By Tash Shifrin
The axe is set to fall on 350,000 public sector jobs over the next five years as the squeeze on public spending takes hold, experts have warned.
John Philpott, chief economist and director of public policy at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said the government’s moves to tackle a ‘bloodbath in the public finances’, announced in the Budget, would result in a total of 350,000 job cuts in the public sector between 2010/11 and 2014/15.
The sweeping cuts would be preceded by around 30,000 job losses in local authorities in the next year, Philpott said.
He told Public Finance that the job losses would reduce current public sector staff numbers of 5–6 million by around 6%. The calculations were based on the spending plans and efficiency programmes outlined in the Budget and ‘looking at what usually tends to happen to public sector employment when you get increases and decreases [in funding]’, Philpott said.
Philpott told PF that the 350,000 figure was likely to underestimate the actual number of job losses.
‘After the election, the [spending] cuts will be bigger than currently projected, under either party. Come 2010, there will be a Spending Review and probably something coming along that’s tougher than what we have to date.’
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis commented: ‘To lose that number of jobs in the public sector can only harm patients, pupils and the vulnerable.’
The axe is set to fall on 350,000 public sector jobs over the next five years as the squeeze on public spending takes hold, experts have warned.
John Philpott, chief economist and director of public policy at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said the government’s moves to tackle a ‘bloodbath in the public finances’, announced in the Budget, would result in a total of 350,000 job cuts in the public sector between 2010/11 and 2014/15.
The sweeping cuts would be preceded by around 30,000 job losses in local authorities in the next year, Philpott said.
He told Public Finance that the job losses would reduce current public sector staff numbers of 5–6 million by around 6%. The calculations were based on the spending plans and efficiency programmes outlined in the Budget and ‘looking at what usually tends to happen to public sector employment when you get increases and decreases [in funding]’, Philpott said.
Philpott told PF that the 350,000 figure was likely to underestimate the actual number of job losses.
‘After the election, the [spending] cuts will be bigger than currently projected, under either party. Come 2010, there will be a Spending Review and probably something coming along that’s tougher than what we have to date.’
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis commented: ‘To lose that number of jobs in the public sector can only harm patients, pupils and the vulnerable.’
