Notts: UNISON welcomes reprieve for saved services helping the vulnerable but says jobs and other services are still being cut

But the Public Services Union also says it remains concerned that jobs and other services will be facing cuts as the council looks to save £154 million over the next three years after cuts in Government grants and funding.

And it has urged members of the public to keep up the pressure on their councillors in the face of cuts, now and in the future by taking take part in the consultations and campaigns to save services.

The council announced last week that projects like Strawberry Fayre Cafe would remain open, having originally been earmarked for closure, and that funding cuts to services affecting children and the elderly would not be as harsh as first feared.

But UNISON Notts branch organiser Jo Myers said the public needed to keep the pressure on the council so these services would not be axed in the future.

and this has already had an effect.

“The pressure put on the council by UNISON and by the campaign groups during the consultation period have paid off in some areas and we welcome that,” she said.

“We are disappointed that there aren’t more services being saved but this shows that when we organise and act together, both as a union and as residents, we can achieve what seemed impossible at the start of the consultation period.”

“Behind the headlines of services saved there is still the harsh reality that many hundreds of jobs will go and every job lost is a service eroded or axed.”

“We expect many more proposals to axe services and jobs over the next few years, as council tries to plug the budget hole and we will continue to fight them.”

The budget will be debated at a full council meeting on Thursday, 27th February. and UNISON has organised a lobby at County Hall to coincide with that on the same day from 12.30pm to 1.30pm.