Inflation means big NHS cuts, and that's just the start of the Government's problems 🔵 Will_Tanner for ipaperviews
Most of the public conversation about inflation has focused on the impact of households. This is understandable: millions of people could face an invidious choice between heating and eating this winter, it costs £100 to fill up your car, and you can’t evenany more. The impact of the next few months on household budgets is going to be horrific – and the next Government will need to respond.
But the Government faces its own inflationary armageddon, too. This week the Institute for Fiscal Studies set out the outlook for public service budgets from the latest inflation forecasts. Higher-than-expected prices mean that, under their model, the Treasury’s planned 4.3 per cent increase in NHS spending between 2021/22 and 2024/25 will in fact be more like 2.9 per cent, with real terms cuts in latter years because spending is front loaded. Schools fare even worse.
The fact that this comes in the aftermath of the pandemic makes things infinitely worse. While the NHS has made laudable progress on the two-year waiting times,and nearly 60,000 legal cases await a hearing in the crown courts. For services exhausted by coronavirus, straining to clear backlogs on top of normal demand and possibly disrupted further by strike action, the hit from inflation may feel like a return to austerity.
But public spending is only the half of it; inflation is set to play havoc with every part of the public sector where earnings play a role. Take, for example, the £25,600 salary threshold for skilled workers to get a visa to work in the UK, designed to restrict migration to higher skilled occupations and protect low-paid workers from being undercut by overseas labour.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Martin Lewis faces up to a world he can no longer fixMartin Lewis has once again urged the British government to intervene to help people cope with soaring annual energy bills. Our column from April explains how the money-saving expert found himself in an increasingly political position
Read more »
NHS waiting list in England rises to 6.73 million with record number of year-long delays🔴 NHS waiting list in England rises to 6.73 million with record number of year-long delays ➡️ The Royal College of Surgeons called on the Government to make funding promised for surgical hubs available immediately in response to the latest figures
Read more »
The Secret of Monkey Island saw 25% of its dialogue cut before releaseTechnological constraints meant that the original Monkey Island game saw 25 percent of its dialogue text cut before it …
Read more »
Ambulance calls for most serious conditions hit recordOfficial figures from NHS England suggest high demand for emergency services and hospitals.
Read more »
Revenge Travel May Be a Big Problem for Thailand's Maya BayThe world famous cove's ecosystem recovered during the pandemic but is threatened again as travel resumes
Read more »