A taxing issue

Following a change in direction on funding for public services in response to clear operational pressures, the next government will have to make trade-offs in order to maintain standards The Institute for Government's latest Performance Tracker, produced in partnership with CIPFA, finds that most public services - apart from prisons and children's social care - became more efficient during the early years of austerity. In response, in summer 2 018, Theresa May's government moved to address some of these pressures, and offered above-inflation pay rises to school teachers, NHS staff, prison officers and police officers. The school spending boost is expected to effectively reverse cuts to per-pupil spending since 2010, while the plans to recruit more police officers would - if successful - take numbers back to just below 2010 levels.