'Some universities will close, and it’s inevitable there will be mass redundancies across the sector. Goldsmiths will be forced to take on an enormous number of international students who pay higher fees to make up for the cuts. Class sizes will rise, they’ll be humongous; the staff-student ratio will rocket and nobody will be satisfied.
'By only protecting science, they’re signalling that arts, humanities and social sciences are worthless. But these are the disciplines that engender civility, and teach empathy and tolerance.' Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian
'My chest goes tight just thinking about what might happen to my benefits. I used to earn good money, but because of the stroke I have spasmodic paralysis on my left-hand side, deteriorating eyesight and problems with my memory and balance.
'I’m on 16 tablets a day and I get headaches that are so bad that I sometimes cry out in pain. I take blood thinners and when the weather is cold the pain I’m in is absolutely atrocious.
'But if somebody saw me they’d think I looked really well. I’m 99% certain I’ll be assessed as potentially able to work and moved on to employment support allowance, which is less money – when it’s a struggle already.' Photograph: Christopher Thomond/Guardian
'We aim to stop young people from the most troubled backgrounds getting into the criminal justice or social services care system. Once you get a criminal record, it’s very difficult to get out and back into work.
'Without us there would be more children running riot on the streets, more anti-social behaviour and more youths committing crime.
'Prevention costs less than cure. It costs £101,000 to run our programme. The cost of a young person in prison is £50,000 a year.' Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian
'The cuts to local authorities and university funding are going to hit us incredibly hard. Some 80% of our business is in supporting IT systems used by public sector organisations to run things such as payroll, finance and customer relations – offering technical support and upgrading or adapting their systems.
'So it’s really bad news for us, because when they need to save money the first thing people do is cut IT spending.' Photograph: Mark Pinder for the Guardian
'We’re a 24-hour support project for people with severe mental health issues.
'We’ve already seen some cuts and are not always able to provide the service we feel we could, and I’m sure other services around the country are feeling that too. Now it’s just a waiting game.
'Our clients are very vulnerable to begin with; they’re having to contend with a lot and knowing that cuts could be looming is not going to help anybody in that situation. It’s going to have a huge impact on people’s lives.' Photograph: Jim Wileman/Jim Wileman for the Guardian
