Responding to the Prime Minister’s invitation to public sector workers to suggest ways of cutting out waste in the public sector, UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, said:
“Of course UNISON members will co-operate in any exercise that helps cut out waste and delivers value for money for the taxpayer. They have been co-operating with the Gershon reviews for the past three years and have delivered efficiency savings of 6%.
“But the Prime Minister is misleading the country by claiming that you can shave a massive 25% off budgets just by cutting “waste”. The efficiency savings made over the past three years have cut out most of the waste – there is very little fat left to cut.
“There is no escaping the fact that a 25% cut will inevitably strike deep into the heart of the vital services that we all rely on. But it will hit the poorest and the most vulnerable the most.
“I would urge the Government to revisit these impossible cuts and consider what devastation they will cause to our society and our local communities.”