Salami slicing versus reform

Posted by Ben Lee, NANM Director

Salami-slicing is - cutting funding for neighbourhood-based staff who carry out home safety checks for older residents, even though this is a fraction of the cost of hospital stays for older people who have accidents at home.

Public sector reform is - brokering deals in which Primary Care Trusts pay neighbourhood management and Fire Service teams set fees for each home safety visit they make which meets the full cost of those visits - and linking the budget for this to the cost of hospital stays resulting from home injuries.

Salami slicing is - placing higher burdens of proof on community sector employment support organisations in terms of impact, than the burden of proof placed on public sector teams performing a similar role.

Public sector reform is - taking the staffing budgets for the co-ordination of employment and jobs-related partnership boards where they have been ineffective, and diverting the money instead to community organisations who help people get involved in volunteering as the first step towards work.

Salami slicing is - stopping small grants for community groups who mobilise higher response rates to local planning consultations pound-for-pound than the in-house planning, consultation and communication units.

Public sector reform is - re-tasking council planning officers to reduce the time they spend on reactive tasks, and increase their capacity for outreach with community groups in poor neighbourhoods whose residents are less likely to respond and more likley to suffer a poor built environment.