27.01.15
Youngest children worst hit by Coalition’s selective cuts – report finds
Families with young children have been hit harder than any other household type under the Coalition’s cuts, despite early rhetoric highlighting the importance of the ‘foundation years, according to new research.
The study, carried out by LSE, The University of Manchester and University of York, highlighted that real spending per child on early education, childcare and Sure Start services fell by a quarter between 2009-10 and 2012-13.
The researchers added that year-on-year public spending has dropped less than 3%, but cuts of around a third have been made to ‘unprotected’ services, including those for pre-school children under five, vulnerable and older adults needing local authority social care.
Professor John Hills, director of CASE at LSE, said: “Protection of some of the core parts of the welfare state from the greatest cuts, and initial protection of the value of benefits, meant that those at the bottom and important services were initially shielded from the worst effects of the recession.
“But in the second part of the Coalition’s period, selective cuts to benefits and to unprotected services have begun to take their toll, leaving the next government, of whatever kind, with much greater social policy challenges than the Coalition inherited.”
The authors acknowledge that the Coalition faced a high level of debt and current budget deficit following the global financial crisis. However, its tax and benefit decisions meant that cuts to benefits and tax credits that hit low income families hardest were offset by tax reductions for better-off households and made no impact on the deficit.
To view the research ‘The Coalition’s Social Policy Record: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 2010-2015’ click here.
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