Since taking power in 2010, the Coalition Government in the United Kingdom has pushed through a drastic program of cuts to public spending, all in the name of austerity. The effects on large segments of the population, dependent on programs whose funding was slashed, have been devastating and will continue to be felt for generations. This timely book by journalist Mary O'Hara chronicles the real-world effects of austerity, removing it from the bland, technocratic language of politics and showing just what austerity means to ordinary lives. Drawing on hundreds of hours of first-person interviews with a wide range of people and, in the paperback edition, featuring an updated afterword by the author, the book explores the grim reality of living amid the biggest reduction of the welfare state in the postwar era and offers a compelling corrective to narratives of shared sacrifice.

Austerity has proven deadly. Over the last decade, the damage caused by austerity measures in the UK has had a long-lasting and profound effect on many lives. The first edition of Austerity Bites offered on-the-ground reportage of one of the most significantly regressive economic strategies of any post-war government. Over a year Mary O’Hara toured the UK to gauge the immediate impact – and expectations of people affected – and found many clinging to the hope that austerity cuts would not last long as the damage became increasingly apparent. Alas, this was not how things unfolded. Instead, much of the Welfare State had its vital support systems systematically undermined. The public sector, including the NHS, is now on its knees. Schools are buckling under multiple structural and budgetary pressures. Councils – even big ones – are going broke. Homelessness is rampant. While Brexit, the pandemic, and war have no doubt impacted the economic health of the country, previous austerity cuts left the UK less prepared to weather such extraordinary events. With new commentary, Austerity Bites 10 Years On assesses on the true scale of the damage these policies have inflicted on the country’s most vulnerable groups, public institutions and on the wider society. It reflects on where we have been, where we are now and what needs to happen next to undo the damage and avoid the same mistakes again.

After coming to power in May 2010, the Coalition government in the United Kingdom embarked on a drastic programme of cuts to public spending and introduced a raft of austerity measures that had profoundly damaging effects on much of the population. This timely and apposite book by award-winning journalist Mary OHara chronicles the true impact of austerity on people at the sharp end, based on her real-time 12-month journey around the country just as the most radical reforms were being rolled out in 2012 and 2013. Drawing on hundreds of hours of compelling first-person interviews, with a broad spectrum of people ranging from homeless teenagers, older job-seekers, pensioners, charity workers, employment advisers and youth workers, as well as an extensive body of research and reports, the book explores the grim reality of living under the biggest shakeup of the welfare state in 60 years. A must-read book, Austerity Bites seeks to dispel any notion that we are all in this together and offers an alternative to the dominant and simplistic narrative that we inhabit a country of skivers versus strivers.

This book explores the issues raised by the changing climate within which educational planning will take place in the final years of the 20th century. The volume focuses on the problems faced by countries hardest hit by economic recession and the need for adjustment to a changing economic environment. Organized into six chapters, the book addresses specific concerns following an introduction. The first concern, explored in chapters 2 and 3, charts recent trends in educational financing in developing countries, emphasizing the important differences that have emerged in the ability and willingness to allocate resources to education in different countries. Chapter 4 discusses the consequences that are likely to follow from level funding and diminished resources for education and develops eight propositions that illustrate the consequences. Austerity may bring with it unexpected changes. The changes are not simply those that might be anticipated from a reversal of growth patterns, and they have qualitatively different characteristics. Chapter 5 looks at themes that provide the basis for planning educational provision in austerity. It includes a discussion of changes in organizational climate in conditions of meagerness and contraction; proposals for assessment of the room to maneuver that exists in educational policy; suggestions for the development of monitoring systems that can indicate the sensitivity of educational quality to changes in inputs; and a review of the options open to resist contraction in resources, increase the efficiency of delivery, and refinance provision from sources other than public expenditure. Chapter 6 presents concluding remarks that synthesize the main findings and emphasize the central theme of protecting educational provision for the most vulnerable groups in developing countries that are most at risk for reductions in expenditures. A bibliography of more than 100 citations is included. (DB)