Owen Tudor

The CSR statements for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department for International Development (DFID) show that overseas aid will grow over the next few years by 37% – but the vast majority of that increase will not come until the last possible minute to meet the UN aid target of 0.7%, which means that the coalition will spend less on overseas aid than the last government planned. But spending on administration (mostly staff numbers and salaries) will be reduced in both departments by 33% over the next four years – massive reductions in employment in both which will surely endanger the ability of both departments to meet their objectives.

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• Employers cool on ex-public sector workers, survey finds
  The government has claimed that lots of private sector job opportunities will open up to compensate public sector workers who lose their jobs. But this survey by Hays recruiting suggests that moving into the private sector may actually be very difficult.

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Nicola Smith

One benefit for people over 65 was cut today – the one that helps the pensioners that have the least. The maximum award under Savings Credit (the part of Pension Credit that goes to those who have a second pension or modest savings) will be frozen for four years from 2011/12. While it is good news for the poorest pensioners that Pension Credit entitlements will not be frozen, those who are only a little better off will experience a real terms income cut.

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Nicola Smith

The June Budget already contained savage cuts to Housing Benefit.  And today there was one more – the shared room rate (the rate of benefit paid to single homeless people who are aged under 25)  was extended to homeless adults aged 25-34.  This means that the amount of Housing Benefit that single adults in a ten year age bracket can receive has fallen dramatically.

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Richard Exell

Look, with a spot I damn him

With just one line today’s Spending Review abolished one of the most progressive reforms introduced by the last government. The Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) is to be “replaced” by “locally managed discretionary funds to target support.” We all know what is going to happen to anything “discretionary” over the next few years.

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Nicola Smith

Today’s CSR announced that the Government is committed to “reducing spending on Council Tax Benefits by 10 per cent and localising it, saving £490 million a year from 2013-14, while protecting the most vulnerable.” What this means is anyone’s guess. The worst case scenario is that the poorest people in the UK will be required to pay more Council Tax and that local councils will be expected to put in resources to hounding their ‘most vulnerable’ residents (the only people who qualify for CTB) into paying up. Half a billion a year from 2013/14 to the Government directly from the pockets of those who have the least – essentially a significant tax rise for those who are already on the lowest incomes.

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Alice Hood

Thanks to Danny Alexander’s gaffe we already knew that we would be told today that the spending review will cost 490,000 public sector jobs. In his statement to the Commons, the Chancellor confirmed that estimate, which was actually taken from the Office of Budget Responsibility projections at the time of the June budget. An updated forecast will be published on 29 November and it seems like a fair bet it will show a worsening picture.

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Matt Dykes

There’s a sense of relief as the CSR gave the green light to a range of capital transport projects with potential positive impacts on regional economies.  High Speed Rail, Tyne and Wear Metro, the Mersey Gateway, Midland Metro, Nottingham Tram, Crossrail and a number of significant road schemes remain on track.  Some might point to the absence of the electrification of rail lines to Wales and the South West and the Thames Gateway Bridge as notable absences but the Department for Transport’s capital budget has come through better than some feared.

While this is clearly welcome there are also huge concerns, with rail commuters, bus services and other local transport services shouldering the burden.

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Iain Murray

The announcements on further education and skills in the comprehensive spending review indicate that, by and large, adult students and older employees will feel the brunt of cuts to provision. The apprenticeship programme aimed at young people is the clear winner with a commitment to fund an additional 75,000 places for people aged 19-25 at an extra annual cost of £250M by the end of the spending review (i.e. compared with the long-term plans of the previous government).

There is also a more general commitment to fund an increase in all kinds of education and training provision for 16-19 year-olds, which includes those staying on at school and others attending college or taking up apprenticeships.  However, there is a sting in the tail for young people with the announcement that Education Maintenance Allowances, which provide means-tested financial support for 16-19 year-olds, will be replaced with ‘more targeted support’ that will result in a cut of half a billion pounds. 

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Nigel Stanley

Buried in the spending review today is confirmation that the government is to continue funding the new NEST low -cost pension due to start in 2012.

Its future had been in doubt following the establishment of the independent (if consumer-free) review by the government – which I understand is likely to report next week. There was a strong lobby to tear the heart out of the post Turner Commission pension reforms, but it looks like this has been beaten off – as getting rid of NEST was one of its key objectives.  

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