Well done George Osborne - stonking budget

[claig]

Tax free Allowance rising to £11000
40% tax threshold rising to £43000
Corporation Tax falling to 19% and then 18%
National Living Wage will reach £9 by 2020, will start at £7.20

If they carry on like this, Labour are finished and poor old UKIP and Farage won't stand a chance of getting a look in. But credit where credit is due - well done Osborne!

[QuiteLikely5]

Well said Hillingdon and plum some folk do exist in the way you have described.

A lot of people act so entitled.

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

The genuinely disabled are excluded from all of this

Which is quite a comforting thought for you I'm sure. The problem is that back in the real world the genuine disabled (whayever the hell that term means) aren't really excluded from any of this hardship. They're being repeatedly kicked by successive budget cuts and being portrayed as workshy scroungers so you can sit there and make glib comments about opening champagne and kidding yourself that the comments you make exclde the genuine disabled claiments.

Meanwhile the genuine disabled claimants are sat there trying to work out how they're going to put food on the table. But that's OK because the small proportion of people playing the system got kicked too so it's worth it.

[serin]

Harriet Harman was struggling to get her words out.

I used to be a member of the Labour party but am ashamed of them now.

I think overall there are some great points to this budget but I do feel that our young adults are already too much in debt and I do not welcome the scrapping of the student grant.

Loved the setting up of cadet units in schools. Maybe the next budget will include conscription!!

[QuiteLikely5]

King of clay that's only your perception. I don't think anyone is saying disabled people don't exist or are work shy scroungers.

Food on the table? Honestly how on earth can you not afford to eat on benefits? Especially when each child gets an extra £60pw tax credit and CB.

That's enough for food.

[PatriarchalHandmaiden]

The living wage for over twenty five year olds will surely just encourage employers to employ more under twenty five year olds. So bad news for those of us over twenty five AND for those under twenty five. A great way to screw people of ALL ages.
And as a poor student, can someone tell me when this change to maintenance grants will take effect?

[Alfieisnoisy]

From what I have read the disabled child element in tax credits is staying and Carers Allowance is not subject to the freeze.
However, I have today spoken to someone with three disabled children, both she and her husband get Carers Allowance as two of the children have severe disabilities. As Carers Allowance is classed as "earnings" for tax credit purposes they will be worse off as over that lower threshold their tax credits will more or less halve.

Unless of course Gideon has considered families like this in his budget...and I am not hopeful, then they will be worse off despite the disability element.

I have been getting Carers Allowance since December and have to notify the tax credit office of exactly how much I was paid between December and 5th April. they will then adjust my tax credits down accordingly.

Thank goodness I only have one child.

[aurorablues]

I believe re the uni grants that even poorer households will have to pay them back but there will be some relief. I also believe that 60% of loans are never paid back. My nephew went to uni, has dossed around for the last 10 years. Never in a million years is he going to pay it back. He doesn't earn anything like the threshold so for him it was a few years of living of the state and avoiding the responsibility of working

Just because your Nephew has dossed around for 10 years after uni with no intention of paying anything back. That doesn't mean everyone going to uni has the same ideals as he*

Someone upthread was talking about her DD wanting to be a paramedic. Whne her DD finishes uni she will be on a starting pay which is just over the £21k threshold to start paying it back and will be in 50k worth of debt.

Youngsters wanting to choose such vocations can only get there by going to university. So by the time they are 22 and starting their qualified placements, they will be saddled with 50k worth of debt to pay back. Along with bills, rent and general living.

Imgine being saddled with 50k worth of debt by the time you are 22 years of age.

[dodobookends]

So - we are on a low income. DD is 16 and about to start a 3-year degree. Even though she is only 16 we now lose child tax credits and child benefit. When she finishes her course and starts work, she will be 19, and will have shitloads of debt. Because of nature of her qualification she will have to live in London or another large city. We will have very little money and won't be able to help her financially.

No housing benefit. Crap minimum wage (again due to industry she is entering), and tens of thousands in debt. How is she going to afford to live?

Well fuck you, George Osborne, you unmitigated bastard, and all your rich Tory tosser friends.

[Alfieisnoisy]

My niece is paying back her student loan, she has been in work since she left uni. No dossing around for her...or a lot of her fellow students.

There will always be one or two who don't bother and DO doss around.

[avoiretre]

If I had to see this pain in the backside punching the air, so should everyone.

[BabyGanoush]

dodo, that sounds tough.

But don't you think that paying a lot of money for a course, that leads to a minimum wage job in a big city may not be the best choice?

Maybe she can chose something with a bit more of a future?

Everyone is free to choose what they want to do, but certain choices have consequences (and I say that as someone who followed her dream degree followed by a year's unemployment, and a switch (necessary for financial reasons) to the IT sector...where the jobs were.

[plum100]

I agree with you quitelikey - some do act entitled - such as the - im having another kid, i dont work , im entitled to free school dinners , uniform , prescriptions.

[HeadDreamer]

It's not 50k worth of debt. That shows you have no understanding of finance. It doesn't matter if it's £20k or £50k, you pay the same amount once you are above the earning threshold. See the difference between this and a real loan like a mortgage? Also it's written off after 30 years. If you lose your job, youA don't have to pay. If you go on maternity, you don't have to pay. The sooner you get your head around that the better.

And it's true something like 50% never pay the entire sum back. Once you earn less than a certain amount, which is half of the graduates at current level, it does not matter what the loan size is because you will never reach the settlement pay.

[HeadDreamer]

So for someone like dodo DD the problem I see is having enough to live on while doing the course and then the lost of housing benefit once she graduated.

Given its a low pay profession, it wouldn't matter if the grant is now turned into a loan. It will just add to the fictional number on her statement. (Because she will pay the same amount in her life time whether she take out more loan or not).

[MrsUltracrepidarian]

BabyGanoush
Well said.
People make choices and they need to consider the reality of those choices and who pays for the luxury of their choice of job.

[LashesandLipstick]

Because paramedics are a luxury

[Millymollymama]

Although a paramedic science degree does not attract a NHS bursary, unlike nursing, quite a few NHS trusts help to pay the fees. Therefore a paramedic may not be in such a bad position if they approach the fee paying trusts!

[Savethesm]

'Why cut corporation tax? I don't get why you would want to do this.'

Reward business, incentivise business. Encourages more effort and investment and increases business activitye.

This.

[SisterMoonshine]

"The working Tax Credit earnings threshold has been slashed. So if you work, you'll lose out."

We only get a little bit of working tax credits, and it seems to get in the way of: free dentist, school meals, funding for 2 year old's playgroup, discounted instrumental lessons etc etc
I'd be better off without it.
Everything says you are entitled to it if you are receipt of CTC but don't get WTC.
I wonder if my WTC were to be slashed away I could get those things.
I bet not.

[LumpySpacedPrincess]

People make choices and they need to consider the reality of those choices and who pays for the luxury of their choice of job.

Christ on a bike, what are some of you on? Thank you to the posters dd who has made the "luxurious" decision to become a paramedic.

[Cherriesandapples]

Graduate paramedic in London start on £30000 (I've just checked NHS jobs) so hardly minimum wage

[aurorablues]

Headdreamer, if you have such a better understanding of finance than i or others, why exactly do uni fees have to be so excessive when such a high percentage don't actually pay them back or pay very little back?

If 20-50k is just a fictional number on a statement which may never even get paid or paid in such a tiny amount over a students life time. What exctly is the point of being saddled with 20-50k worth of student debt to a persons name?

Surely there must be mass losses financially, i'm surprised our higher education system hasn't come crashing down like the banks and the economy in 2008.

It just doesn't make any logical sense to me.

[Agrestic]

I have about 30k of student debt. I have a mortgage. I probably pay back about £20ish pm. Sometimes more sometimes less depending on what I've earnt (paid hourly).

I can honestly say I don't give it a second thought. It goes straight out of my pay packet, I see it on my payslip.

Yes it's not great that the amount will rise but it won't affect someone's life at all. It simply doesn't register.

[aurorablues]

Graduate paramedic in London start on £30000 (I've just checked NHS jobs) so hardly minimum wage

The pay system in the NHS is called Agenda for Change (AfC). Qualified paramedics start on AfC band 5, earning between £21,692 and £28,180 a year. Senior paramedics (also known as emergency care practitioners) and team leaders will be on AfC band 6 and can earn up to £34,876 a year.

[NoArmaniNoPunani]

Talkinpeace can you please explain to me how tax on dividends is changing? I work as a Ltd company paying corporation tax and taking dividends. I don't earn enough to be a higher rate tax payer, am I screwed?