Spending review: Case study: In the firing line - people whose lives will be affected by the changes

The workerKIRSTEN Hey, 39 is an occupational therapist employed by Edinburgh City Council. She works with people with physical disabilities and mental health issues in the south-east of the city.

"You can't cut half-a-million jobs and think services and people using them won't suffer," she said. "My job links in with NHS job cuts too. If someone can't be admitted to hospital because there isn't a bed, or sent home without proper rehabilitation then that puts more of a burden on them looking after them in their home.

"We knew the job cut numbers would be high but think this government is making these cuts for ideological reasons. The money is there, despite what they tell us. If they concentrated on sorting out the billionaires and multi-billion companies they could sort the deficit.

"I think it's all about sinking government services and allowing private firms to come in and take over. This is not something I've seen as an occupational therapist but you see it in terms of care agencies.

"Some are excellent but they are often a cheap option with staff not getting pensions or sick pay because they are classed as self-employed.

"In terms of having to pay more into my pension, I'd say it should be pointed out that a high proportion of public sector workers are low-paid, particularly women who are in caring jobs which have been devalued.

"The raising of the age for getting the state pension is worrying. Occupational therapy is a physical job with lots of manual handling as well as being emotionally demanding. Some people just won't be able to work up until they are 66.

"All of this will have a greater impact on women than anyone else as women are the ones who will be expected to stay at home and do the caring when the public services are no longer there. This in turns means their pension contributions suffer, widening the inequalities."