrey Careers and Connexions. The campaign follows a similar template to others around the country, which seek to fight for the service by accentuating its value.

Denise Bertuchi, an assistant national officer at Unison, said that many decisions had taken place without proper debate at cabinet level and that councillors did not fully understand what Connexions delivered.

"As well as the cuts in the numbers of jobs, cutting these positions will mean that specialist skills in the careers field will be lost at just the time when they are most required," she said.

Unison is also examining the legal case for the cuts as they may hinder the statutory duty of councils to provide careers information and guidance to young people up to 19, and to the age of 25 for those with special educational needs. The union is encouraging its members to question councils about whether they have made a proper assessment of how cuts will affect the service provision and users.

The union said that it was urgently seeking meetings with education ministers John Hayes and Nick Gibb to discuss the impact of the cuts. Unison claims that cuts to local authorities’ area-based grants (ABG) will disproportionately affect Connexions, equating to a cut of 24 per cent to services.

However, in a response to Unison’s senior national officer for education and children’s services Jon Richards, minister John Hayes denied this level of cuts. "The reduction in the ABG implies no direct cuts – of 24 per cent or any other amount – to the services it funds. It is, of course, for each local authority to decide the level of funding for Connexions."