It’s not an exaggeration to say that everyone is concerned about the government’s proposed cuts to services, education, culture and all aspects of British life.

People in Oxford, as everywhere in the country, are going to see familiar local services and organisations face real change.

For most of us our first reaction is likely to be to think of the service we use most, or the organisation or community group that we volunteer for or that helps us care for family members.

It’s a normal human instinct to want to protect the things that are most precious to us. But as Government ministers have already made clear when talking about reducing budgets for their own departments, this radical programme of spending cuts is going to affect every part of every service.

Last year, the UK government paid charities £13bn to provide services. It has been reported that cuts of 25 per cent are expected to this figure. Some cuts are going to be direct: a national project providing English language teaching to foreign workers has already had its funding frozen. Some cuts will be to local government budgets resulting in cuts to contracts paid to community organisations or voluntary groups, so that they then offer a reduced service.

As one voluntary sector worker in Oxford said to us last week: “The whole system of funding in the voluntary sector means it is easy for services to get cut without it being directly attributable to Government cuts.

“And some of us will face a number of small cuts that add up to a larger impact on our lives.

“It’s becoming clear that these cuts will, as the Government has promised, leave our society looking completely different.”

At the moment, no one knows exactly how the people of Oxford will be hit.

We’re told that the cuts are needed to pay for the budget deficit caused by the banking crisis and the economic downturn, not everyone agrees: President Obama has argued for a big public investment programme, not cuts; and even Greece is making less radical cuts than our Government. That’s why Oxford Save Our Services is organising an event called “mapping Oxford’s cuts” on Monday, September 13 – to find out what’s happening, and work out what we can do with the growing network of local groups across the country working to defend the services we depend on.

For more info, see www.oxfordsos.org.uk