Is Anyone preparing/hunkering down for 'after the budget'

[IsUnemploymentRising]

The news is today seems to be full of headlines such as unemployment is going up, housing markets are softening, budget is make or break.

Lots of people such as Andrew Bailey quoting things like markets could crash due to debt and AI bubble etc

I just don't see how RR or anyone else for that matter can get us out of our current situation without considerable cutbacks and pain.

Raise Taxes - lots of people think this is maxed out now with rich leaving and businesses already hit (thus rising unemployment)

Cut Benefits - will they try this again. If so what will all the people on benefits actually do to live. Will they all get jobs. Is there jobs?

So are you hunkering down?

Me personally I wish they would just get on with it. I hope to move house in next few years and whilst I'm still committed to it I can see another frozen housing market coming where only forced sellers sell and everyone else sits tight.

I'm retired (although not getting any pensions yet as too young) and definately worried about pension values (ie stock markets, bonds etc). It's very difficult to plan when your pensions are dependant on things outwith your control. (not applicable to those with final salary/defined benefit schemes of course)

State pension is a good 14 years away for me (I'm fully paid up) but I worry it will be eroded when I have built it into my calculations for retirement not to mention the freezing of tax brackets which means we are all getting taxed more each year by stealth.

I'm probably in a better position that many to weather the storm as no mortgage or debts and holding cash etc but even then I worry about our currency being worth nothing soon if they go down the route of printing money again.

Am I being overly pesimestic. I mean how are they actually going to get us out of this. For those on benefits (apart from worrying, being scared etc) how will you actually cope if your benefits are cut.

I'm not really sure why you think I am particularly interested in this one issue.
I'm not.

The only point I have made is there are lots of things the goverment currently pays for that it might have to stop paying for.

If you can look after your child at home then all is well and you have no need to have anything to do with any goverment system.

This is what my parents did. They paid a small fortune to stay in their own home and have 24hour a day care for 5-6 years. Nobody forced them to go into a state care home because they could afford to stay at home.

If I couldn't afford to look after my dog then i very much would want a dog charity Dog's Trust to take him and give him basic care. Ideal no of course not. If I'm dead though or unable to look after him due to ill health or finances or whatever then a basic level of care is better than nothing. However since I can afford to look after him myself then it's not an issue.

This is not about disabled children. It's about every single thing the goverment pays for from NHS to police to welfare to disabled children to old folks homes. If the goverment stops being able to pay then as long as you can fund it yourself you can ignore any goverment plans. If you find yourself in dire straits then you will have to make the best of what is available. This happens with old people all the time. They end up in care homes run by the council and aren't particularly nice. It also ends up happening to lots of dogs who's owners can't afford to keep them. They do end up in dog homes or put down.

The whole point of this thread was to say with all these things on the horizon are you trying to prepare or make plans or hunker down to save costs.

I didn't budget to need private health care but it looks like I need to do that (or go without)

I didn't budget for the state pension to vanish but it looks like it might in some form so I need to plan for that (or die on the streets with no money)

I didn't realise my old dog would need specialist care last year which cost me the best part of 5K but he did. So I had to spend the cash and make adjustments elsewhere. If I couldn't afford it then yes he would be dead now.

This is about so much more than 1 issue which is disabled children. This is about 500 issues which make up our economy and our country and all the systems we have had for years.

RR has already confirmed cuts are coming in this budget which hopefully the markets take as being sensible. It's like all over the news today.

We can either face the fact that cuts are coming and try to make plans to deal with it as best we can or we can sit around arguing so I know which one I'm doing. If you want to do otherwise that's entirely up to you.

Actually this video is really good at explaining the growth a bit better. When the growth is looked at per head we are actually one of the bottom countries. So the poorest growth and the highest inflation.

Worth a watch I think.

When we were growing up we lived on a council estate and were quite poor. Thus I went to uni on a grant.

Stuff we can't really afford for people now...

sorry can't get the video to attach here but if you go to You tube and type in Ed Conway Sky news it's called Ed Conway unpacks the most important economic report of the year.

It's only been up a short while following on from the IMF world outlook yesterday.

In short UK is pretty much highest for inflation and almost the lowest for growth per person.

well personally I.prefer the term asylum but then I prefer to call a spade a spade.

And ok maybe you have some halcyon.vision of care .When it comes to providing care money is king.You only have to do the most cursory research on the state of foster care provision to see that it is not going to save any money at all if left in private hands as I said earlier.
And providing any kind of reasonable care is going to be costly no.matter what.
And I feel v strongly about this because there are over 10,000 people, many teenagers and young adults locked away in hospital wards now as there are no.places to.put them. Many have been neglected and abused, drugged to the eyeballs to keep them subdued. Some have been in there many years.

Sounds like some Victorian nightmare doesn't it? But all going on today in Britain whilst families fight desperately to get them released.
Google Nicholas's story if you want to check my facts. There have been some documentaries recently about it as well.
So as I say I am passionate and have no.faith in state care for people who have no.voice or way to challenge it. The asylum system is already alive and well for those disabled people and the digs about the cost of caring for such people and constant negative digs at SEND kids is only making things harder for all disabled people.

Loving the OPs story more and more. Council housing and a poorly paid job and he still managed to save hundreds of thousands of pounds, your dad? 🤣

With respect OP you don’t care about issues that don’t concern you directly and blithely remark on them.
The economy is of minor significance when actual people are impacted.
You could wait to see what the budget brings. It’s just one of many.
Did you hunker down when the Tories announced austerity?
The problem with agreeing with the notion that it’s concerning if pensions are cut but it’s not concerning (for you) that disabled children or disabled people, to broaden the concern, is because that’s not your immediate concern. That could easily change - and I doubt you’d be satisfied saying you’d just die on the streets because the economy hadn’t grown enough.
The economy could grow and inflation lessen and food prices will remain the same but until people can spend money there is no greater picture.
Personally - I find it staggering how much we spend on defence. I’m very very far from being an expert on why it’s so much (almost £54 billion) but that’s one thing I’d love to know more about.
It seems like asset rich or already wealthy people actually fear budgets more than those struggling- for whatever reason- financially.
That to me is very telling of a shift from what expectations of your parents time was to the current situation.

Brexit and Covid were two major “events” that contributed to the situation.

There were dubious political decisions made to leave the EU and lies told by those pushing for Brexit.

Taxation is not automatically the answer.
Im not fighting with you any longer on this thread but what you think of as sustainable independence (eg paying for your dog’s treatment) is what everyone should be able to do. The fact we can’t afford to live moderately comfortable lives should be a wake up call to any government- in you parent’s generation most married couples could afford a home on a single salary - not just very highly paid professionals or investors or people with inherited money. It’s tragic that past political decisions and the economic crash in 2008 has left the country where we are.

Not many people can hunker down like you can. And that’s not because they are weak or poorly prepared.

And - nor does cutting benefits grow an economy. But you already know that.

Loving the OPs story more and more. Council housing and a poorly paid job and he still managed to save hundreds of thousands of pounds, your dad?

It could be true as council housing doesn't get taken away if you become rich.

But it's one reason we are in such a mess now and saying we need to strip benefits for disabled dc despite my parents & I benefited from the generous benefits system is a bit off

I am on UC as my sole income as I am not able to work. I am not sure how I can hunker down and prepare if there are cuts in benefits.
As I see it I would commit a crime so at least I will be housed and fed in prison. Or kill myself.
I can just hope that disability organisations and charities resist any brutal cuts so people like me are protected. Cutting money from people who have little to start with seem awful to me.

Thank god we've only got three more years of Labour giveaways and tax rises. The latest poling suggest Reform are going to get over 400 seats. The country really needs this change to come.

Not really, it would be a disaster.

The latest poling suggest Reform are going to get over 400 seats. The country really needs this change to come.

🤣🤣🤣

When it comes down to it, I refuse to believe that many people will fall for Reform.

I think the biggest part of that will be whether the current shit show can turn themselves around and actual tackle the financial issues rather than pandering to their backbenchers.

Worryingly I think enough people will vote Reform because they won’t hear the difficulties with that party having no real
impact, let alone some of their members poisonous views.
Its obvious that Reform cannot just policy their way out of Statuary Law (but perhaps not obvious to their voters) - which among many other things currently protects asylum seekers being able to claim asylum (whether they are ultimately granted or not), employment rights, maternity rights, human rights, education rights, rights to marry, right to abortion, medical rights for lack of a better word (including not being euthanised because it’s cheaper or enforced DNRs), the right for children to get to school safely (for those children requiring taxis to school because their local authority has no choice but to provide a means of transportation to a specific specialist school out of walking distance), the rights of children under the Care Act that protects children from many instances that see them ending up in care (and costs a lot).

Reform could reform taxation- anyone think they’ll do that to tax the rich or the poor?

They could reform disability benefits- but I wonder what they’ll do with the impoverished people who cannot pay mortgages or rent or eat - you can’t clear up that many bodies without.. a big furnace?

They could of course change pensions - I wonder how many voters for Reform consider how they’d do that. Do they think they’ll do that?

They’ll stop the boats - with no greater police or civil service contribution. They just will. Magically.

If its any comfort... It's looking more likely that Labour will raise taxes in this budget rather than try to cut welfare spending more. Which kind of sucks but it's not possible to cut disabled assistance etc more without seriously hurting people. So it's the right decision. There are fair and unfair ways of doing it. But whoever gets taxed will feel victimised. However I've kind of accepted my income tax going up as inevitable. I'm not "hunkering down" so much as accepting reality.

For a long time the UK spent less and taxed less than other EU countries. By 2024 spending had caught up but we were still taxing less. It's not sustainable. And you can't cut spending without punishing older people, something I suspect would directly affect a lot of the posters on here complaining about the welfare budget. So taxes it is. Or we start rubbing lamps in the hope of finding a magic genie.

What if they wrote a big number on a bus though? Surely that would convince sceptics like yourself!

Eh? We most definitely are not taxing less!

The UK has some of the highest rates of tax with no relief for anything- not even a personal allowance if you go over what is not a large salary in places like London. Most countries offer various exemptions, reliefs etc and lower tax rates!

I grew up in a place with hardly any benefits besides universal (and very good) healthcare and schooling. However benefits are not handed out to everyone because it encourages those benefits to continue. It is a much wealthier place than here yet actually odds are stacked against it. Tax rates are low and the system encourages investment (it doesn’t tax it!). Entrepreneurialism is encouraged.

Benefits should be a temporary measure; but they’ve become not only a permanent fix in the UK but a way of life- and people are not ashamed of living off it long term the way they should be.
At the end of the day, you’re asking others to work to fund your life and your burdens; and then complaining - biting the hand that feeds you- about their “large salaries” and that we don’t tax enough- when they have their own burdens they’re trying to deal with whilst working their butts off to pay for others to sit and take the benefits without always working in the same way. Sorry, but it really annoys me as I work ridiculous hours to earn what I earn and I have children and I have children with special needs but no “paid off the back of others” support. And no, after everything is paid for- I most definitely am not wealthy.

Everyone has their struggles. But it’s frustrating that only those waiting for hand outs can complain.

As far as I am concerned we should be cutting benefits- I agree they are needed for some, and for temporary measures- and instead focusing on attracting investment and growth. The UK has become a desperately unattractive place to be especially for the wealthy who are mobile- and the more this short sightedness continues the bigger the hole we will dig.

I don't want to pay more tax for public sector pay rises and benefit claimants. Fuck that.

What do you mean when you say

’froze interest in movement’

Agree !

Unless something completely out there is in the budget like everyone with shares and bonds looses them then I doubt the budget will have much effect on us

We are planning to move in a year or two so it could have an impact on what we buy re taxes on buying and selling but that’s about it

So, no we aren’t doing anything because tbh what can people do ?

Agree benefit spending has to come down
Maybe I’ll prepare myself by writing to my MP on another review on the white paper and eligibility for UC review aswell

Compared to most EU countries historically tax and spend has been lower. Spending increased a lot in 2008-2024. Tax lagged behind. In terms of the rest of the world...

• Countries like Singapore have lower tax but benefit from large migrant populations and a different economic structure
• Countries like Japan fund their welfare budget with the largest debt in the world
• Countries like Saudi Arabia/the UAE fund themselves with oil revenue
• America has less of a welfare state in theory but in practice spends a lot on not much. They find it with debt.

I don't know what country you came from so I can't comment on it specifically. But if it is one of the WEIRD countries, you will probably find it's own welfare spending has needed to go up a lot in recent years. I don't know how they fund it there. But like the UK other Western economies are spending more on welfare and health because people are living longer. Not because people are more addicted to welfare than they were 20 years ago. Plus costs from:

• 2008 bank bailout
• COVID
• Ukraine war pushing oil/gas up
• End of the "peace dividend". We had 80 years of peace in Western Europe (the longest in 2000 years) so defense spending went down. So there was more in the pot to pay for other stuff. Now defence spending is rising again.

But the biggest long term reason for the rise in welfare spending and NHS costs is people getting older. Whichever country you grew up in will also be facing similar problems if it's in the developed world. The past is another country.

Gold (and to a lesser extent silver) will always hold value. I started seriously accumulating it a year and a bit ago when it was £1700 an oz. It's currently over £3k and is forecast to continue rising. It won't go up at this rate forever, but I think people who invest now will still be able to make a nice profit over the next year or so.

I don't have it because I think currency is going to crash or anything...but if it did, you've got a tangible asset. Otherwise it's super easy to store and sell if you ever need ready money.

Sometimes I put a load of 1oz gold coins in stacks on my desk and pretend I'm Scrooge McDuck 👀