The UK government’s spending review has impacted a wide variety of departments and services. Here’s our potted guide to how it will affect families, parents and those in education.
Education
- “Train to Gain” programme axed
- University teaching budget cut by 40%
- Further education budget cut by 25%
- Science budget to be frozen
- Direct funding to English schools to be protected, rising 0.1% in real terms each year, to increase from £35bn to £39bn
- School building budget to fall 60%
- £2.5bn ‘pupil premium’ for teaching disadvantaged students
Housing
- Funding for social housing cut by over 60%: new tenants to pay higher rents
- Savings to be put towards 150,000 new ‘affordable’ houses
Employment
- Retirement age for men (currently 65) to rise from 2018, reaching 66 by 2020. Same for women, meaning faster increase
Benefits
- Child benefit scrapped for higher rate tax payers
- £2bn investment in new universal credit. Weekly child element on child tax credit to rise by £30 in 2012 and £50 by 2012
- Threshold on council tax benefit, and cuts for those on employment benefits
- Total benefits cap per family
Of course, other decisions may also impact families, such as job losses in the public sector.
See the BBC’s key points at a glance.
