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Politics

Too Many Cuts...come join the #Frothers and have your say

942 replies

AnyFuckerForAMincePie · 07/12/2011 21:23

This is the 3rd thread in a series.

It is for people who are horrified, frustrated and downright sad at the erosion of human rights with respect to how this country is being run, just now and in the recent past

it is apolitical in nature, but of course due to many recent initiatives by the recent govt, there will be rants against our current "leaders"

please join in

I shall post the link to the old threads, our "Too Many Cuts #Frothers" blog that is attracting a lot of widespread attention and a little bit of what we are about in a moment

OP posts:
KnottyJustForChristmas · 10/12/2011 13:55

Thank you Kate, my lovely Smile

RatherBeOnTheMulledWine · 10/12/2011 15:27

Well done Hunty!

Catching up here, just read the Guardian online version so got the blog too. Brilliant.

MmeLindor. · 10/12/2011 17:13

I wouldn't worry too much about the blog url not being on the paper version. I think that a LOT of their readers are online readers, and if they are interested then they will look it up on the web.

Haven't been around much as have been busy at home, so catchign up on all things frothy.

Welcome Rudolf.

ChickenLickn · 10/12/2011 17:31

Have read the article - well done!

New blog background looks extra frothy :)

OpinionatedMum · 10/12/2011 19:05

Brilliant blog. Joining in late as I haven't had internet for a while.

garlicnutcracker · 10/12/2011 21:37

We've had 64 visits from the Guardian. That's disappointing, though Facebook referrals have gone up to just over 500 - a fst climb from almost nothing a few days ago.

Daily visits have halved from their peak of around 1,500. That still means we're getting about 750 (average) per day, which is fantastic for a brand-new site :) Well done, Frothers Grin

What these figures show, more clearly than any Forrester presentation, is the value of networking. We achieved a staggering amount of views when the blog was only 5 days old - almost all coming from Mumsnet, so that was all the lovely MNetters having a read. Twitter picked up the slack very quickly (well done, Kate and all other frothing tweeters) but traffic needs to be building now ... We can't rely entirely on Mumsnet, as it goes, so it's vitally important to push out links (to toomanycuts.blogspot.com. www.facebook.com/frothers, twitter.com/#search?q=%23frothers) to everyone via your emails, intranet, own blog and any other medium you can think of.

We're very, very weak on LinkedIn and Google+ or whatever it's calling itself this week. I set up a LinkedIn account yesterday for "Froth Ing" but only have 2 connections Sad so please hook up if you're on there. I'm also frantically sharing stuff to my Google+ profile but, again, have too few connections to make a difference.

Anybody who feels a Froth coming on, please post on here, or PM somebody you know is a blog admin with your email address, for an invitation. So much still needs to be said. Preferably over and over again, in different voices with different perspectives.

Re: tech stuff - I'm now satisfied with the way links are opening (except for the LinkedIn button) and with the general appearance & functionality of the blog. If anybody notices irritating mishaps, please let me know. I'm building a more friendly user navigation thing; it will take a few days. All the search engines have been notified and have crawled us. The more links people put out, and the more we are searched for, the better this'll become.

I am driven to stress that I would not be doing this if I didn't feel there was a crying need for it - not only by us here, but in general. It's shocking to realise that many, many people are horrified and frightened by what's happening to Britain ... and feel they shouldn't say anything Shock Not quite sure how that happened. But I feel Frothers is giving people permission to speak. What we're doing, now, is at the root of democracy. It transcends party politics and special interest groups.

The more of us speak out and make ourselves known, the more others will gain courage and speak out with us.

CardyMow · 10/12/2011 22:45

I don't think I will manage to cope with anything more technical - Twitter, blogging and Fb are melting my brain - I fear that whatever Linkdin and google+ are may just fry my poor synapses.

The new blog post is good, very informative. And the thing about WTC - are you SURE that Lone Parents have a get-out clause? Because I was SURE on my research that even Lone Parents will HAVE to work for 24+ hours or face conditionality? Will have a hunt for that article I found that in - it was fairly recent.

BIWIshYouAMerryChristmas · 10/12/2011 22:59

Tell me what to do with Linked In!

KateFrothers · 10/12/2011 23:03

Hello

Hmmm disappointing about The Guardian stuff but I'm going to get a correction printed. I have emailed the clarifications and corrections editor. I've also tweeted GuardianSociety and Guardian regular.

On plus side Facebook and Twitter are looking good. The Facebook talking about counter is over 170. It was about 35 most of last week.

I like the blog changes. Very slick.

I am adding a more detailed media strategy to the mission statement and strategy do-dah I wrote (and thought I'd lost in the laptop kerfuffle) and will share for feedback and suggestions. If you'd prefer to see what I've got already I will upload. I've struggled to get onto the laptop today due to enthusiastic toddler.

gallicgirl · 10/12/2011 23:23

Is LinkedIn worth it? I've never seen it used in this sense, always for work connections.

I have a google+ account if you want me to do anything there.

I've probably looked at the blog at least 3 times today Grin. I've also posted a couple of links to friends on facebook when they've had a moan about different subjects. One said he'd passed the links on to family too.

Once I'm back at work in January (local government revenues and benefits) I might get bits of info about legislation and impact etc but I'm not up to writing a blog about it, I don't think.

CardyMow · 10/12/2011 23:26
  1. We expect the impacts on earnings incentives to be large. Universal Credit will improve earnings incentives for 700,000 current low earning workers. It increases their financial reward to work more hours or increase their wage rate, and as such it creates a more flexible workforce. So How do you find these 'more hours', or 'increase your wage rate' if you are an unqualified, unskilled worker?

Under the current system a lone parent working
16 hours at the National Minimum Wage would only increase their take home pay
by £5 a week if they increased their hours to 25 hours. Under Universal Credit the same lone parent would increase their take home pay by £17. So SURELY that means that for those 9 hours - the Lone parent would STILL be working for 53p a fucking hour. I don't know many people that would do that?!

£6.08 per hour min wage, lone parents expected to earn OVER £120 a week. Which equates to 20 hours a week, NOT 16. So they are surreptitiously moving the goalposts. Was it Peachy who posted that blog? Cos it's in the name Diddy? I'd like to pass that info on...

CardyMow · 10/12/2011 23:32

Scuse my random ramblings - the last point is the important one! I got the wage wrong in the paragraph above - it would be £1.88 an hour. Still - considerably LESS then the £6.08/hr NMW. Are they HONESTLY expecting a Lone parent to work an extra 9 hours for only £1.88/hr? Because I don't know many that will...

IF they allowed someone to work for 25 hours instead of 16 and actually KEEP the £54.72 (gross) that they earn, rather than taking 62% of the UC away - THEN and only then will they get Lone parents to work those extra 9 hours, IMO. Why would ANYONE work an extra 9 hours a week if the only gain they could see was £1.88 an hour - and if you take the childcare into consideration, it will actually be a huge loss?!

BIWIshYouAMerryChristmas · 10/12/2011 23:34

FFS - please could some of you come and make some sensible comments here before I explode/implode?

OpinionatedMum · 10/12/2011 23:41

They are setting lone parents up to fail.

I believe it's a deliberate attack. A stealth one, marketed as making people better off in work, but the devils in the detail.

The bastards.

gallicgirl · 10/12/2011 23:42

I love a bottle glass of champagne, me.

Grin

I'll try to engage my brain but it is late.

CardyMow · 10/12/2011 23:46

And the information I am reading about the portion of UC that will replace the Childcare portion of WTC is seriously concerning me. They are opening the childcare scheme up to everyone, even those working less than 16 hrs - that in and of itself is a GOOD thing IMO.

Until you bear in mind that they are not committing ANY extra money to the scheme - It means that people ALREADY getting money for childcare will see that DECREASE. There is no information that I can find yet about what form this decrease will take - maybe a lowering of the percentage they will cover to 65% or 60%? Maybe they will lower the limit from 70% of £175 to 70% of £150 (for one dc), or 70% of £300 to 70% of £250 (for two OR MORE dc).

so people who can currently claim 70% of their childcare up to £175 a week's worth for one dc - which is £122.50 a week help with childcare, and people who can currently claim 70% of their childcare up to £300 a week's worth for two OR MORE dc - which is £210 a week help with childcare currently, WILL NOT GET AS MUCH HELP WITH CHILDCARE.

In my town, Nursery for pre-school age dc costs £52 a day, or £260 for a 5-day week. So if the WTC will only pay a maximum of £122.50, and the mother is on NMW - the mother EARNS around £212 after tax, for a FT week (37.5hrs, which is the most hours that most NMW jobs will offer), after she has paid the remaining £137.50 for her childcare - she is left with the sum total of £74.50 wages. She hasn't even paid her RENT yet. And seeing as the average COUNCIL or HA rent for a 2-bed here is £120 a week - it is pretty easy to see why that Lone Parent doesn't work...

TheMouseRanUpTheClock · 10/12/2011 23:48

It's a stealth attack on lone parents, how dare they not be part of the 2.4 married family Hmm.

Lone parents were blamed for leaving their teenage children in the summer riots, for us to find out it was a lot of middle class teens in the traditional family set up Hmm.

Are lone parents to be out earning or at home making sure their children don't get up to no good, it may come as a surprise to people to learn, you can't cut yourself in two when you are one person doing the job of two?!

gallicgirl · 10/12/2011 23:49

Lowering the percentage they pay sounds familiar. Worth looking at the cap too. Have you got the DWP uprating SI?

CardyMow · 10/12/2011 23:52

I STILL owe £2000 to my DS2's old nursery from when I was made redundant with only 24 hrs notice, and no redundancy pay. They expected me to pay for an EXTRA month AFTER DS2 left. Even though I was no longer getting ANY help from WTC towards the fees, and even though I was unemployed. It has been 4 years - and I still don't have the money to pay them.

I paid every penny up to the day DS2 left the nursery, but there is no way, when I am unemployed, that I can cover a whole months fees. I tried to make a payment arrangement with them - but they refused to take my money unless I paid the WHOLE THING at once.

Blush. I hate OWING them this money - but that's another thing - dodgy practices by private nurseries. People in low-paid jobs don't often GET a full month's notice of no longer having a job, or not getting as many hours at work etc - they just have to deal with it. Which is made IMPOSSIBLE by extortionate nurseries expecting you to pay at the PREVIOUS price for another month AFTER you stop using their service. The Childcare help from WTC stops as soon as your hours drop or you are made redundant - but the charges from the nursery don't.

gallicgirl · 10/12/2011 23:54

But the wonga.com guy said reducing employment rights would create a gazillion jobs.... < rolls eyes >

Do they still chase you Hunty?

CardyMow · 11/12/2011 00:01

Well, they've ALREADY lowered the percentage from 80% to 70% - but I am thinking that they are going to HAVE to lower that even further, as they are going to give childcare help to people working 1-15 hours too, without putting any extra cash in the kitty, so to speak.

And NONE of the UC calculations have allowed for this - every bit of paperwork published states that Lone Parents will be better off (Propaganda or what?!) despite the fact that none of the calculations have figured in the lower amount of help with childcare, OR the fact that none of the calculations are including what are currently 'passported benefits' such as free school dinners, free eye tests, free prescriptions.

So, all I can conclude, by adding up the figures in my case - is that if they include the cost of 'passported benefits' in the UC cap - I will be over the cap, and will have to find a cheaper house (I'm already in a HA 2.5-bed with 4 dc - the only way to get a cheaper house is to get a 1-bed flat. With 5 people). Hmm . I have a LOT of medication, so it would be the inclusion of the free prescriptions in the cap that would screw ME over - 2 different epilepsy meds each month, steroids for my (possible) fibro, asthma pumps, and often anti-B's for chest infections, as I get a lot since I had pneumonia as a SE of Swine flu 18 months ago.

I reckon it is class ethnic cleansing by stealth.

CardyMow · 11/12/2011 00:04

Every 12 weeks, for 4 years, I have received a letter asking for full payment. I telephone them, explain my circumstances, and ask to set up an affordable payment agreement. They refuse, and insist that I pay the £2000 balance in 7 days. When I tell them that I cannot pull money out of my arse do that, they threaten to take me to court. I apologise, tell then that they will have to take me to court then, and we end the telephone call.

Then 12 weeks later, I get another letter. Yet not ONCE in 4 years have they been able to accept that I can't shit miracles produce £2K from thin air...

gallicgirl · 11/12/2011 00:15

Idiots. They should have agreed to a payment plan and I bet the majority of it would be paid by now. Give it another two years without court action and they won't be able to pursue it. Actually, if the letters are from the nursery rather than a collection agency, I'd be inclined to ignore them as it looks like they're not going to take further action. If you really do want to pay them back, YOU decide on how much to pay and when, write and tell them and if they accept the payment, consider that they're accepted the arrangement.

Are they going to include passported benefits? Free school meals and prescriptions could be a huge miscalculation. I'm really out of the loop with being off work. Epilepsy meds should be free though.

CardyMow · 11/12/2011 00:21

All I can find about 'passported benefits' is that even the Government hasn't decided yet what will happen with them. Hmm . Yeah, Riiiiiiight.

It seems LIKELY that they will be included under the UC banner, which will mean that some people who think that they will be OK, and under the cap - WON'T BE. I know that free school meals alone are worth £31.50 a week to me right now. And if I was paying prescription charges, which you have to pay per item, I would be paying for 4/6 prescription charges every month - because they don't give me a full month's worth of epilepsy meds at once. Hmm. So that is, erm, at £7.40 an item, between £29.60 a month and 44.40 a month. if they include both of those in the cap - I'll be screwed!

CardyMow · 11/12/2011 00:23

Oh - I tried that - they wouldn't accept the payment - I had no banking details for them, as I had paid in cash when he attended as I only had a post office account then, and they would not accept the cash payment unless it was the full amount...