Has Labour taken it literally when people said they are ‘doom and gloom’ and are now giving discounts to theme parks and kid’s attractions as a bit of fun?

[speckledpinkhen]

Whilst these are all quite ‘sweet’ initiatives and will help some families. Lower price theme park entry and cinema tickets don’t really help average working families with the cost of living crisis. Am I just being a grump?

Aren’t entitled to what discounts?

The government are lowering VAT on some attractions over the summer, no one needs to “qualify”

@HobGobblynne lucky you. Pray do share how you qualify, as I and many others don’t!

For UC? Becuase my rent & childcare are extortionate.

you not qualifying doesn’t make it any more true that people keep their hours low to avoid “losing” benefits. That’s just not how universal credit works.

More coverage has been given to this than the fact that the updated EHRC code resulting from the Supreme Courts ruling that sex in the Equalities Act means biological sex has today been published.

They have delayed implementing the law for over a year.

Hardly any coverage, while they emblazon from anywhere that will listen and take a photo of smiling Reeves, that we can all go to Thorpe Park for cheaper this summer. Yay!

I just think that this kind of gimmick amongst others just shows the condescension that this government has for “working people”. It’s disgusting!

You could start a thread?

Blame the media.

No, blame the comms!

Surely VAT cuts have more impact on working people if we’re talking about being able to keep more of the money you earn, than Supreme Court rulings on sex?

Labor Have decided they can’t afford to do any of the things which would actually make a real difference to the cost of living crisis (eg meaningful tax cuts, capping energy bills at much lower levels). If they increase the minimum wage above inflation again they will destroy the hospitality industry & much of the non-food retail industry. And their idea to cap the price of essential groceries was immediately & rightly dismissed as economically illiterate.

So they have launched these eye-catching but cheap to fund gimmicks targeted at families. It’s a sign of political desperation.

It is on the BBC website alongside the fall in immigration and Reeves announcement

Where do you suggest the money for meaningful tax cuts comes from? Hunt’s reduction in NI cost £10 billion. How many billions would further tax cuts cost? There are three ways to balance the books - borrowing, higher taxation and cutting public services. Borrowing is out of the question, higher taxation is manifesto busting and public services are already cut to the bone - and you want tax cuts while accusing others of economic illiteracy?

This is great news for those industries (and suppliers to them). Many of them are on their knees (yes largely due to government policy) and desperately need a stimulus to get feet through the door this summer. It’s an economic policy not a ‘let the plebs have fun’ policy.
On a personal level I’m really pleased about the bus travel too. Currently I’m paying £12 a day to get my kids to holiday clubs (15min journey but ridiculous pricing structure) on top of the £100 a day it costs me to send them there. This means we might actually be able to do something fun together on the days I’m not working this summer.

@HobGobblynne, absolutely and for some that is all that matters, such is the situation of many struggling during the CoL crisis. I get it!

Do you honestly feel though, that this is not electioneering and patronising, give “working people” treats because they are all so downtrodden and as a result can’t engage in the big structural and philosophical issues that are really relevant in society today.

I can and do care about equality and fairness but this government actually buried an important, historical publication of law behind days out for kids. Both deserve equal exposure.

And I repeat I blame the comms.

Nobody "loses their benefits" through working an extra day a week or receiving a promotion. Unless they are already very close to the maximum they can earn before their UC is reduced to zero. It's a very common misconception that someone can't earn over a certain amount or work more than a set number of hours (usually claimed to be 16) or they will suddenly lose a huge sum of benefits. UC does not work that way.

I know, I have been following it all day and accessed the full publication on the Gov.UK website.

But all of the news sites I follow low key ERHC publication, big announcement VAT off days out.

But blame it on the media. What even the right wing media? How does that work? The less put out there from government briefings, the less there is to report. The media on the whole are quite lazy.

@littleorangefoxso why do two people I know that say that to me? How does it work - because there seemed to be very strict rules when I phone to see what I was entitled to as a full time working single mother on a middle wage.

Read my post again, and this time try a little harder to understand it. It’s really not that difficult.

I wrote “Labour have decided they can’t afford” not “I think Labour should” implement meaningful tax cuts.

And I’ve just explained why tax cuts are unaffordable. 🤷‍♀️

Labour will be pushing this more though. It’s not the media as much as Labour needing some kind of uptick in support. Whether they will is something else, people don’t really get swayed by this stuff.

Cut welfare perhaps?

I have no idea why they say that. Perhaps they don't understand how it works themselves? Although I'm not sure how they wouldn't but stranger things have happened. I see some wild questions asked on UC help pages on social media. It's actually both simple and incredibly complicated all at the same time! I'll try to explain it but please let me know if it sounds like utter nonsense 😂

UC is composed of multiple "elements" with set amounts for each element such as Individual/Couple, Children, Childcare, Housing (only for rent), LCWRA (people who have been medically assessed as unable to work or have limited ability to do so) Disabled Child, Carer etc. They add them all up to get the total award amount then deductions are made for income and sometimes for repayments of certain loans, debts and advance payments. The remaining amount is how much the claimant will receive that month.

Each month long period is based on circumstances and income during the claimant's assessment period. This period depends on when the first claim to UC is made. For example my assessment period is the 10th of the month to the 9th of the next month. They get info from HMRC about earnings from employment received during that period, deductions are made from the total and I then receive my payment on the 16th.

For earned income, there is something called a work allowance. This isn't a payment which is added to a claim but is the amount of income per claim that can be earned before any deductions will start to be made from the UC award. If there is no housing element on the claim the work allowance is £710. If there is housing element then work allowance is £427. Over and above these amounts, deductions are made at the rate of 55p per £1 of earned income. This is based on net income. For example, the last earned income on my claim was £2300 per month and we don't receive housing element as we have a mortgage. I don't currently work so that is my husband's salary. The calculation is £2300 - £710 which leaves £1590. Multiply this by 0.55 to get £874.50. This is how much will be deducted from the total UC amount and we get what's left.

I don't really want to share exactly what elements we receive and what our total UC is before deductions but say for example our total was £1500, we would get £625.50 after the wage deduction was made.

If my husband worked an extra day sometimes whatever extra income he received would result in a deduction of 55p in every £1 just like his regular wage. Say he got £100 for an extra day after tax/NI, they would deduct £55 from his UC total that month. But he would be £45 up overall due to the extra £100 of earned income. It eventually would of course taper down to a UC amount of zero. But, as you can hopefully see there is no sudden "cliff edge" or set earnings threshold where someone can earn a certain amount/work certain hours and if they stay just under that amount, they'll receive hundreds of pounds in benefits but work a little over that and they suddenly lose it all. It just doesn't work like that.

Too many people are reliant on welfare handouts - and many of us tax payers are paying for them.

It’s simply not fair and its not sustainable.

It needs to stop.

Pensions?

Sorry, just to add that the "set" amounts for elements don't include housing and childcare as that obviously varies.

Welfare?

Are you in receipt of benefits?