Welcome to the Public Works blog.

Public Works is UNISON Scotland's campaign for jobs, services, fair taxation and the Living Wage. This blog will provide news and analysis on the delivery of public services in Scotland. We welcome comments and if you would like to contribute to this blog, please contact Kay Sillars k.sillars@unison.co.uk - For other information on what's happening in UNISON Scotland please visit our website.

Thursday, 5 December 2013

Austerity uncovered

On the day of the Chancellor's 'Autumn' Statement (doesn't feel very autumnish!), the TUC has released a film that uncovers the reality behind George Osborne's ideological drive to slash public services.

This video shares some of the stories and experiences they heard on their travels and if one things clear it's that austerity is hurting, but it isn't working. 

The TUC has also published a new report 'Is Social Security Spending Really Out Of Control?'. This compares social security spending over the course of this parliament with the UK government’s original forecast in 2010, as well as taking a longer term look at welfare spending over the last three decades. It highlights the rising number of working people living in poverty is causing the government to spend billions more than planned on social security.

The report examines the main areas of social security spending – which is set to be £9.2bn a year more than originally forecast by 2014-15 – and finds that rising in-work poverty, caused by real wage falls and the concentration of new jobs in low paying industries, is the main cause of over-spending.

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