Institute for Government thinktank publishes annual survey of public services, saying prisons, hospitals and adult social care are ‘particularly dire’
In its report on the performance of public services (see 9.24am) the Institute for Government thinktank also says they will continue to get worse if the next government sticks to the current spending plans for 2025 onwards – as the Tories and Labour are both currently saying they plan to do. The IfG says:
When it was first announced, the 2021 spending review looked generous, with spending rising more quickly over the course of its three years than any other spending review since 2004. But unexpectedly high inflation has eroded the real-terms value of that settlement. While additional funding has been provided to some services, the tightness of these spending plans means that most will not be able to return to prepandemic performance levels by the end of this spending review period in March 2025.
The situation after the end of the current spending review is worse still. The government’s spending plans from April 2025 onwards – which Labour has also committed to – are incredibly tight, with just 1% annual real-terms increases pencilled in. But taking account of government commitments on foreign aid and defence, and funding that would be required to deliver the NHS long-term workforce plan, the settlements for unprotected areas of public spending will be much less, averaging -1.2% per year in real terms. If these spending plans were implemented, then it is likely that all services covered in this report, other than children’s social care, would be performing worse in 2027/28 than on the eve of the pandemic.
We are committed to backing our frontline services. We have invested record levels of funding in the NHS, as well as a further £14.1bn to cut wait times, and school funding is up by over £3.9bn this year, reaching the highest level in real terms per pupil in history.
As we continue to spend record levels on our public services continues to rise, to avoid tax increases for working people we must accelerate reform so that frontline workers can focus on what they do best – teaching our children, treating us when we’re sick and keeping us safe.
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