Cuts to public services in England will ‘reverse’ gender equality, unions warn | Public services policy

Further cuts to public services in England will put gender equality “into reverse”, according to women’s groups and unions that have urged the chancellor to ignore calls for tax cuts from the right of his party in next week’s spring budget.

The Fawcett Society, the TUC and Women’s Aid are among those who have written to the chancellor to “demand that women are not hit by further government cuts to public services”.

They argue that women have already been hit hardest by 14 years of cuts to health, social care, early education and services for survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence.

Last week, the economic thinktank Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the chancellor should not announce unfunded tax cuts in the budget. The IFS calculates Jeremy Hunt would need to find £35bn of cuts from already threadbare public services to pay for pre-election giveaways. Departmental spending already faces a £19bn real-term loss by 2027-28, according to a forecast by the Office for Budget Responsability, as a result of inflation and decisions made in last year’s autumn statement.

The letter warning of the impact of further cuts states that women are now seven times more likely than men to be out of the labour market due to caring responsibilities – a number that rises to 12 times more likely for black and minority ethnic women.

The letter states: “If we do not invest in our public services, we risk not just stifling progress towards women’s equality but sending it into reverse.”

The signatories, which also include the Women’s Budget Group, Pregnant then Screwed, Maternity Action and the Runnymede Trust, say that social care, early years education and childcare, and support for victim-survivors of domestic and sexual abuse have been slashed as councils struggle with budget cuts.

They argue that the UK’s education and health workforce – three-quarters of whom are women – have seen 14 years of “real terms pay cuts” and that average public sector pay has fallen by 7% in real terms between 2021 and 2023, which has had “a devastating toll on women’s living standards”.

The letter states that in some areas services for survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence are closing despite rising demand, while chronic underfunding of social care and early education and childcare has created a recruitment and retention crisis.

It adds: “At a time when our schools and hospitals are crumbling and when local authorities are struggling to provide even basic services – the government must prioritise funding our public services over tax cuts.”

The letter comes as the UK marks the largest annual fall in rankings experienced by any OECD country this year, in PwC’s annual Women in Work Index.

The UK fell from 13th place to 17th place in the rich country table, which analyses progress made in achieving gender equality at work. The report also found that the UK’s gender pay gap has widened by 0.2 percentage points, bringing it above the OECD average.