Spending your way out of debt‏

As most major parties clamber to suggest which way is the best to cut public expenditure a very useful resource from the web demonstrates that maintaining employment helps pay off government debt, but cutting public sector jobs will slow the pace of repayment down or even require more borrowing.
http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2009/07/08/govspend/

Using a case study on the cost of a person earning £25,000 per annum who is a single parent with a child of school age, it is abundantly clear that paying to keep people in work pays. Particularly if what they do has long term benefit that saves cost into the future. That cost saving – for instance from green efficiencies - has only to be £2,000 for it to be entirely worthwhile creating a job out of government spending to keep this person in work. And that is before any account is taken of the social costs of being in employment, which are substantial in terms of reduced crime, improved educational outcome, better health, and more besides.

It should be argued by UNISON regions and branches that the obligation on local councils to protect and maintain their communities should mean no redundancies, for in the short term this may reduce budgets, but in the long term it will increases costs, put pressure on services and strain our social fabric.