At a meeting of West Dunbartonshire Council on Wednesday 25^th November, the SNP Administration imposed a range of service charges on the most vulnerable West Dunbartonshire residents. Many elderly and disabled people will have to pay more than one of the charges. The charges which amount to a mandatory service tax will impact greatest on some of the most vulnerable people in West Dunbartonshire and includes:

• The SNP has introduced a new service charge of £48 a year for 2,500 elderly residents for the care of garden scheme which had traditionally been provided free by previous Labour Administrations;
• The SNP has introduced a new service charge of £15 for each Domestic Bulk Rubbish uplift which was traditionally provided free by the previous Labour Administrations;
• The SNP have imposed a new service charge of £1 per meal for Home Care to 570 housebound and elderly residents;
• The SNP introduced a new service charge of £2.50 per trip for the 160 pensioners and adults with learning difficulties using day care facilities, this will raise £104,000 per year; 
• The SNP introduced a new service charge on people with mobility problems. The 500 clients will be required to pay for 50% of the cost of special needs equipment it is estimated that they will pay £200 each raising an extra £100,000 from disabled people;
• The SNP has introduced new service charge of £20 per week for 240 Housing Support Services clients including people with learning disabilities; people with mental health problems; people with addiction problems; people with acquired brain injury; and some older people and people with physical disabilities.
• The SNP has introduced a new service charge of £5 per week for ‘privilege seats’ on school bus contracts affecting 61 pupils.

In addition to the new charges the SNP Administration also increased the charges for a range of other services used by some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in our communities as follows:

• The SNP increased the service charge for community alarms to £2 per week for 1,490 elderly and disabled people;
• The SNP increased the service charge to £2 per meal for 200 elderly and disabled day care clients;
• The SNP increased the service charge on residential accommodation for older people with savings by a whopping £67 per week;
• The SNP increased the service charge on Breakfast Clubs by 150% for 1,220 primary school pupils. The yearly cost for breakfast club per child has increased by £30 to £47.50;
• The SNP imposed a 9% increase in service charges for pre 5 meals;
• The SNP increased the service charge for school meals for primary 4 to primary 7 by 16%;
• The SNP increased the service charge to all secondary school meals by 16%;
• The SNP increased the service charges to nursery children to generate an annual increase in income of £238,176.25;
• The SNP increased out of school service charges to generate an additional income of £89,819.
• The SNP service charge will affect 407 children in Local Authority Nursery and Out of School Care provision.
• The SNP has increased the service charge to community groups using public buildings such as Clydebank Town Hall, and the Burgh Hall in Dumbarton. Other community halls affected by in-year increases include: Duntocher; Faifley/Skypoint; Napier; Bowling; Howatshaws; West Bridgend; and the Denny Civic.
• The SNP has also increased service charges for sport and leisure; outdoor education; and burial and cremation costs.

Labour Group Leader, Councillor Martin Rooney said: ‘The SNP mini-budget is an admission of failure. Their budget this year is in tatters and they have already been forced to make in-year cuts to education, social work and housing, environment and economic services departments amounting to £1m. However the scale and impact of the SNP service charges on vulnerable groups is an absolute disgrace. The poorest people in West Dunbartonshire are being asked to shoulder the burden of the SNP incompetence to protect the most able and more affluent in our communities. The SNP are robbing the poor to help the better off. It’s simply wrong I came into politics to protect the vulnerable and fight injustice. These SNP service charges are an attack on the social values that I hold so dear. In my view they are an evil attack the Christian values which bind civic Scotland together. They must be opposed by all right minded people. The SNP Council has sunk to a new depth which would make even the most hardnosed Tory sick to their stomach.’ The SNP’s service tax comes into effect at the beginning of January 2010. However the SNPs unseemly haste to introduce the service tax means that service users, their carers and residents in West Dunbartonshire were not consulted about the changes. Labour Councillors had expressed concerns about the SNP’s failure to carry out any consultation with service users and the lack of an equality impact assessments with a major financial change with implications for thousands of West Dunbartonshire Citizens. Labours Finance Spokesperson Councillor David McBride said: ‘The SNP council has introduced a cradle to the grave mandatory service tax for West Dunbartonshire residents. I was completely dismayed by the SNP attack on the poor and most needy in West Dunbartonshire. I accept that we are in difficult financial times, but punishing the poorest can never be the answer. I strongly believe that we have a social responsibility to help our fellow man and I was absolutely appalled by the SNP approach of imposing service charges on vulnerable people with learning disabilities, the elderly and the infirm.  West Dunbartonshire citizens know instinctively that this is wrong and they certainly don’t need me to tell them so.’ The principle that charges should cover the cost of services is widely accepted however it is not always practical as most council services are needs based and vulnerable individuals should not be punished on the basis of their identified care needs. SNP Leader Iain Robertson who is responsible for one of the most shameful episodes in the history of West Dunbartonshire Council claimed the service tax was necessary because: ‘The council is on its economic knees.’ In time honoured fashion independent Councillors George Black, Marie McNair, and Willie McLaughlin abstained and allowed the SNP Administration supported by Provost Denis Agnew to force through their £2m service tax to let the poorest people pay for the SNPs mistakes. As Edmund Burke famously said: ‘All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.’

Notes:

1. The SNP administration on West Dunbartonshire Council has introduced £2 million to plug the hole in their budget.
2. The increases to existing charges will cost service users an extra £100,000 in 2009/10 and a further £407,000 in 2010/11.
3. The new charges will mean service users will pay an extra £210,000 in 2009/10 and a further £918,000 in 2010/11.
4. The increase to Nursery costs and out of school costs will mean service users pay an extra £40,000 in 2009/10 and an extra £367,000 in 2010/11.
5. The figures above do not include the SNP increases in charges to Educational Establishments Halls and Letting charges which were imposed in August 2009.
6. Labours Finance Spokesman, Councillor David McBride submitted a motion to the November Council meeting criticising the Scottish Government for its underfunding of West Dunbartonshire Council by £5.67 million. The official Scottish Parliament tables show that the share of the Scottish budget given to local authorities has fallen from 34.7% in 2006/7 to 33.9% in 2010/11 and Councils have received £270 million less as a result. West Dunbartonshire’s share of this cut is £5.67 million.
7. In August the SNP led Council identified a budget gap of £1m in their 2009/10 budget.
8. As a result of the budget gap the Council introduced a £1m spending freeze cutting departmental services as follows: (i) Chief Executive £6,000; (ii) Corporate Services £77,000; (iii) Education £477,000; (iv) Social Work £184,000; (v) Housing, Environment & Economic Development £250,000; and (vi) Miscellaneous savings £6,000.
9. Since coming to power in 2007 the SNP council has closed down the Auchentoshan Centre for learning disabilities; a childrens residential care home in Hardgate and they are currently consulting on their planned closure of St. Martins Primary School in Renton.
10. The Council consultation strategy can be found at: http://www.west-dunbarton.gov.uk/community-and-living/involving-communities/ 
11. The Equality & Human Rights Commission advice note to councils on the public sector equality duties and financial decisions can be found at: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/PSD/31_psdandfinancialdecisions.pdf