MP condemns ‘bureaucratic failure’ preventing poorest accessing crisis fund

Simon Danczuk MP welcomed Retail Ready People to Rochdale

Rochdale’s MP has spoken of his dismay at learning that Rochdale Council’s Crisis Fund is spending almost the same amount on administration costs as on getting money to the poorest people in the Borough facing extreme hardship.

Simon Danczuk said it was a “bureaucratic failure” that only £167,000 had been awarded to people facing emergencies this year from almost £1million of Government funding. The Council has committed a further £164,000 to administer the money after sub contracting the service out to an outside company.

Danczuk added that council reports on the progress of the scheme suggested that failure to get the money to local people was a direct result of the provider not having local knowledge of Rochdale. He said he was particularly concerned to hear the funding for this had been transferred to a company based in Hemel Hempstead without any consultation with councillors.

“I cannot believe that we could not find anyone locally to administer this money,” he said. This is a complete bureaucratic failure and Council officers have to take full responsibility for farming the fund off to a company in Hemel Hempstead without consulting with councillors.

“This is not how local government works and councillors are quite rightly furious that the most vulnerable people are being deprived of a vital lifeline because of the poor judgement shown by senior officers.”

Earlier this year the Government passed responsibility for its Discretionary Crisis Fund to local authorities and Danczuk said that as long as the scheme was being run ineffectively it was pushing people into the hands of loan sharks.

“This came to my attention after constituents who were genuinely in need of help told me they were being refused any assistance from the fund," he explained. "I’ve had people in tears in my surgery desperate for help. But they were turned away by a computer system in Hemel Hempstead.

“I could not believe that councillors had not had any say on this pot of money and that Council officers had not looked at using anyone locally to administer the fund. Once again a lack of debate and unaccountable decisions by unelected officers is failing people in our town.”