Last week, George Osborne announced that the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) would be among those cutting budgets as part of this month’s CSR.
The cuts of eight to ten per cent could damage the department’s PR work, warned Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE) director Graeme McDonald.
‘There have already been huge cuts to capacity and there comes a point where they don’t have the capability to perform their role effectively,’ he said.
‘Back office functions, comms included, have taken the brunt of cuts, and when you are trying to deliver significant change in local government that becomes a problem.’
The DCLG, which has a comms team of 37, said it could continue to deliver ‘better value for money’ for the taxpayer.
