Budget 2009: Cuts to council support services "could affect children"

Chancellor Alistair Darling today told parliament that local authorities could save money on services such as administration, IT and personnel.

This would partly be done through better collaboration at local level, he said. This could mean merging back office functions for different council services.

John Chowcat, general secretary of children’s services union Aspect, said the plans are concerning.

He said: "Back-office support staff are incredibly important to delivering frontline children’s services, many of which rely very heavily on IT and personnel support. If support services are cut then it will have an impact on our frontline staff.

Margaret Eaton, chairman of the Local Government Association, claimed that local authorities are already making massive efficiency savings.

She said: "Ministers must realise that they can only keep on squeezing out savings for so long. There comes a time when vital frontline services to local people will be affected."

Darling’s plans would see the government cutting £6bn from council support services over the next two years. The other £9bn would be cut between 2011 and 2014.

The Chancellor also announced today that the government would start a new programme of work to make sure schools use teaching assistants in the most effective way. Full details of the scheme are yet to be confirmed.