Austerity bites

The austerity programme being introduced in Britain raises many questions: what is it really like to be at the sharp end of cuts? How are people coping? What kind of future do people envisage when, bit by bit, they believe their social safety net is being swept away? Austerity Bites reveals some of the lived realities for those bearing the brunt of cuts and welfare changes and to put human faces to the dry statistics and analysis of policy debates. It is first and foremost a compendium of the views, opinions, feelings and expectations of those suffering the most - across the whole of the UK. The author travelled the length and breadth of the country for six months in 2012-13, conducting over 100 interviews in 15 locations ranging from rural mining villages to inner city estates and witnessing the impact of austerity programmes as they were being rolled out. The themes explored in Austerity Bites are wide-ranging. What stands out in the book is the speed of change and how this affects people's ability to cope; the fact so many people say their fear of what lies ahead is so great that they are burying their head in the sand to avoid further stress; that ignorance around (in particular) welfare reform, has been fuelled not only by a lack of effective government communication but by repeated and relentless 'misinformation' by the media so that those who are struggling financially feel demonised by rhetoric from politicians and from the press - 'skivers and strivers' being among the most toxic. Austerity Bites draws on an extensive series of interviews with a broad spectrum of people ranging from homeless teenagers, older job-seekers, pensioners, disabled workers and lone parents to community volunteers, Citizen Advice Bureau workers, staff at charities, employment advisers and youth workers. This is supplemented by crowd sourcing first-person stories about the impact of austerity as the book is being written. This enables the inclusion of contemporaneous reactions to policy right up to final draft. Additional interviews and input from MPs, ministers, academics and others would complement the frontline research and broaden the scope by probing reactions and emerging policy suggestions.