Government finances and spending

The 2020 Spending Review, due to conclude on 25 November, will not be the comprehensive, multi-year review we were originally promised. Instead, the Chancellor has decided to set plans for 2021−22 only – a sensible decision in the circumstances. But while this Spending Review might be more short-term in its nature than usual, it will still contain important announcements.

This year's Spending Review is likely to be the most difficult to date. At this event, Ben Zaranko looked ahead to the upcoming Spending Review, and outlined the options, opportunities and challenges facing the Chancellor. He was joined by Graham Atkins from IfG, who looked at the impact of Covid on public services.

The COVID-19 crisis has been a perfect financial storm for councils, pushing up spending and hitting local income streams. This event explained how the COVID-19 crisis has been affecting local finances and economies, how councils have been responding, and key issues for the next few years as we seek to recover.

At this event, senior researchers from the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the National Institute of Economic and Social Research joined together to look at how Covid-19 has impacted the public finances.

Last week saw significant political debate about the amount of extra funding being given to English councils moving into tier 3 (‘very high alert’) of the government’s COVID alert system. Most of the attention focused on funding to help pay for additional business support measures – such as grants for businesses legally able to open but facing big falls in demand – on top of those being funded directly by central government.

The last few days have seen free school meals in England rocket to the front of the papers, as many MPs, campaign groups and businesses have lined up behind Marcus Rashford’s proposals to extend free school meal vouchers through the school holidays until Easter next year. While the motion was defeated last week, the Labour party has promised to bring the motion again – and several Conservative MPs have already indicated that it may receive a more sympathetic hearing the second time around.

'The present crisis might yet turn out to be that kind of more permanent shock as, in all probability, will Brexit. As we saw after the 1980s, permanent shocks can leave lasting scars.'

The IFS Green Budget 2020, in association with Citi and with funding from the Nuffield Foundation, analyses the huge economic trauma since the March Budget and the much heightened uncertainty over the path of the economy in coming years. The findings from chapters covering the economic and fiscal outlook were presented at this event.

Choices over benefits policy are never easy. There are unavoidable trade-offs between cost, generosity and incentives. This year offers an opportunity to improve what we’ve got and to make a conscious choice over how generous we want the system to be.