Where would you LIKE to see cuts made?

Limit public sector pensions to £50k per annum. Anymore has to be built up in a private pension. Make child benefit taxable for higher rate taxpayers (note, they should still get it because I think the admin of means testing is not worth it). Means test free nursery places for 3 and 4 year olds. Charge £5 for doctors appointments (but free if you buy a prepayment certificate ie have a chronic condition). Increase fuel taxes and VAT). Increase by 5 years (at the rate of 1 year every 3 years) the retirement age of public sector workers including police. Increase the rate of raising of the state pension age, and raise it to 70.

Yes fembear the seriously rich will do this and find a way round every loophole like they do now. This approach to inheritance will do nothing to stop that - but it will stop those of higher than average wealth doing it as they won't be able to buy their children a house outright as most are asset rich and not cash rich.

It would bring in a fortune to society and bring down cost of housing.

My house is 'worth' 250k (tiny 3 bed bed in south-east) - I could not afford to buy dd a house outright - neither do I think i should get my care funded and that she should benefit from a free family house.

Oh and ESA and fit notes

fit notes nice idea but unless the job exists a complete waste of time and effectively penalises those who can't work for the rise in unemployment.

Realistic version would be nice.

universities could save a lot of money but it won't be achieved just by giving less money to the VCs and telling them to get on with it - they would just take the easy option by cutting the most vulnerable staff (which would mean part-timers ie women).
They need to scrap pointless paperwork (eg ethics approval has got very cumbersome even for very low-risk research activity) and above all, reform the way research funding is related to promotion so that people are no longer rewarded for doing expensive research instead of cheap research. And encourage them to recruit more and more foreign students who pay big fees.

trident

ID cards

CTF becuase I like the idea but tbh we could live without it, easily. I'd sign our 2 back over in fact if I could.

Fembear your policy would disproprotionately affect those who do actually make the effort to work and pay taxes but become ill or disabled later on, or carers. Those who think they can afford extra kids. Surely it is better to penalise those who never worked than those who did but got unlucky?

I'd bring in a variant of work for claim, but ine that heavily focussed on training course rather than effectively amde it cheapr to take on claimants than actually employ people.

Chiodcrens centres can be community centres and help provide respite, summer schemes, elderly services etc without such schemes having to rent private rooms or build separate venues

Stop right to buy

We don't pay much tax atm but will do again soon adn we have said we would pay more. Not exactly happily but rather than see other things cut.

gradual cap on TC's

No change to inheritnaxe limits- it's already enough but shouldn't be heavily penalised either

Fully fund proper academic and useful university courses but impose tuition fees for others. We can't afford to be subsidising 'degrees' in alternative medicine, meeja studies etc. (Also DO fund proper apprenticeships and useful vocational courses without feeling the necessity to drag them out to 3 year degrees)

incapacity benefit (now ESA) should be short term for those who only need it short term but there are some people who are genuinely in need of it long term for example if they have several things wrong that rules out any type of work. some people however get it long term as they have a bad back so can't do a physical job - but they could do a non-physical job e.g. office work, in this case they should only get it short term.

if you only get state subsidies for one child per adult what do you do if a couple have one child and try for another but get twins? or try for a first child and get triplets?

It is politically impossible to confiscate all inheritances in excess of £50K and always will be.

'18 year old is not a child, quite often though they are still doing study, not actually working. '

Combine study and work then. Degree programmes where that is not possible have bursaries to cover such a thing.

Barring disability, there's not much reason why an 18-year-old can't study and work at the same time.

Many do.

18 year old is not a child, quite often though they are still doing study, not actually working.

"If you limit inheritance tax in this way it does nothing to help gross inequalities because the seriously rich will simply buy houses for their kids earlier, set up trust funds etc."

Totally agree. It is idealistic and unworkable.

Child benefit for the rich.
CTF - why?
Tax credits for families over 40k.
Massive overhaul of NHS. everyone who works in it agrees it is a bottomless money sucking pit.
No MPs second homes.
Public sector pay freezes.
Public sector pensions.
Increase tax on fuel for airoplanes. Sorry but we can no longer support cheap holidays abroad.
Set up a public defenders office.

Oh and yes - My mother goes to weekly Acupuncture on the NHS , she admits it does nothing. Must cost a fair bit though.

18 and 20-year-olds are not children.

There's no more Incapacity Benefit.

It's now Employment Support Allowance and it's harder to get.

I would also stop 'right to buy'

Unless there was a caveat that any profits made on selling within 10 years would be passed back to the council

Agree on homeopathy spend. £4m off the deficit - only £162,096,000,000 to go!

Cosmetic an interesting one. I wouldn't cut treatment for birthmarks, e.g. port wine stains, or ear pinning back, or breast reconstruction following mastectomy, or removal of potentially dangerous moles etc etc. It seems likely to me that few would. Though maybe we should be more accepting of difference?

where would the children of 18 and 20 live

Since when is an 18 year old a child? She's a young adult. I don't agree with LFCs ideas on inheritance, BTW, but people used to grow up sooner didn't they?

If you limit inheritance tax in this way it does nothing to help gross inequalities because the seriously rich will simply buy houses for their kids earlier, set up trust funds etc.

'The agency we use charges the council £15 per hour for the respite carer. The carer gets £5.60 an hour which is minimum wage. That agency is making a bomb out of taxpayers.'

Yes, and then the agency doesn't provide steady hours for the employee, making his/her sorting child care and having a steady income a huge barrier.

Don't mortgages come with some sort of insurance in the event of a death. If not, then life cover would surely see your house safe?

I'd like to see people employed in voluntary community work for JSA. Also Incapacity benefit should be short term. I know someone who's been dodging work this way for 10 years!!

thanks expat

I would limit all State subsidies re children to one-child-per-adult. So the typical family of mummy & daddy would get child benefit for 2 kids. If people want to have more then they should shoulder the cost themselves. They should not expect the State to subsidise their decision to over-populate the world.

They're not children at 18 and 20 - they should be supported til they leave full time education. Then they can have their 50k when you die.

Yes, if you die when they are 21 and they have finished full time education they would not get to keep your home - they would get the 50k instead.

I think it is worth differentiating between the civil service and the public sector as a whole. I work in local government and whilst we get a pretty good pension, I get paid less than my colleagues who do essentially the same job in private practice. i am happy to get paid less as on the whole i have a better work life balance.