To be annoyed the Tory 30 hour free childcare doesn't apply in Scotland!

[RagingJellyBean]

It's just annoying, to be honest.

I don't like the Tories, but if we have to have them the least they could do is throw us a bone up here.

30 hours free childcare when my DD turned 3 would be absolutely fantastic. I could actually afford to live a normal life again, why isn't in Scotland? 15 hours is great, don't get me wrong, but 30 hours would be PERFECT.

HOW ANNOYING!?!?!?!

Sorry, Scotland and NI gain, Wales and England lose out.

Wow.

I am genuinely sorry for the feathers I've ruffled.

Upon reflection, and some mild education, I am BU.

We do get a lot, but as someone said its swings & roundabouts.
Maybe it will go up to 30, and that would be nice.

I also saw a question that seemed pretty valid - the Tories are still cutting benefits which affect the UK as a whole but the savings from these cuts are only benefiting England?? Is that right??

Clearly I could benefit from more educating! What better place than MN

Also, I don't support Independence. All for better together.

Also still don't agree with the cuts to child tax credit - that doesn't affect me but by Christ it'll affect thousands.

Howabout. 92% of the financial sector was not bailed out & has never done anything but make money for the whole country. But a few banks were stupid and cost us all. And a lot of the people who work in London banking are not English - a lot are Scottish, Welsh, NI and lots of other countries. Most of the City is not run by Londoners.

Not about nationality but rather location. Banking and the city financial sector in London generate high wages which spill out to support the whole of the economy in the South East (and taxes for the UK).

The ongoing distortions caused by artificially supporting the housing market continue to disproportionately benefit the South East in the form of housing benefit and rising house prices (house prices in Scotland are not back at pre 2008 levels). Support for the housing market is still necessary to support bank lending books.

HBOS and the Bank of Scotland have Scotland as a head office but were not owned or staffed or taxed exclusively by Scots. Had they not been bailed out far more non Scottish than Scottish customers would have lost money.

I think Greece would beg to differ about the nature of the banking crisis.

However we digress and I am still not jealous of 30 hours childcare for 3 year olds.

Apparently none of my dses are eligible for any free childcare - which is a shame as they don't 'alf get under my feet in the university vacations!

If the UK govement had not bailed out the banks then we would have all lost our savings including many scots. The bail out was not done to save bankers their jobs. There is a huge difference between the cashier who works at your local bank and a "banker".

It gets really tiresome when this whole Scotland benefits more than England nonsense gets trotted out. The way money raised and how it is spent if far too complex to make direct comparisons and there are several important factors that are always ignored or not know about.

There are some very strange anomalies on how money is spent on and in Scotland. Some are because of geography, it costs a lot to provide health and education to remote areas. Also, money spent on transport keeping the Highland and Islands connected put spending up more than in England.

The most complex spending is a reserved matter and that is defense, the amount spent on behalf of Scotland is an enormous amount of money. To put it in to perspective if you looked at how much is spent as a percentage of Scottish GDP we spend more than most other countries in Europe that are vastly bigger than us. That is why some argued that if we have the power to decide where money is spent we could save a lot of money, especially if we didn't renew Trident.

On the plus side, given the shockingly low life expectancy in some areas, many people don't get much of their state pension. But they'll have paid NI and tax all their lives regardless thus subsidising those in the south lucky enough to live well into their 80s.

But they'll have paid NI and tax all their lives

Really? How many scots under the age of 16 are working and earning >£10k?

I am annoyed that my son has to pay uni fees and Scottish students don't.

Yes. The Barnett formula only deals with devolved functions. Since no DWP/HMRC functions are devolved reductions in their budgets don't filter out to the devolved nations. Ditto armed forces. There is obviously an impact in terms of claims by people in those nations, and job losses etc.

candles. That's the whole point of devolution. There will be things (like these 30 hours childcare) that they don't have that you do.

(Tuition fees here in Wales are subsidised too, and we have free prescriptions. There's pretty much a daily news story about someone or other that can't get cancer drugs they could get over the border.)

Oh right, so rhe SNP is good when you get all the stuff we don't, but when on the rare occasion you don't get something we do, it's the Tories' fault.

Maybe also try remembering that some of the stuff you do get that we don't is thanks to the Barnet formula, which the evil nasty Tories haven't scrapped....

Ooh bitter much

Those going on about free eyes tests but then cost of glasses being too much..?

Errrr haven't you heard of the likes of glasses direct on Internet, I thought everyone used them , take your prescription away, go on line type it in and get a complete set for £30

I've not bought glasses from a shop for years. Total ripoff

Glasses direct don't do my prescription.

Sleepybeanbump the OP has already said she isn't an SNP supporter.

RTFT ...

misskelly - i've always heard the 'remote areas cost more to look after' argument. Surely though with the cost of everything in the south, and especially London, it must be pretty expensive in England as well? Property, wages (or high staff turnover/training costs if wages are the same throughout uk), high traffic congestion - all much more costly.

And for people mentioning the cost of prescriptions, is everyone aware of the prepayment scheme? From the comments people make (eg asking if all the prescribed items are necessary and frequent complaints about the cost, I'm not sure that they are.

Approximately 90% of prescriptions in England are free but the most that anyone should have to pay is under £10 a month as you can get a 3 month or 12 month prepayment certificate. This is great if you need regular medication but don’t qualify for free prescriptions due to age, medical exemptions, or benefits entitlement.

You can also exploit the system a little bit by applying it retrospectively if it turns out you need more prescriptions than you expected.

Unless you have a prescription that you are confident is almost certainly a one off, it is worth asking for an NHS receipt because then if it turns out you need more medication within the next month, you can backdate the prepayment certificate and reclaim the cost of the first prescription.

It is worth buying a prepayment certificate if you need four or more items in 3 months or more than 12 in a year. See here.

You can apply online and possibly within pharmacies and if you have the annual certificate can pay monthly by direct debit so don’t even need to fork out all the money in one go.

You have to have the money to buy a pre payment certificate in one go.

morage

You have to have the money to buy a pre payment certificate in one go.

Mine is paid for in 10 instalments.

misskelly - i've always heard the 'remote areas cost more to look after' argument. Surely though with the cost of everything in the south, and especially London, it must be pretty expensive in England as well? Property, wages (or high staff turnover/training costs if wages are the same throughout uk), high traffic congestion - all much more costly.

Nope. Fuel is cheaper in London than here in South Wales. Supermarkets are cheaper. Wages for NHS staff aren't devolved, so even London weighting (which was about £3k per year when I worked in London as a civil servant) doesn't add that much to the bill. Supplying ambulances in England generally costs far less than in Wales or Scotland as the population is denser. For every £1k spent on health in England it costs Wales £1.2k due to increased costs and rurality.

Glasses direct won't accommodate my prescription either, too much going on in eyes, even thinned down lenses are quite thick and contact lenses are out too!

But glasses are expensive in England too and people in England have to pay for the glasses plus the eye test.
Same as dental care, it is expensive in the whole of the UK but in England you have to pay for band 1 treatment as well as the other bands, in Scotland there is no charge for band 1 treatment.
Prepayment certificates are all well and good if people can foresee that they might need to have medicines but if somebody suddenly becomes unwell and needs 3 items in prescription and haven't got the money for it then they can't have the medicine.
It isn't fair that funding had been cut for college courses in Scotland. Funding for poorer college students was also cut in England a few years back (EMA).
We have different things in the different parts of the UK because spending priorities and budgets are different.
I would rather have free uni tuition than have free childcare for which the quality and availability cannot be guaranteed. But some other people like the OP would rather have free childcare. The free childcare over 2 years doesn't nearly amount to the £27000 tuition fees that a student will have to pay over 3 years though.

"On the plus side, given the shockingly low life expectancy in some areas, many people don't get much of their state pension. But they'll have paid NI and tax all their lives regardless thus subsidising those in the south lucky enough to live well into their 80s."

The scots with low life expectancy have a shockingly poor diet. There has been a campaign to get Scots to eat an English diet.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15561501

The reasons why the scots eat more fatty food is not just down to money. There is an element of choice.