Budgeting and governing for deficit reduction in the UK public sector: act 2 ‘the annual budget’

Abstract

This paper explains how the UK government sets its annual budgets within the context of multi-year spending reviews, yet was able to announce policies in the 2011 annual budget that sat outside the 2010 spending review framework. As such, it illustrates that the budget process remains an enabler of changing circumstances and is not constrained by medium-term financial planning. This finding has implications for other jurisdictions that may be considering how best to balance annual flexibility with multi-year stability in public spending.

Keywords:

• Budgeting
• enabling
• multi-year planning
• practice theory
• public sector

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Laurence Ferry

Laurence Ferry is a lecturer in accounting at Newcastle University Business School, Newcastle University, UK.

Peter Eckersley

Peter Eckersley is a business change adviser at the Chartered Institute for Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) and a doctoral researcher at Newcastle University, UK.