Croydon being an outer London borough, receive £200 per head less than the inner London borough of Lambeth from central funds. This accounts for around £70 million which is equivalent to the council deficit for the year ending 2020/21.

Local councils have faced over 11 years of government austerity causing significant cuts in a number of communities particularly Croydon. The gap between rich and poor has widened. The use of food banks has increased, while in-work poverty is escalating and with cuts to social welfare benefits, families have been left in financial difficulties. In some cases, having to choose to feed their children or pay the bills. This is not acceptable and due to this lack of funding many of our residents’ needs are going unmet and are facing ongoing hardship.  

Croydon UNISON feel that Croydon should have a fairer share of funding from central government especially as the Croydon borough now has one of the highest levels of needs.  This is in part due to lower paid people moving out of inner London due to the high cost of accommodation and other living costs, putting more pressure on the borough. Croydon has a population of over 380,000, the second highest of the all the London boroughs, again putting pressure on all services especially housing, education and social services. 

We are asking for "a Fairer deal for Croydon" and that the fair funding review of local government postponed due to both Brexit and COVID19 will be restarted as soon as possible and that Croydon and its residents will benefit from its findings. 

Please support us by signing our petition today. We are aiming for 10,000 signatures to get a response from the government and  if we manage 100,000 signatures, we can ask for a debate in parliament. 

Please visit our web site https://croydonunison.co.uk/ for all the latest news.