500,000 public sector jobs to go

Almost 500,000 public sector jobs will be axed over the next four years, as part of the Coalition Government’s Spending Review announced today.

Chancellor George Osborne confirmed the Office for Budget Responsibility had estimated 490,000 jobs could go over the four years covered by the comprehensive spending review.

"Much of it will be achieved through natural turnover, by leaving posts unfilled as they become vacant. Estimates suggest a turnover rate of over 8 per cent in the public sector," he told MPs.

"But yes, there will be some redundancies ... that is unavoidable when the country has run out of money."

The Coalition plans to cut more than £80 billion in public spending over the next four years in a bid to cut the country’s £109 billion budget deficit.

Public sector workers also face increased pension contributions and a two-year pay freeze.

Spending on the NHS, schools will be be ring-fenced. But Osborne said spending on police would fall by 4 per cent each year.