Margaret Cuthbert and Jim Cuthbert

The financial crisis and the Comprehensive Spending Review have put severe pressure on public sector bodies to cut back on spending and to increase efficiency. The way in which the axe will fall on services, however, may be far from even-handed. Some commitments entered into in the days of relative plenty are contractual commitments that will last in some cases for possibly 50 years. Once these contractual commitments are honoured, then the squeeze required on other service areas may be disproportionately severe. Read more...