The coalition government, public spending and social policy

This chapter highlights key features of the coalition government’s approach to public expenditure from 2010 to 2015. It notes the use of the ideas of ‘austerity’ and the public deficit to justify the extent and shape of cuts in public spending and argues that the ‘disaggregation’ of public spending as a result had a profound impact on the shape and nature of social policy in the UK, with some groups and services affected significantly more than others. The chapter suggests that under the Conservative government elected in 2015 the demands of austerity and the promise of a budget surplus by 2019/20 mean that the pressures on public spending and the welfare state will continue.