The country needs more of everything but

[Democracymanifest]

Where are the workforce going to come from and where is the housing going to go? Inevitably the main parties are going to make big promises on staffing the NHS, on getting teachers into the classroom, police on the streets, solving the housing crisis etc but how is this going to happen? Education reform (if anyone is brave enough) will take a generation to have an effect. There is a global shortage of health and social care workers so we can't import them. So what is the answer?

Yabu

The answer is not to post Chat topics in AIBU? @Democracymanifest

I suppose this should be in Chat but as it goes I agree with you !

Making public sector jobs appealing so people return to their professions would be a good start. It’s not that we don’t have enough qualified nurses, social workers and teachers, it’s that people are leaving those professions in their droves because working conditions are so tough. In social work 40% of qualified workers leave the profession within 6 years of qualifying - that’s a lot of qualified social workers doing other jobs. If there were consistent terms and conditions, an agreed maximum case load, a balance between early support, complex cases and crisis intervention, decent clinical supervision there would be better retention. That’s entirely within the power of government to solve with appropriate resourcing.

I imagine teachers and nurses similarly could say what would retain current workers and entice people back in to their respective professions. It’s not a lack of qualified staff so much as a lack of people prepared to work the way they are being expected to.

Labour have said they'll take it from the tax breaks in private schools, tax the wealthy like nom doms, windfall tax etc

Maybe actually try researching things?

Well, there's a shitload of very usable land, either for food production or building, but it's being used as wankers' estates. If we could grab that, that might help matters.

If we paid and treated people better, then roles would become more attractive, and retention easier, and recruitment less difficult.

Yeah, nah, we're fucked. . .

So what is the answer?

Wait for the manifestos.

Read the manifestos.

Choose who to vote for.

Focussing on the most important issues indeed

Are those of you with such firm opinions on what should happen involved in even local politics or are you just leaving that to others? It's easy to sit on the sidelines but very few people actually step up to be politicians.

Sometimes there isn’t an answer. Whoever gets in will either have to implement a harsh regime to get us back in shape, or tinker round the edges to keep the kids happy while we continue in decline. It will be the latter.

Those things are a drop in the ocean compared to the money needed. And have unintended consequences, private schools close, more pupils in state, more expense. Drive out the rich, their contribution to tax disappears. Windfall tax a one off then it's gone. For large sustained income it's mainly, Income Tax, Corporation Tax, National Insurance, VAT on everyday items and Council Tax. All sacred cows currently.

Should have added or reducing benefits, that always goes down well!

As others have said we have a lot of trained teachers, social workers and nurses in the country the conditions are just so bad at the moment that most of them are either working elsewhere or early retired or doing something anything rather than go back there.

If they can improve conditions we might have less of a workforce problem.

Yep, the VAT will pay for less than 1% of the education budget. How people don’t check the maths while feeling so righteous is beyond me…

(my kid is in state school)

Oh and ending non doms would provide 4% of the education budget. That’s all.

Remove training/university fees for in-demand jobs. Pay rises for teachers and NHS workers. To pay for it all: tax the super-rich appropriately, enforce corporation tax so that the huge companies that pay no tax while still making use of our country's public facilities can no longer get away with it. Stop handing out government contracts worth billions to useless companies who don't deliver. Just because these people are friends with people in power doesn't mean they deserve to be handed public funds to do fuck all with.

If we keep importing people to do the jobs we need, we potentially end up with needing even more people doing their jobs.
We need enough people to train to do those jobs in the first place so each individual has an easier workload and is more likely to stay. Currently we are short staffed so those left have to work harder, then they burnout and leave making the problem even worse.
in my opinion it all starts with education - so that people are confident at getting proper careers and progressing, and capable of the work required. I suspect that a lot of teenagers are choosing easy or enjoyable options at school, and are then limited in their future careers.
Is there a reason why we can’t train far more nurses and doctors? Do we have capable students who are being rejected from medical school or do we have too few applicants?

When Labour get in they'll put taxes up and borrow. If they put taxes up high enough and borrow enough they'll be able to fund the NHS etc. and attract the staff needed. Obviously it creates problems because people take home less, but when they get booted out again in a future election because people are poor and the country's debt has ballooned, it won't be the current politicians who have to sort it out.

We also need to move away from the influencer, only fans money making models of income. We need people to provide services and goods, and pay them sufficiently for going so.

No party will ever be able to find the NHS sufficiently. As medicine improves there will always be sicker and sicker patients who can be kept alive, and not always in their best interests.

Obviously it creates problems because people take home less, but when they get booted out again in a future election because people are poor and the country's debt has ballooned, it won't be the current politicians who have to sort it out.

Which is pretty much the position we’re in now.