The Government has the potential to save at least £30 billion a year over the spending review period without affecting frontline services.
In the wake of the coronavirus crisis, there will inevitably be calls for further tax rises to fill the gap in the nation’s finances. However, our new report outlines nine areas where the Government could make easy savings, or realise extra value, without increasing the burden on ordinary families and small businesses.
The proposals being put forward are:
Replacing the pensions triple lock with a double lock, and reducing the Winter Fuel Payment for richer pensioners
Forcing Government departments to reduce admin costs at the same rate as the private sector
Cutting the number of quangos and combining their back-office functions
Streamlining local government and its administrative costs
Improving e-procurement and data-sharing, as well as fixing other obvious problems with the procurement system
Selling a small proportion of public sector land, and replacing dilapidated schools, hospitals etc
Selling and replacing high-value council properties as they become vacant
Rolling child benefit into the child tax credit system, and tightening eligibility requirements
Cutting or redefining overseas aid in line with reduced global need.
On top of the 5% savings that the Chancellor asked each department to produce at the start of the year, this £30 billion a year should give the Chancellor much-needed headroom to cope with the increased spending and decreased tax revenues that result from the coronavirus lockdown and associated support measures.
Alex is Head of Policy at the CPS, overseeing our internal policy work. He was previously a Director at Field Consulting, but before that was responsible for housing and planning in the No 10 Policy Unit, including working on key policies in the 2015 manifesto. He was previously Head of Housing at Policy Exchange.