gaelic at least you got a reply frpom MInisters! I ambeginning to think my emails are blcoked
Would MN function very well if it was constantly used by people just popping in and asking q's then leaving agin? No ofence but I used to get apid to do that; sharing is one thing,, unpaid advisor and then off they go- would put me completely off!
Have reservations about NHS Direct too- they over reacted in our cases a few times leading to quick chewck calls being amde to go to hospital when clearly unnecessary (including for myself- bit of a wheezy chest adn they sent an ambualnce becuase i;d happened to be at a car rrace FGS. It was just a cough!)
TAX Credits do help people back into work: theya re feeding us whilst DH sets up a business. bBtter than JSA claim surely? The only thing that worries me- DH is studying adn when finsished will increase his hours masively (as he will ahve the quals to do so)- am really worried that having ahd a highish apyment in the first half of that year we will get nothing and it won't be enough to manage (I am acarer which amkes everything doubly fiddly IYSWIM- we need 2 incomes to manage, and can only achieve one).
Complete vested interest but if social services and carer's / disability benefits drop we will lose our home. After 5 years begigng we just got an offer of some holiday support with the boys, it'd break my ehart if that were pulled now. And I don't know how we'd cope.
Frontline NHS staff needs ringfencing, as do teacher and crucially TA numbers (our school already lost all of them) and crucially SNU schools. If schools are already strruggling with a lack of funding putting chidflren like mine who need ++ help back into MS will only make it harder for tehm to cope.
Drop health in preganancy grant, feel free to tax my CB but if you drop it at 13- well unless you ahve a cure for the boy's ASD I am not going to be back earning am I? So it'll be a hit very ahrd to take.
Most of all- please cut the scre stories! We know that things are going to be tough. I can start working on meeting bills when I know what we face but teh constant scare stories are giving me sleepless nights and that's not going to help anyone is it? I;ve heard a lot of people say the same, especially the most vulnerable people like carers and the disabled. Ten eyars ago I would hqve gone and got a second job; now I just hqve to stare at the sits vacant, wish and panic.
Mainoy though remember the real people behind the figures. We all know you need to make cuts but tehre's only so much the most vulnerable people can take and no roads out.
Oh and surestarts- I know the rhetoric about offering clay modelling and homeopathy to the middle classes is popular but the one I used to work for did excellent work in a hard up area. They are great but they should be expanded- use the buildings for respite for the disabled, weekend clubs to allow parents to work shifts, groups for the elderly. Closing down expensive facillities at 5pm is bonkers, and most are in the exact right palces to reach the needy.
CGT increases- give people who rent to people on HB for more than 2 yaers a discount. Up to the landlord then still but gives them a reason to think about it and help get people into housing.
I think MN has the potential to offer good resourcs in conjunction with the agencies but not via MN as it is: it woudl be better as a side development. And frankly it needs to be open about what it is- if it's Government sponsored morally that should be obvious and should not masquerade as anything else. WWW. mumsnet-hub.org or
something.
Oh and when it comes to social services- start using the other resources out tehre for information. Homestart is excellent and when I worked for them we did lots in conjunction with social services bt we lost fudning and had to close: so instead you ahve the expensive agency replacing the cheap one. Not sensible. Encourage partnership but not the tendency some agencies have to dump lots of work on charities for free (the NAS are aprticular vicitms of this in my experience)