Blog: The government tries to look like it ’s giving, but it’s taking away

Christina McAnea presenting UNISON’s petition to the Treasury, demanding Chancellor Rishi Sunak rebuild public services. © Jess Hurd For days we’ve been bombarded with big numbers from the Treasury. The chancellor claims that billions of pounds will be injected into the NHS, transport, science and crime prevention. This is designed to dazzle and impress, leaving little time to catch the details – like how many years the money is for and how different it is from the usual baseline. It could also take attention away from the national insurance rise, the cut to universal credit and a decade of damaging public sector funding squeezes, pay freezes and a ‘pay pause’ at the height of the pandemic. The government tries to look like it’s giving, but it’s taking away with the other hand. UNISON has called on the chancellor to rebuild our public services in his spending review. Central to that are the people who run each service. To have enough workers, on enough pay, the chancellor must deliver sustainable long-term investment. Government departments, devolved nations and councils need the money to scrap the pay freeze and give public service workers the pay rise they need and deserve. Considering the 16% real terms fall in public sector pay since 2009, the soaring costs of pretty much everything, the £20 per week universal cut and the rise in NI, the pay freeze could continue in all but name and, in some cases, leave some families with even less. And that’s only when...
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: General secretary's blog News Christina McAnea pay freeze spending review Source Type: news