Council tax hikes won't improve services or pay workers better. But I have an idea

I used to work on the bins. Many years ago, for four months, I was on a wagon that served south Preston – Penwortham, Walton-le-dale, Bamber Bridge, Leyland. Once we even filled in as far as Chorley. Chorley! It was the days of over-the-shoulder bins. There was a four-man team, one to carry out from behind the houses, two to tip into the back, one of whom would carry back the empty, as sometimes did the bloke bringing them out, and the driver. That was the cushy job. He was the boss.

Initially, as I was the new boy, I had to fetch them. It was heavy, hard, dirty work. You’d have to run and carry all the time. But after a while, I got conditioned to it. Then, when more accepted, I’d be allowed to be the one taking the empties in. There were not a lot of niceties. I was called Ireland or Irish, and some other things. I was an agency worker but I found my way into it. Within three months they offered me a full-time job. I had other plans, but that still felt like an achievement.

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One thing that struck me and stayed with me was how they noticed things and looked out for people. It might be an old woman they’d stop at for a glass of diluting juice and a quick hello. If she wasn’t on the doorstep one week, they’d check to make sure she was OK. Or somebody who was vulnerable and alone and suddenly their bins weren’t as heavy as before. Or someone who mowed the lawn and would look forward to stopping for the briefest of chats.

The bin crew weren’t simply collecting rubbish – they were community wardens, bad-smelling community wardens, but a vital part of a network that laces around and protects. I think a lot of them, and others who quietly and sometimes invisibly, bring buoyancy, particularly at this time of year when council tax rises are discussed.

Many local authorities in England are getting as close as they can to the 5% rise permitted before they need a local referendum to go higher. Those with permission from the government to reach higher are taking it. Down around Bournemouth and Poole, for instance, the rise is 6.74%. There are similar financial pressures in Scotland.

A long-time council tax freeze imposed by the SNP government – sold as help for working families, but arguably an election sweetener – was lifted just a couple of years ago and is delivering problems now. Glasgow City Council, the biggest in Scotland, is hitting rises just under 6%. Aberdeenshire is proposing an eye-watering 10% rise.

All of this comes alongside local cuts to local services. So even though the majority of the population will feel it in the pocket, we won’t see it on the streets. There are many reasons for this, complex, interconnected and beyond the control of one organisation or even one local authority. Part of it is a result of housing.

Read more:

• Why council tax rises will hit the poorest harder
• Council tax debt is spiralling across England as households struggle with cost of living crisis
• ‘I have nothing they can take’: Council tax debt collection having devastating impact on vulnerable people

Last autumn, government figures said local authority spending on homelessness had risen by 25% in a year. It cost £2.8 billion. Of that, nearly a third – £844 million – was spent on emergency B&Bs and hostels. That is not just unsustainable, it shows a dereliction of duty going back decades.

The non-replacement of council homes and social housing stock following Thatcher’s sell off, compounded by councils being forced to buy back, at a premium, stock they had previously sold plays a huge part. Big Issue reported extensively on this buy-back in our yo-yo homes investigation last year. The local authorities are in a bind with it. They need the places – what can they do?

There are a couple of radical, but simple, solutions. 

Last week, Big Issue founder John Bird led a coalition of sector leaders calling on the government to bring empty properties back into use. In so doing, it would go some way to dealing with the housing emergency. If they needed work to bring properties up to spec, this would also help provide income for those struggling to work locally.

Also, some local authorities, such as Liverpool, have seen eye-watering costs for temporary accommodation in hotels. This is partly down to even higher costs in private accommodation. So they are taking a harder line with private suppliers, not allowing themselves to be chiselled, and seeking lower prices and holding out for them. Other councils are following suit.

If this idea could be combined with an approach to private owners of empty properties, a useful plan could coalesce. 

As ever, when people are deep in the mire, they don’t tend to look for anything except a supporting stick. But the time is now for boldness. I feel I say this a lot.

For one thing, bin collectors deserve all the pay increases they get. I’m with Rutger Bregman believing binmen should be paid the same as bankers. 

That belief is probably not shared in Birmingham City Council…

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

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