Southwark London Borough Council is the local authority for the

London Borough of Southwark The London Borough of Southwark ( ) in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas ...

in Greater London, England. It is a

London borough The London boroughs are the 32 local authority districts that together with the City of London make up the administrative area of Greater London; each is governed by a London borough council. The present London boroughs were all created at ...

council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

History

Southwark London UK labelled ward map 2002

There have previously been a number of local authorities responsible for the Southwark area. The current local authority was first elected in 1964, a year before formally coming into its powers and prior to the creation of the

on 1 April 1965. Southwark replaced the

Metropolitan Borough of Southwark The Metropolitan Borough of Southwark (''Br'' �sʌðɨk was a metropolitan borough in the County of London from 1900 to 1965. It was created to cover the western section of the ancient borough of Southwark and the parish of Newington. In common ...

, the

Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell Camberwell was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in south London, England. Camberwell was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey, governed by an administrative vestry from 1674. The parish was included in the area of responsibility of ...

and the

Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey The Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey was a Metropolitan borough in the County of London, created in 1900 by the London Government Act 1899. It was abolished and its area became part of the London Borough of Southwark in 1965. Formation and bo ...

. It was envisaged that through the

London Government Act 1963 The London Government Act 1963 (c. 33) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which created Greater London and a new local government structure within it. The Act significantly reduced the number of local government districts in the ...

Southwark as a London local authority would share power with the Greater London Council. The split of powers and functions meant that the Greater London Council was responsible for "wide area" services such as fire, ambulance, flood prevention, and refuse disposal; with the local authorities responsible for "personal" services such as social care, libraries, cemeteries and refuse collection. This arrangement lasted until 1986 when Southwark London Borough Council gained responsibility for some services that had been provided by the Greater London Council, such as

waste disposal Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitorin ...

. Southwark became an

education authority The Education Authority ( ga, Údarás Oideachais) is a non-departmental body sponsored by the Department of Education in Northern Ireland. It was established under the Education Act (Northern Ireland) 2014 (c. 12) which was passed by the North ...

in 1990. Since 2000 the Greater London Authority has taken some responsibility for highways and planning control from the council, but within the English local government system the council remains a "most purpose" authority in terms of the available range of powers and functions.

Powers and functions

The local authority derives its powers and functions from the London Government Act 1963 and subsequent legislation, and has the powers and functions of a London borough council. It sets council tax and as a billing authority also collects precepts for Greater London Authority functions and business rates. It sets planning policies which complement Greater London Authority and national policies, and decides on almost all planning applications accordingly. It is a local education authority and is also responsible for council housing, social services, libraries, waste collection and disposal, traffic, and most roads and environmental health. From 2006, Southwark commenced implementation of a

master data management Master data management (MDM) is a technology-enabled discipline in which business and information technology work together to ensure the uniformity, accuracy, stewardship, semantic consistency and accountability of the enterprise's official shared ...

system in conjunction with IBM UK Ltd., intending to rationalise "a number of disparate computerised systems" in use across the range of functions for which the Council was responsible. The project was abandoned after concerns that the recommended system adopted by Southwark was not satisfactory, but the Council was unsuccessful in its claim against IBM for breach of contract.England and Wales High Court (Technology and Construction Court)
London Borough of Southwark v IBM UK Ltd.
EWHC 549 (TCC), published 17 March 2011, accessed 5 November 2022

Universal Credit: criticism

Southwark was one of the first areas where

Universal Credit Universal Credit is a United Kingdom social security payment. It is means-tested and is replacing and combining six benefits for working-age households with a low income: income-related Employment and Support Allowance, income-based Jobseeker' ...

was fully introduced. The Council issued a report in 2018 which was strongly critical of Universal Credit.Cowburn, A.
Universal credit is 'broken' says report highlighting alarming rent arrears
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', published 29 November 2018, accessed 5 November 2022 Rent arrears among council tenants on Universal Credit are much higher than arrears among tenants on traditional benefits. Among two groups of council tenants investigated increase in arrears per claimant averaged between £586 and £309. The report disputed claims by ministers that rent arrears are temporary and notes that there are also arrears from tenants who have been on Universal Credit for over a year. Tenants who have been on Universal Credit for 15 months underpay rent by 7% on average. The report claims, "For now, the government must acknowledge that the current system is unworkable and broken. We strongly argue that the rollout of UC should be halted until radical steps are taken to fix the ongoing issues outlined in this research." Also use of

food bank A food bank is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger, usually through intermediaries like food pantries and soup kitchens. Some food banks distribute food direct ...

s in Southwark has risen by 30% from 2017 to 2018 since Universal Credit was introduced there and 80% of the increase is attributed to Universal Credit. Victoria Mills of Southwark Council said, "Any delay to payments for those who are already under immense financial pressure will result in unrecoverable debt and unacceptable stress on people's lives. (...) A year on from our first research, the issues have simply got worse. We have to act on this evidence now and look at how we can support our residents and the pressure on our services. This situation is echoed across the country. The government needs to take rapid steps to fix universal credit or acknowledge that they have created a system that is unworkable and broken."

References

External links

London Borough of Southwark website
{{Local authorities in London Local authorities in London London borough councils Politics of the London Borough of Southwark Leader and cabinet executives Local education authorities in England Billing authorities in England

History

Powers and functions

Universal Credit: criticism

See also

References

External links