What do crime rates, NHS waiting times and the attainment gap in schools have in common? The answer is simple but tragic: all three measures have got worse in England over the last decade. In fact, almost across the board public services are failing to deliver for citizens. This is despite the UK having highest tax revenue since the 1940s (though still lower than comparable countries).
It appears that the basic social contract – by which voters pay in tax to a collective pot and government spends this effectively to provide a safety net and enable people to thrive – is now broken. It is little wonder then that trust in politics is in freefall and that measures of public satisfaction with public services like the NHS have been falling as well.
Why are public services failing? Has government really become less effective at teaching our children, keeping us safe and providing us with care? The answer to these questions is of course complex – and varies significantly between different public services – but two general trends can be outlined:
- First, there has been an increase in demand for public services. This is the result of growing populations, more complex needs (eg an ageing population) and higher public expectations as both social norms and the frontier of what is scientifically and technologically possible shifts.
- Second, the state has been constrained in its ability to deliver more and better services. The most widely discussed shift here is the choice to impose austerity in 2010, followed more recently by spending constraints imposed on the back of Covid-19 and the inflation crisis.
