LETTER: There has to be a better way

Regarding a report in The Voice, Lord Porter warns the government communities may suffer the loss of leisure and cultural facilities, fewer bus services, unkempt parks, green spaces and fly-tippers going unpunished. It is happening now, just look around us as only one in 450 cases of flytipping actually get caught and punished across the country. Yes Mr Porter, I agree.

To add to the demise cash strapped police forces are filling some key vacancies with unpaid volunteers, according to a report by Unison, the public services union. It is alarming that the number of police support volunteers (PSVs) being used across England and Wales has soared to more than 6,000 – equivalent of a five per cent rise over the last four years according to the report, Crossing The Line.

Yet government figures show that the number of paid police staff, including Police Community Support Officers has dropped by 4,177 – or five per cent over a similar period. But there is an increasing reliance on unpaid staff and this only highlights the financial pressures on forces.

The findings come from a freedom of information data from 32 forces across the country, 6,596 PSVs were registered with these forces who responded in 2017, compared with 5,739 in 2014. Crossing The Line highlights how volunteers work includes roles that carry a high level of responsibility.

The concern here is that the volunteer is taken on to compensate for the loss of tens of thousands of paid police staff and officers as a result of government cuts. Meanwhile the King’s Fund health charity has released a report, The role of the volunteer in the NHS.

While I respect the role of any volunteer in the community, what concerns me the most is that they cannot and should not be expected to take the place of paid employees. So while the government fight and argue over saving their own jobs, they should look at all the local authorities that are on their knees trying to provide sustainable services amid the cruel financial cuts.

What happened to those promises that frontline services would be protected and the NHS is safe in our hands. We all know this has not happened overnight and these promises have been broken beyond any doubt.

I would not use the word may as the situation is getting impossible. Promises have been broken and services are broken. But there has to be a better way.

Rodney Sadd
Spalding