Comprehensive Spending Review halted due to Covid
Sunak says now is not the time for a full review, but reiterates pay restraint warning. Richard Johnstone reports
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has confirmed that plans for a full review of government spending have been postponed to free up departments to focus on the coronavirus response.
Instead of the planned Comprehensive Spending Review to set budgets across government from 2021-22 to 2023-24 for revenue spending and 2024-25 for capital spending, there will be a one-year settlement instead.
The Treasury said the decision prioritised the response to Covid-19, and government’s focus on supporting jobs. The announcement will be made in late November.
However, multi-year NHS and schools settlements, which have already been agreed, will stay in place, as will spending plans for priority infrastructure projects such as the High Speed 2 rail project and the government’s hospital-building plan.
Announcing the decision, Sunak said: “In the current environment it’s essential that we provide certainty. So we’ll be doing that for departments and all of the nations of the United Kingdom by setting budgets for next year, with a total focus on tackling Covid and delivering our plan for jobs.”
The one-year review will also focus on providing “enhanced support” for public services to continue to fight against coronavirus, the Treasury said.
The announcement also reiterated that the government will “exercise restraint in future public sector pay awards, ensuring that across this year and the spending review period, public sector pay levels retain parity with the private sector”.
“It’s essential that we provide certainty, so we’ll be setting budgets for next year, with a total focus on tackling Covid and delivering our plan for jobs”