PUBLIC-SECTOR spending is “totally unsustainable” and needs more long-term planning to prevent services becoming stuck in a “perpetual state of crisis,” a think tank has said.

In its annual report, the Institute for Government says that the next government is likely to face “huge” pressure to provide more generous funding settlements.

Current spending plans, which Labour has vowed to follow to if it wins the next general election, mean some of Britain’s “crumbling” services are likely to deteriorate further.

Published today, the report says that funding cuts, a lack of capital investment and disruption caused by strikes all contribute to worsening the performance of public services, including hospitals, GPs, police, courts, prisons, adult social care, schools and children’s social care.

Institute programme director and report author Nick Davies said: “Public services are in a dire state and will likely deteriorate further if whoever forms the next government sticks to current spending plans.

“Improvements are possible, but difficult decisions will be necessary to break out of the negative cycle of short-termism that has characterised government decision-making, particularly in recent years.”

Public services are performing worse than they did before the coronavirus pandemic and much worse than they did when the Conservatives came to power in 2010, the report added.

Some, such as adult social care, have seen additional funding eaten up by higher costs, which, according to the institute, means that there has been “little progress in reducing unmet and under-met need.”

The think tank added that there was “no meaningful fat to trim” after more than a decade of austerity and that further cuts would damage service performance even more.

“In the absence of serious action to improve public service productivity, the government risks getting stuck in a ‘doom loop,’ with the perpetual state of crisis burning out staff and preventing services from taking the best long-term decisions,” the report said.

“Escaping this will not be easy and whoever forms the next government will be hindered by the short-sighted decisions of its predecessors.”

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Austerity cuts have consequences, not just for our hard-working members who might lose their jobs but for those members remaining who have to cover the extra work of their former colleagues and for those who rely on the services our members provide. 

“We would agree with this report in that cost-cutting is short-sighted and counterproductive. We need more civil servants, not less.”