Why is it fair that Scottish carers get more carers allowance than English carers?

Because Scotland is better. Aye!!!!

But we still need to commute.

I live in a town 20 miles from Glasgow. The bus to and from Glasgow stops running at 6pm on weekdays and doesn’t run at all over Saturday and Sunday. The train runs, but once an hour and gets cancelled far more than is acceptable due to maintenance and staffing issues.
This isn’t unique; this is pretty normal for town after town within commuting distance of Glasgow. I’d assume the same for our other cities. It’s woeful. Yes, we have fewer people but it really shouldn’t be so nearly impossible to commute from so many towns within actual commutable distances. I think we are allowed to complain about it without being told, “well, there is only 5 milllion of you.”

And of course we need to ask why London gets a larger share of many things - such as 4x the amount spent on public transport than other areas of the UK?

@outdooryone maybe the sheer number of people requiring it 🤦‍♀️ 1.1 million commuters travelling in each day to add to the 8.9million who live there?

There’s only 5.5m people in the whole of Scotland!

Parents in Scotland also get the Scottish child payment if they receive any qualifying benefit, which is around £50 a month per child. So you get UC, CB and then Scottish child payment on top, which you other nations don’t get.

We have different tax structures, and it’s what our government has chosen to spend money on 🤷‍♀️

Because they have to live in Scotland 🤣 I am kidding obviously.

but considering that there are lots of other things that are different, where Scots get a better deal on some things, they don’t on others…I really don’t see the issue here

Ah, all those energy companies with head office in London and listing on Stock Exchange, which is traded in London. Yet the actual source of the wealth is via steel, oil, gas, nuclear and renewables, and a multitude of other companies who work across the UK and employ people in all four home nations, but the profit and shareholder benefit is assigned to London and South East...
And of course we need to ask why London gets a larger share of many things - such as 4x the amount spent on public transport than other areas of the UK?

And yet our teachers are paid less...

England doesn't get those things free, because that is a decision your Parliament has chosen not to. You do actually get other things we don't and our Taxes are higher. So if you feel that what you get in England is unacceptable, please feel free to change things at the ballot-box - or complain to your MP?

That extra spending is for the most part funded by higher taxes (that is from those who pay them in Scotland, there’s a lot of low rate/no tax payers) and a huge spending bump by way of the Barnett Formula which ensures Scotland have far more public spend per head than England.

an over reliance on the public sector as an employer in Scotland means not so much wealth generation either. The GDP is pretty poor.

incidentally around 90% of prescriptions in England are free, inc for long term health conditions and low income - so I don’t see the harm in the most well off and healthy shelling out when the need arises (including myself here)

look more closely at the ‘free’ education in Scotland and you’ll see a decline in the number of ‘free’ places for Scots kids from normal backgrounds. Places given to fee paying foreign and English students to keep the uni coffers topped up to pay for an ever decreasing number of Scottish students, and priority given to widening access candidates. The result is if you are an average Scottish kid with good grades you will find it difficult to get a place on a decent course in a Scottish uni.

As a Scot living in England - so a foot in both camps - I’m saddened to see how much Scotland has declined under devolution. Even worse under the mis-stewardship of the SNP. Most people in England looked at Nicola Sturgeon during covid and thought she was brilliant - compared to Boris Johnson that certainly wasn’t hard. But few seemed to look deeper.

Well said @Butchyrestingface 😂😁

We don't get free water. We are charged according to our council tax band and don't have the option of installing a meter. My mum lives on her own in my childhood home (she is planning on downsizing) and pays the same for her water as the 6 adults in the house two doors along which is the same band.

Indeed. The SNP’s finance minister Shona Robison recently stated they wanted to move towards Full Fiscal Autonomy, where the Scottish government keeps all it raises and asks for no more redistribution. Blowing a £22bn hole in her own budget. Yes THATS how intelligent our ministers are here!

Where do you think? The South East of England and the Greater London area are the only parts of the UK that raise more in tax than they spend. And they raise massively more than they spend. The redistribution of this extra tax raised by London and the south east is built into the Barnett formula.

www.ons.gov.uk/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/publicsectorfinance/articles/countryandregionalpublicsectorfinances/financialyearending2023

The extra spending per head comes from redistribution of wealth across the four nations that make up the United Kingdom, calculated by the Westminster government using the Barnett formula. It is a fair and proportionate way of ensuring UK wealth is not hoarded by any one nation, as it is supposed to be a mutually beneficial and supportive union, bigger than one single country. All for one and one for all sort of thing. But I do know that lots of UK citizens don’t understand the value of being part of a bigger, mutually beneficial and supportive union, so it’s understandable there is some confusion on this thread…

Where does the £2000 more per head come from if not via taxes?

Paid a higher wage and there are far more of them per head of population and their productivity is much lower. Money is thrown around without any results.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly93w1kr04o.amp

England, approximately 40% of the population are liable to pay for prescriptions, but around 89% of prescription items dispensed in the community are free of charge. This is because a large proportion of the population is exempt from prescription charges due to age, certain medical conditions, or receiving specific benefits.

Nor should it be.
Free prescriptions for all is not a win win situation.

Nonsense

You aren't the only one missing out. NHS staff in Scotland are paid better too. We absolutely aren't 'one nation', I'm not sure why you think that. Each UK country has a government with devolved responsibilities.

Each country is allowed to budget and finance as they wish, and rightly so!

I don't know what the answer is really. We need more money. Less spending. If the assessment process is as you say, lax, then that needs tightened up. I don't think there are any services that they can cut any further really! Although no doubt they'll find something to get rid of.

@Aweecupofteaandabiscuitim in Scotland too

We are in Scotland, paying the higher levels of taxation. Still pains me to think of the thousands of pounds more we paid in stamp duty last year compared with what we would have paid on the same house in England.
Still had to wait two years for DS kit because the funds here in Scotland have evidently been allocated to some other cause. You win some, you lose some.

As others said, it is a system that relies on more medical evidence and documentation. They also, for the most severe / life long / ife limiting, do not review as often. Both save on processing of claims costs.
I have just seen one family member go through ADP, and one waiting in England for PIP. Both have a long, difficult system.

And for all those saying it is unfair Scotland has so much more and spends more, there is a simple solution. Move up here, pay the increased tax, and benefit yourself.

YABVU not to have asked the question is it fair that English carers get paid less carers allowance than Scottish carers?