Tax and benefits warning over local government job losses

Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Local Government and also in Central Government

Making one council worker redundant loses the Government thousands of pounds in lost taxes and extra revenue and benefits payments, according to a report out today on the "shocking" cost of public sector job cuts.

Unison urged the Government to think again about its austerity measures, warning that heavy job losses in the public sector were hitting vital services and damaging the country's chances of economic recovery.

The union calculated that a council worker earning £20,000 a year paid almost £5,000 in taxes and national insurance but would cost over £11,000 in benefits, such as Jobseeker's Allowance and child tax credit, and lost revenue.

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: "Sacking public sector workers makes no sense at all. The figures don't stack up. The Government might make short-term savings by cutting jobs but they soon lose out in the longer term. Communities too pay dearly, as services they rely on vanish, and as demand in local shops and businesses plummets, hitting economic recovery.

"With 2011 looming, the Government should reflect on the real cost of its drive to cut public spending.

"Up and down the country, hardworking families are paying with their jobs for a recession they did nothing to cause. Meanwhile, the financial institutions that caused the downturn get off with a rap on the knuckles over their bonuses, which many simply ignored.

"The notion that the private sector will come to the rescue is just another government pipedream. It is suffering too and is set to haemorrhage jobs in the new year, as spending cuts bite deeper.

"The Government's austerity measures threaten to drag our country to the brink, increasing the gap between the rich and the poor, pricing people out of further education, and hitting people's life chances. The new year presents an opportunity for the Government to learn from experience and think again."

Unions say tens of thousands of public sector jobs will be axed in the new year because of the huge government cuts in spending.