Jon Sibson

After the Spending Review, by Jon Sibson

20 October 2010 | Jon Sibson

The axe has fallen and the public sector recession will be with us for four years. The severity of the spending cuts announced today goes beyond anything in living memory.   This Spending Review, more than any other,  will have far-reaching impacts, not just within the public sector, but on businesses, communities, and individuals.
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Shock tactics, by Jon Sibson

22 June 2010 | Jon Sibson

It is clear that the long-awaited public sector recession has now started with a bang.  It may not feel like it, but today’s Emergency Budget could have been even tougher.  The decision by the chancellor to look at benefits as one source of spending reductions, and his willingness to countenance tax rises, means that Departmental Expenditure Limits (DEL) will not be under quite such severe pressure as seemed possible a month or so ago. Read more...

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Taking charge, by Jon Sibson

22 April 2010 | Jon Sibson

Top-up fees have worked in other countries and must be considered as an alternative way of raising revenue Read more...

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The hidden Budget, by Jon Sibson

24 March 2010 | Jon Sibson

On the face of it, the budget was a quiet one for the public sector. The chancellor was clear that he was broadly going to stick to his spending plans for next year, 2010/11. As expected, there was no appetite to tighten spending in the weeks before an election. Read more...

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Reset the retirement timetable, by Jon Sibson

25 February 2010 | Jon Sibson

This generation is enjoying longer lives and longer periods of retirement than any of its predecessors.  It’s a result of improved standards of living, medical advances and other factors and is clearly very good news in many ways.  But these big changes also create a number of significant challenges, especially to the government’s fiscal position through higher costs of state pensions, health and long-term care.  This challenge is compounded in the UK (and other advanced economies) by the retirement of the baby-boom generation during the next two decades. Read more...

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Expect the worst, by Jon Sibson

11 December 2009 | Jon Sibson

Public sector leaders did not learn much about what the future holds for them following the  Pre-Budget Report or the Smarter government paper. Read more...

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Cut sooner and deeper, by Jon Sibson

13 October 2009 | Jon Sibson

Although there are signs that the recession might be easing, it has taken a heavy toll on the UK’s public finances, with a structural budget deficit of around 10% of gross domestic product expected this year.  Higher public borrowing is unavoidable in the short term, but government has a responsibility to plan now to put the public finances back on a sustainable footing in the medium term. Read more...

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Borrowing blues, by Jon Sibson

18 September 2009 | Jon Sibson

This morning’s public borrowing figures show a budget deficit (PSNB) for April–August 2009 of £65.3bn, compared with £26.1bn in the same period last year. Extrapolating these figures forward suggests that weak tax receipts will push borrowing some way above the Treasury’s £175bn forecast for 2009/10 as a whole. Read more...

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Doing nothing is not an option, by Jon Sibson

8 September 2009 | Jon Sibson

There is no doubt, as the chancellor stated in his Callaghan Lecture earlier today, that there is a need to make tough choices. Government has a responsibility to plan now to put the public finances back on a sustainable basis in the medium term. But with a rising tide of public sector debt, and a major budget deficit to close, the question is – how can the fiscal gap be bridged? Read more...

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