Birmingham University lecturer is apprehensive after budget

Jun 23 2010 by Jane Tyler, Birmingham Mail

BIRMINGHAM University lecturer Philip Whiteman is feeling apprehensive after the Budget.

Not only is his job as an academic potentially at risk, he is facing a two-year pay freeze.

Education was not one of the protected departments so now Dr Whiteman faces an anxious wait to find out if and where the axe will fall.

It is the second period of uncertainty the 41-year-old academic has faced.

Last year his department underwent a round of redundancies and he fears the same will happen again.

And in a cruel twist of irony, among Dr Whiteman’s areas of expertise in his position as director of teaching in the local government studies department, are government efficiency and delivery of services.

“Last year the university’s sociology department was shut down and we underwent a restructuring as well,” he said.

“That left us leaner and meaner so we are better placed to weather the storm than other departments.

“Am I worried? I can’t answer that until I know exactly what cuts are planned because the devil’s in the detail.

“But because we have geared ourselves up for harder times, we are more optimistic than some in the public sector.”

He thinks there is scope for cuts in the public sector.

“There has been some profligacy in some parts – we certainly don’t need all the quangos we’ve got,” he said.

“But the public sector is being used as a battering ram and seen as some sort of evil demon as though everything is the workers’ fault. But we are all having to be flexible.”

Dr Whiteman is married but does not have any children. His salary is around £40,000 and the couple have a mortgage but it is at quite a high fixed rate so will not be affected by any subsequent interest rate rises.

He hardly drinks and does not smoke, but drives a car, although because he is green, he would not have minded paying extra for petrol.