Dave's cuts are going be deep and they will hurt

[FellatioNelson]

I've been hearing this all day on the radio. I can't take the suspense any longer. They are going to affect the lives of 'every one of us'

I feel like a person wincing and clenching my teeth in anticipation of the big fuck-off needle the school nurse is wielding, and I'm next in the queue....

Come on then, what's it going to be?

katycarr - I think that many public sector workers might be happier to take say 10pc pay cut and have a higher chance of keeping job. Let's say 10pc pay cuts with 5pc redundancy could work to ensure that the dole queue isn't too long.

"Scrap Trident
Pull out of Afghanistan
VAT on private education
Means-test child benefit"

The last two are more tokenistic attempts to punish the allegedly wealthy and will either raise little money or no money at all

The first two are not going to deal with the deficit on their own either

We're running a massive deficit and I cannot imagine why Dave thinks that dealing with 3% of it will solve the problem

TDiddy I don't need convincing on a paycut. I have been saying all the way through this thread that I am happy to take a pay cut.

In a previous school that had run out of money quite a few of us took voluntary paycuts to avoid redundancies. For some people that meant working 5 days and getting paid for 4 and others did not take money for a promotion.

I agree Quattro, I think people need to get real and accept that most of us are going to feel it and it may be painful. I would rather that middle and higher earners bore the brunt than the poorest though

katycarr- understood...many of us in the private sector have seen a dramatic fall in remuneration in the last few years so I guess it will filter through..

I think it has been filtering through for a while tbh. I am talking about redundancies and cuts in schools that go back a few years.

I think people assume that public sector workers have no clue about the private sector. Many of us worked in the private sector before becoming teachers etc. We also ahve husbands, wives and partners who work in the private sector. My dp went down to a four day week and a pay freeze to avoid redundancy.

I think spending cuts in all areas are short sighted and one temr goverment sytle

why not invest in cycling and get people out of cars and getting fit - kill two birds with one stone and long term this will save billions.

Spening on proper cycle routes with kerbed cycle lanes which cars cant't drive in would get people on the road and stop the reason of busy traffic - which is true and scarey drivers are everywhere.

In getting people to cyle and be able to cycle safely with their children to school and shopping - it would decrease revenue on petrol but increase health adn decrease all sort of ailments which cost the NHS billions.

This would be a long term project but once installed it would creat generation of healthier people and would save year on year without xtra costs such as roads - although cycle paths would need resurafcing not at the costs that roads do or in the same time frame.

It is short sighted of the goverment to alway look at cutting.

Manovering and change which save money and lives inthe long run can be achieved with out cuts and this is just one example - there are plenty more areas that could be changed to creat better living without suffering

Why should just the Public Sector have a pay cut?? And isn't it easy for Private Sector workers to say 'just cut Public Sector pay by 5%/10% and it will sort out the problem'.

What about cutting everybodies pay by 5% and employers paying that 5% straight over to the Treasury. Sounds fairer to me.

What did the Public Sector do to become the people that pay the most to cover the deficit?? The payrise in the Dept I work in has been 1% for the past 4 years - effectively a pay cut already.

greece and spain are in the shit as you can retire at 58 in greece and the pensions in spain and greece are far better than the uk pension - we though have to work till we are 67 to pay or it all - hardly a fault of our last goverment

in greece the dependants keep getting some of the pensions after the perons has died...they never had the funds going in to pay for this and if germany pull out of the euro on Thursday the whole thing is up shit street without a paddle and it is a reality - could be net week or next year but the euro is not going to last

pocketmonster - have already had about 50pc cut!

I don't want VAT on private education - it will mean bigger class sizes for state sector and no extra funding - no thanks

Pocketmonster many people in the private sector have had pay cuts. I don't think it is useful to see this as public versus private. We are all in the shit and need to pull together.

I think everyone earning above a certain wage should be willing to do their bit, whatever the sector.

And yet the pay stats show that private sector pay rose more than public sector pay last year!

At the end of the day it isn't a competition, but the cuts need to be fair and across the board.

I am sick of hearing 'Dave' going on about the need for 'Public Sector pay restraint' when we have had that for many years. We have also reduced our numbers significantly over the last 4 years.

We are no more to blame for the deficit than private sector employees - so why do we seem to be the scape goats?

High earners in the private sector now paying 50pc top band tax; i expect there is more to come.

I know that Katycarr and I have made exactly that point on many threads recently, but I find the 'just cut public sector pay by x%' comments increasingly irritating.

I don't feel like a scapegoat tbh, I know many people who work in the private sector and don't know many who have had payrises. Many of us are facing difficult decisions.

Last time I checked TDiddy the 50% tax band applied to people in all sectors who earned over £150k not just the private sector!

Last time I checked TDiddy the 50% tax band applied to people in all sectors who earned over £150k not just the private sector!

Guys- if you put VAT on private education and send us back to the state sector, then net net public spending would got up by a lot as you would have to pay for more state sector places?!

I am also aware that as a public sector worker that I have a pension that is as ecure as a pension could be and a very good one at that. I don't want to see those with low wages in any sector face paycuts, but someone like me on 35K a year with no childcare bills can take a cut with less effect than the low paid or those on benefits.

wubbly that certianly wasn't the case by 194 - withone a month surgery and then chemo, then taxol which cost 10k per shot and 6 of those were given . This gave three more years, sadly all the treatment didn't help and ovarian cancer known as the silent killer won by 97

but the treatment once the cystitus was diagnosed was fast and fantastic and supassed the private treatment a friend was having for the same disease, there were only limited tests done compared with my mum and the end result was less time

guys a 3 or 5 year pay freeze is also worth a lot in public spending terms as this represents a cut in real terms so there are imaginativeways to this.

Quattcentro- Trident scrapping is good idea in my opinions as Britain has greater day to day threats that require a diff response.

But unfortunately Katycarr the cuts won't only impact those who feel they can afford it - and you may feel well off on £35k but other families with different circumstances could already be struggling.

It's also useful to remember that the average public sector 'gold plated' pension is just £4k per annum. This goes up to 6k per annum if you include high earners (like those whose salaries were published in the Sunday papers last week). Any cuts will impact the lowest paid as well as the middle bracket like yourself and the higher earners I've already mentioned.

This shouldn't be private against public, but that is what the politicians seem to be aiming for and alot of voters seem to be buying into it.

who is guys -I can't see the posts whats going on?

Quattcentro is there - where are the other posts?

I think that they are better looking at medium/longer term structures to achieve savings...if they make unemployment too high then it could shatter lives and actually achieve more (human) waste/costs to the state.

Which is why I would go for 3 or 5 year pay freeze mixed with other measures