General Chat

Around here I think you can get a three bed semi for about £750 a month if I recall correctly what I saw in an estate agent's window recently.

There is apparently a case of a single mother with seven children whose landlord was charging twelve thousand a month, chargeable to the taxpayer. An isolated case maybe (hopefully), but it shows how badly designed the system is that such a thing can happen.
No limits and no sense by officialdom: after all it's not their money they are throwing away !

Thats a very good point Jean about the NHS , when we lived by the sea it was a common occurence to find medical waste washed up ( fly tipping i assume by contractors)...hundreds, literally, of toothbrushes , thrown away after one use for hygiene purposes...but these were not the 3 for £1 efforts that would suffice perfectly well for 1 use ...these were £2.99 'good ones'...such a waste.

I think these housing benefit figures are based on places like London and the city prices. Our two bedroomed bungalow in a quiet village and with a reasonable gerden, the rent is £74 a week. Anything much higher than that is a mansion!. It is profiteering by the landlords that brings prices up like that.
The NHS could save money by not throwing away perfectly good equipment that could be sterilized. I snaffled a pair of scissors that were to be thrown away after being used once, over ten years ago, and they are still the sharpest pair of small scissors I have got. I could go on about that sort of thing, Like the waste of cottonwool balls, which are too large and half the size would do.
Another thing is the postal costs of sending out a confirmation of an appointment that you have already been given an appointment card for, which happens here. As any housewife knows small economys mount up.

Thank you Rose,

Sorry Brian you are correct..

Yes I have looked at that. from the BBC.

Well that's ridiculous , my son rents a big 5 bedroom house in Devon for £900 a month and its huge !!

Marilyn, I've just checked because I had thought it was £400 a month also ....BUT from BBC

"Housing benefit: New maximum limit of £400 a week for properties with more than three bedrooms, £250 a week for a one-bedroom flat, £290 for a two-bedroom property and £340 for a three-bed property, to save £1.8bn a year by the end of the Parliament. "

Managers in the private sector haven't proliferated - in fact it is the opposite - it is the public sector that needs drastic pruning.

I worked for a major bank, before being made redundant at 57, which over the past 15 years saw management almost eliminated altogether. The is no longer a branch manager in the high street branch. The so called 'manager' today is no more than a senior supervisor earning a pittance.

I do get a pension, but is was only 75% of what I was promised due to being forced to leave early, and no chance of any state benefits as we were stupid enough to save a bit when I was working.

I read somewhere a few weeks ago that productivity in the public sector is around 70% less than in the private sector - certainly a wake up call is long overdue.

Brian,

I thought it was £400 a month H B not a week !! .correct me if I'm wrong .

The point is people on low incomes aren't being hit the worst. Apart from the little bit more vat on petrol, most necessities such as food, fuel and childrens clothes are not affected by the VAT increase.

It is the middle and higher earners that will have to bear the brunt

As Jean says, I wouldn't have his job for anything. And, regardless of who has caused any of the problems we are in a financial mess and we all need to suffer a little to get out of it.
I believe the VAT doesn't increase until January so the immediate economy will actually be boosted as people rush out to buy all the TVs and white good etc they think they want before then.

HB of £400 is disgusting in my opinion.

Brian, it was Maggie who introduced the *manager culture*.

And they couldn't manage a child's birthday party.

Anyway... I said I don't wanna know, and here am I joining in.
As for £400 housing benefits.... We have help with ours and if we need THAT much help, we would soon be told to MOVE HOUSE!

Hi Dawnie? ;-0)

Deanna X

"Oh, and I resent having to explain to 'managers' on twice my pay how to do their job!!!
Hopefully fewer 'managers' will now be employed and us 'real' workers will gain a few £'s!"

Maggie is dead right, managers and "non-jobs" have exploded over the last decade. There are more Admirals than ships in the Navy and almost as many pen pushers in the MOD as soldiers in the Army, more managers in the NHS than nurses, and so on.

The public sector payroll needs to be slashed, but in the back room, not the front line, and entire functions which serve no useful purpose pruned out.

The State now spends over half the national income (52 percent as opposed to 40 percent in the mid 1990s)
and that is unsustainable, especially when you add in the future pension costs of the extra personnel.

This is going to have major repercussions on your economy. Non of them good. People on low incomes as usual hit the worst.

Gail

I think it will be a case of suck it and see, some things aren't coming in immediately, but I do think te everything will go up twice, with extra tax and extra vat on petrol deliveries will cost more so goods will be priced more highly before the extra vat, if you understand me.

Lizx

Have they factored in the detriment to tourism? I would think very hard before going to UK and having to pay for extra VAT.

Gail

The Vat increases is very bad news for both the North and Republic of Ireland.
Why????
Because with the increase in Vat it will bring alot of prices in line with the Republic, which means that it will not be worth our while going to the border counties to save money on foodstuffs, cigs and drink.
Lily.

Personally, I'm pleased with the higher rate before paying tax - and the pay rise for low paid public servants!! Believe it or not, some public sector workers get low pay!!
I'm earning less in the public sector than I was in the private sector doing a similar job 5 years ago! Since being here, I've actually LOST pay (re-organisation of grades) and had a pay freeze for 2 years!! Can't afford the pension either.....
Oh, and I resent having to explain to 'managers' on twice my pay how to do their job!!!
Hopefully fewer 'managers' will now be employed and us 'real' workers will gain a few £'s!

I just think that, raising the pre-tax allowance for all earners but increasing the VAT means that I can choose how to spend my money. I think the whole idea is getting people to be more responsible for themselves rather than relying on the state, which I agree with.

I don't want to be told how to spend my money, I want to make my own mind up. I work and own my own money.

hubby and i agree with most of what he has done , but not with the VAT.he runs a landscape firm,and as he says ,he has got to add 2 1/2% to every job ,and thats before the price of slabs , cement ,plants ect go up(and they will)....the black econery(sp) will bloom..

Jean

not looking forward to the DLA assesments not cos I have anythign to hide but when i went to tribunal for mine they told meas I couldnt prove it was a medical condition couldnt get mobility even though I cant walk farand we are talking a few steps without being in pain and have to be driven or pushed in wheelchair everywhere.

Think whoever does the assesments needs to be up on all medical conditions and not just go by tick boxes that most people dont fit into.

I mean who would chose a life of disability I for one wouldnt it affects the whole family not just me and if i had a magic wand i would make it go away and be out there working feeling like a useful human being.

We will all find things to disagree with, but would you want the job he is faced with of getting this country out of debt? I The VAT increase means that there will be two and a half pence more on the pound, so for instance, an item costing £1. 171/2 pence will now be £1 20. I dont buy things that cost a lot of money anyway on the pension Its the extravagant with all their spending who might have to think a bit. I am concerned about the disability benefit, because how would my husband prove he was fit for work at 74, and bent in the middle so that walking is painful most days There are people who swing the lead, we all know them, but most are at their wits end how to cope with just living. Petrol will have to go up, but that is almost normal! The low paid have it the worst of all, because in most of the country they need cars to get them to work.