cuts - Wednesday's Spending Review

[mrsbaldwin]

Brace yourself ladies - these cuts are big, there will be tens of thousands of public sector redundancies and it's said (by the Fawcett Society amongst others) that they will disproportionately affect women.

Some workers will get some sort of payoff, and some will be pleased to go. Some will find new jobs.

But I reckon the overall effect (licks finger and holds it in the wind) will be to drive down women's wages, meaning that once you are made redundant from your public sector post you may find more work but it will be at a lower rate and the extra competition for jobs across the board will drive wages down across the board. This may be true for men as well but I think it will affect women - mums - more.

If you are watching the press coverage on Weds, what do you think the effects of the cuts and the job losses for women (and mums) will be?

One thing that I caught that I have not seen mentioned yet is that housing benefit claimants will be restricted to claiming the shared room rate allowance if they are up to 35 years old.

Previously this restriction only applied to claiments aged up to 25 years. This will effectively almost halve the housing benefit payable (according to the LHA calculater)to the increased age group affected by this change and will target existing claimants as well as new.

I almost missed this announcement as it was said so quickly and had to rewind and listen again to be sure I had heard correctly. Potentially it sounds like it could cause a huge amount of hardship.

Education being cut.

No good news, stranded, unless you're a well-off pensioner.

School spending is being increased by 0.1% a year in real terms isn't it.

from what I heard on the BBC is that the bottom 20%of society ie the poorest are going to suffer the most.

shinymoo - for single people. It's supposed to bring benefit recipients standard of living in line with those who work for a living. i.e., shared house until average ftb age = 37.

What is the shared room rate allowance shiny?

expat - yes the pensioners thing is wierd.

Its ok shiney, I googled!

"Education being cut"

I thought it was the opposite?

Sure start doesn't necessarily remain. Las put there own funding into sure start and so there will be cuts. Also the money is not ring fenced and so it could be spent on anything.

For example an la may fund subsidised places or offer lower cost childcare in a surestart nursery- they don't need to do this- it is not a legal or grant requirement. Some fund it from the sure start grant and others from council spending. If a council chooses not to do this it frees up hundreds of thousands or even millions that could go to older people, or disabled transport etc

In reality these daycare provisions will now have to break even or close. In some poorer communities it is hard to break even.

Hard choices put on most local authorities.

School spending is being slightly increased and health spend is also being increased, as well as international development so its not too bad imo.

RE Childbenefit - will it now be cut straight away for higher tax payers as it was proposed to be stopped in 2013 making a saving of £1 Billion but no it saves £2.5 bilion according to speech today so I guess that means they will stop it straight away. Did I miss Osbourne saying this?

What I don't understand is where is all the growth going to come from and all these new private sector jobs when no one has any fecking money to buy things with. Fuel and food prices increasing its going to be really really tight for all families.
The Con dems are relying on growth to cover their backsides. Whats going to happen is the unemployment rate is going to soar and they will have alot less income from taxes

I found this document which states that EMA is to be rplaced with

"locally managed discretionary funds to target support"

In other words kiss it goodbye.

Quite a few hidden gems in this if you can face wading through it.

cdn.hm-treasury.gov.uk/sr2010_completereport.pdf

Note that pensioners are the only group that not only face no cuts but have had cold weather payments made permanent.

I have nothing against poor pensioners, and in fact think that help should be targeted at them, but surely it is ridiculous for wealthy pensioners to receive non means tested benefits and winter fuel allowance regardless of their income.

School spending is being decreased in real terms.

I don't know about anyone else but I am sitting here trying to digest as mush as possible and the more I take in the more I want to cry.
My lil darling is 8 weeks and instead of enjoying her I am number crunching and hoping we can survive which of course we will but it is going to be hard, really hard.
WThe government has certainly decided to hit working families.
I do enjoy my job but practically the only way I will be able to make things bearable is to be unemployed.
Personally I think the cuts will lead to a lot of people deciding not to work. I have a council property so by not working I will be able to get HB. I can therefore then look after my lil one without paying extortianate childcare fees (cheapest I have found is £55/day or £220pw).
I think the MPs acted like idiots today...they were talking about a lot of people's lives and instead they were monkeying around like it was a joke. I hate the fucking Tories but I didn't expect anything different but the Lib Dem are a joke and a let down!!!

Alpinepony - I get that and it makes sense in some ways but not all under 35 year olds live alone as a luxury -some do so because of mental health or other health issues which would make it virtually impossible for them to live in or be able to tolerate living in 'shared accomodation'.

bythemoonlight - I was referring to the Local Housing Allowance calculator which illustrates there is a significant difference in the 1 bedroom rates between sharing a property and non sharing. Of course the amounts can vary considerably depending on area.

What about those families who earn over £25k are going to lose CTC in 2013?

How come that situiation hasn't become clearer in the spending reveiw.

In the emergency budget it was announced if you had one child and earned over 25k you lose CTC in 2013, but what about those who have more than one child?

When will we find out the details?

Simbacat School spending in England is increasing from £35 billion to £39 billion.

Has anyone else got a horrible feeling that this is light compared to what may come with The Budget and the half yearly budget thats due in the next couple of months?

What will inflation be?

Also historically schools have been funded for all educational changes. They are about to go through massive educational reform- this will cost schools dearly.

I think we need to see school funding in detail. At the moment it comes in through many routes- this will no longer be the same. Schools will now have to pay for many services they currently receive from LAs through standards funds (all of which are going).

I don't believe for a minute that schools will be better off.

they're discussing education on BBC2 now.

3.4 per cent real cut to education.

National Scholarship Fund will be £150million.

There will be new loans for mature students doing FE courses (level 3).