Austerity UK: What We've Lost Through Cuts

Government cuts since 2010 have had a huge impact on many people's lives - but experts are warning that more pain lies ahead.

The Government's austerity measures have sparked many protests

The respected Institute for Fiscal Studies warns the UK is set for "cuts on a colossal scale" following George Osborne's Autmun Statement.

Taking a look at some of the cuts since 2010 - bearing in mind that only 40% of the required cuts have been made - helps put into context how much pain may be ahead in the years to come.
:: Housing Benefit
The Government introduced the spare room subsidy - AKA the "Bedroom Tax" - with the aim of reducing overcrowding and making better use of social housing.

The bedroom tax has been one of the Government's most controversial reforms

Working age claimants in social housing with one spare bedroom lose 14% of their housing benefit and those with two empty rooms lose 25%.
The controversial policy potentially affects one million households with extra bedrooms who receive housing benefit, costing them £14-a-week on average.

Video: May 2014: May Shown 'Stolen Goods'

Two-thirds of people affected by the tax are disabled, according to a Department of Work and Pensions equality impact assessment. However, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has contested that figure.
:: Police
Home Office statistics show the number of police workers fell by almost 16,000 to 209,362 between 2009 and 2014.
The police watchdog, Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary (HMIC), said earlier this year that 17 out of the 43 police forces may "struggle to sustain themselves in the medium term in light of continued austerity".
The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) said more than 34,000 jobs - one in six of the total - are expected to go as a result of austerity measures over the next three years.
ACPO president Sir Hugh Orde warned more cuts would inflict much more damage on frontline policing than has been seen so far.
:: Benefit Uprating

Video: Sept 2014: Danatt Criticises Cuts

From April 2013 key working age benefits were set to rise by 1%-a-year, meaning for the first time in history benefits did not rise in line with inflation. Disability benefits were not affected.
According to the Children's Society, the change costs a single parent with two children, earning £530-a-week as a nurse, £424-a-year.
The Chancellor announced at this year's Conservative Party conference that a future Tory government would go further, freezing working age benefits for two years to save an estimated £3bn.
:: Armed Forces
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said cuts to the Armed Forces under the Army 2020 Strategic Defence and Security Review plan were "unavoidable".
More than 12,000 service personnel have been made redundant since 2011 as Army numbers fall from 102,000 in 2010 to 82,000 by 2018 - but the National Audit Office (NAO) warned the cuts had been launched without "appropriate testing of feasibility".
Plans to boost the number of Army reservists from around 19,400 to 30,000 are behind schedule with the NAO suggesting the change could be delayed until 2025.

 Lib Dems Pull 'Bedroom Tax' Support

Former head of the British Army Lord Dannatt called the cuts "dangerous" and suggested the Armed Forces should actually be expanding in light of instability in Ukraine and the Middle East.
:: Legal Aid
In 2010, then-Justice Secretary Ken Clarke pledged to cut civil legal aid by £350m by 2015. The cut-off for claiming legal aid was set at a household income of £32,000 and anyone earning between £14,000 and £32,000 was subject to means testing.
The move excluded many people from getting legal aid in family law cases such as divorces and child custody disputes, immigration cases and employment hearings.
Housing and debt matters and most welfare benefit cases were also excluded, just at the time when changes to the benefits system increased the likelihood of claimants seeking legal help.
Ministry of Justice figures show that in 2013/14, some 43,000 fewer people were given legal aid to be represented in court and 420,000 fewer were given legal help than in the year before the legislation was introduced.
:: Local Government

 Legal Aid 'Saved' Gary McKinnon

Councils have had to bear the brunt of George Osborne's cuts so far - plans for a 27% reduction in central government funding were announced in 2010.
Many key services have been hit as a result, from libraries and bin collections to social care for the elderly and disabled.
Some areas of council spending, such as education, are ring-fenced - but programmes such as Labour's school building effort, which were unprotected, were scrapped.
The Local Government Association says by May 2015 funding for councils will be 40% lower than in 2010 - and warns that further cuts without radical reform will have a detrimental impact on people’s quality of life.