Live webchat with Rachel Reeves, Labour shadow for work and pensions; THURSDAY 26 FEBRUARY 11.30-12.30

[RowanMumsnet]

We’re pleased to say that we’ll be welcoming Rachel Reeves MP to MNHQ for a webchat on Thursday February 26 at 11.30am.

Rachel is the MP for Leeds West, and Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions; among other things her brief includes the ‘bedroom tax’ (also known as the ‘removal of the spare room subsidy’ or ‘under-occupancy penalty’), which she has said Labour will abolish.

Before becoming an MP, she worked as an economist for the Bank of England, the British Embassy in Washington and at Halifax Bank of Scotland. Her second child is due in June and there was some controversy earlier this week when she announced her intention to take maternity leave should Labour form the government after the General Election in May.

Please join us on Thursday at 11:30 if you can; as ever, if you can’t join us live, then leave your question on this thread in advance. (And please remember our webchat guidelines.)

Thanks
MNHQ

Swing it How ihategeorge?
I don't think any parties have pledged to make child benefit universal again, have they?
Tax payers with children under 18 only make up a certain proportion of voters so those affected (including me!) wouldn't be a huge group.

Really would like to hear your view on any three ideological principals that current Labour sees as key.

It's really sad that politicians think it's ok to force disabeld people to become housebound and potentially lose their jobs because if they can walk 21 metres they are not disabled enough! It makes me feel quite sick.

@CrapBag

Thank you for that link.

So essentially Labour are pledging to change the WCA to make it fairer and will penalise the company that unfairly fails people when they shouldn't have failed the test at all? I think I have read that right. Brain is a bit tired at the moment.

Yes, I really think we can make a difference to make assessments fairer and to get people the support they need quicker.

@sockmatcher

Thank you. You can't eben get one from a HMRC enquiry centre as they are all closed down!

Thanks again, I will definitely look into this.

MrsVamos Thank you, I was just going to post that. RR definitely posted 'banned' earlier on.

@Rufus200

Mansion Tax Questions - There is no information out there about it!

The £42,000 threshold is that per family or per person?
If your salary is over £42,000 but you make pension contributions to lower it under the threshold can you then defer the tax?

When will properties be valued?
Who will value them? Are they just going to use Zoopla estimates? or recent sold prices in the area?
Who will pay for them to be professionally valued?
If you don't agree with your valuation, can you contest it?
When will the 1st bill arrive?
Who pays the landlord or renter? If it is the landlord what will stop them adding it to the rent?

So we can raise the resources we need to save and transform our NHS without adding to borrowing , Ed Balls has said that a Labour government will introduce a tax on high value properties over £2 million. Fewer than 0.5 per cent of the UK’s homes will be affected.

I think it’s right that when working people are already paying more and have seen their wages fall by an average of £1600 a year since 2010, we ask those who have the most to make a bigger contribution. It just can’t be fair that the average person pays 390 times more in council tax, as a percentage of the value of their property, than the billionaire buyer of a £140 million penthouse in Hyde Park .

The tax will be progressive, asking more of those with the highest value properties. Those owning properties worth £2-£3 million will pay an extra £250 a month – the same as the average top band of council tax. It will be owners and investors in properties worth tens of millions of pounds who would make a much bigger contribution. We will set out the full detail of charges and bands when we have seen the full detail of the modelling and property data analysis which has been carried out by the Treasury and HMRC.

Owners of high-value homes where no one has an income of more than £42,000 a year — will be guaranteed the right to defer the charge until the property changes hands.

For valuations, we will build on the system already in place for the Government’s new tax on properties bought through companies, which values properties over £2m. As with that tax, owners will be able to submit a self-valuation to HMRC. No one will have to pay for a valuation and for most people it will be unnecessary because our banded system means for most properties it will be clear which band they fall into. Owners close to a threshold will be able to submit their valuation to HMRC for pre-approval.

If a property is rented, the owner of the property, not the tenant, will be responsible for paying the tax.

@MrsVamos

thoth

See Rachel Reeves 11:29am post.

....minimum wage, blah blah blah, banning zero hour contracts....blah blah blah.

If you are earning the minimum wage or on a zero hour contract, I think both these policies will make a pretty big difference to your quality of life.

Can you assure me that there will be no more tax rises or removal of universal services for families with one higher rate tax payer? I'm not talking about the super rich here, I'm talking about 50k income earning families on one income with a stay at home parent and single parents paying higher rate tax.

@thefemalegeek

Can you tell us three idealogical principals that underpin current Labour Party thinking?

That people should have the dignity of wages they can afford to live on.

That people who can't work should get the support and dignity that they deserve.

That public services should be of an excellent standard wherever you live.

Thanks mrsvamos! Hadn't spotted that (phone screen leaps around making it hard sorry)

Given Rotherham has had a huge Labour majority forever and the Casey report finding that councillors are still in denial, two years on from the Jay report -

What is the Labour party actually doing about the Rotherham councillors' performance ? (eg Will they all be able to stand in May as official Labour candidates?) The message that would send to victims...

I hope is ringing the Guardian about the massive gaffe over 'banning' zero hours contracts.

Line

She also acknowledged my post thanking her for answering stating that it was good to hear.

Back tracking a bit now though !

I hope someone

I completely agree with Jobcentres not telling people about emergency or discretionary payments. Im a Social Worker now. I know the benefits systems and what is available but they even try to fobb me off. The Jobcentre staff are being directed by management not to offer them.

If the benefits system is to overhauled and work you need go talk to the staff. Not the managers who don't know how to process work and have foresight to see how spending time on a case/call getting it right means you don't take several repeat calls.....however that doesn't fit in with the call time targets.

Reducing bogus self employment - having more occupations listed in ESM4000 would be of help.

Reducing employers NI for very small employers may help - the current NI reduction for businesses did not include employers of domestic workers. Families, mums going back to work, have to pay Employers NI out of their taxed income.

As in I agree the Jobcentres don't tell people.... Not that I agree they are right not too!

I believe that the current childcare subsidies are entirely unrealistic and barely make a dent in costs for many families.

Would you support a motion to make childcare wholly or at least 50%, a tax deductible expense for a family with two working parents?
The idea being that it leaves families to find a free market childcare solution that fits their requirements [eg: MP's with odd working hours, parents with long commutes or doing compressed hours requiring at home childcare, etc etc.]

A second question is how are Labour proposing to pay for what you have indicated so far? Has the party costed it's promises and established where the funding will come from?

Thank you for your responses Rachel. This chat has gone far better than Harriet Harman's where so few questions were answered. I appreciate you taking the time to reply to my question.

I still think there is a way to go with disability and it's not always about getting disabled people into work, but I do think it is a step in the right direction, particularly from the appalling job that the Coalition have done with it.

@GallicIsCharlie

Oh, and now I've got to wait another 7 years for a pension - will I have a pension?

I opposed the sharp increase in the State Pension age for women that this Government introduced as I think people need sufficient notice for any change to their retirement age. The reality is though that if we are going to be able to pay for all the things we need, people will need to work longer because we are on average living a lot longer (which is a great thing) than our parents and grandparents.

thoth, I meant it could swing it, particularly in marginal constituencies if one party did decide to make child benefit a universal benefit again.

thoth

You're welcome.

It appears that's not actually the case though.

People should have the dignity of wages they can afford to live on.

Etc....

But they don't, and probably wont under Labour.

People who cant work should get the support and dignity they deserve.

But they don't, and probably wont, under Labour.

I despair.

@LineRunner

I hope is ringing the Guardian about the massive gaffe over 'banning' zero hours contracts.

No-one's planning on banning supply teachers who are on zero hour contracts, what we need to deal with is Sports Direct and other employers who are exploiting their workers - hence rules on exclusivity clauses, being available at any hour of the day or night, and giving people a regular contract if they work regular hours.

This is better than Harriets ?

I think sometimes it better to say nothing.