Little Solace for Scotland if pain of cuts is only delayed

WITH every week we are brought closer to a moment of truth not just about our economic state but of how we define our society and its rights and duties.

How easy it has become to regard care for the elderly as "the government's job" and for politicians to offer "free" universal benefits and services. Such largesse may be justified where there is a sustainable level of growth to fill the Treasury coffers with tax revenues. It collapses when founded on the highest-ever levels of both personal and

It is troubling, but should not come as a surprise, that the chiefs of Scotland's local authorities now warn that the public will have "to do more for themselves" as councils, hospitals and schools are forced to retrench. They say a cultural shift is required so that people adjust to the new reality of the state doing less, and the individual doing more.

The paper, from the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (Solace) says elected ministers and councillors will now need to rethink policy priorities. Winding down, merging or abolishing "easy" targets such as quangos will not be sufficient to meet the cutbacks required. The paper raises the prospect of charging for some services, rather than meeting their cost from general taxation.

The Solace analysis is not alone in its warnings. Its publication coincides with a separate report by Audit Scotland warning that a "fundamental review of public services is needed" to cope with the cuts. Efficiency savings will not be enough to meet the gap between costs and demand. It says staff cuts and farming out services to providers such as voluntary groups will be necessary.

And to leave the moment of truth in no doubt, a bleak quarterly economic forecast is also out from the Fraser of Allander Institute warning of barely perceptible growth this year and the risk of a double dip recession. PricewaterhouseCoopers, which sponsors the Fraser report, added its own icy commentary with a declaration that councils "need to reduce their costs by around 25 per cent over the next few years" to help address their funding constraints. Hard decisions, it adds, "will also need to be made as to the extent to which traditionally 'free' public services can be sustained and which services will have to be restricted".

The Solace paper brings under a searching spotlight the affordability of expensive universal services in Scotland introduced since devolution. These include free personal care for the elderly, concessionary bus travel, cut-price prescription charges and reduced fees for university.

One critical lesson to be drawn is that care provision and services will be more than ever dependent on the voluntary sector and this should be the last area to be cut. Unfortunately there is a widespread fear that local councils will cut from the periphery to save council jobs at the core. That would be no solution, but only a deferral of a more painful moment of truth.