The Contracting State: Austerity and Public Services

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the ‘contracting state’ under Cameron, and reviews developments in three major public services since 2010: health, education and welfare, paying attention to the way in which these reforms affect the agency of the people who rely on these services. The Conservative-led coalition that was elected in 2010 made deep cuts to public spending in an effort to bring down the deficit, which they argued would restore economic growth. In practice, sluggish growth over the next few years meant that the cuts to public spending and services were less harsh than planned. However, the distributional effect of the cuts was uneven, with lower income, working-age households suffering disproportionally. In England and Wales, in organisational terms, austerity meant an extension of quasi-market reforms – particularly in health and education – that had been a feature of UK public administration since the 1980s. Pressure to cut public spending was also passed down to local government, ‘hollowing out’ a significant area of public provision and constraining their agency.