coffindodger

Next Tuesday 22nd June is an Emergency Budget day in the UK.
The first under the new leadership.
Could be a hurtfull day for a lot of people.
Any Bets on the budget!!!!

Hello.Kitty

there's a Dispatches prog on Monday (I think) dedicated to it.

Certainly, it's going to hurt. They're cutting a lot of the nice-to-have benefits and have spoken about axing Child Trust Funds (£500 for each child to invest until they're 18). In the same vein, I'd expect the "new" Health in Pregnancy Grant to disappear - it's £190 for each pregnant woman for, er, being pregnant. You're meant to spend it on healthy food and stuff, but I think I bought some shoes. Didn't say no, of course, but it did strike me as unneccessary, seeing as pg low-income women already get vouchers to spend on milk, fruit and veg.

They've also said that they'll cut Child Tax Credits which have a very high income threshold (£55k household income) and are very generous for lower income families. The problem is, they're tied into Working Tax Credits which encourage low income families to go back to work with pretty generous supplements and help towards childcare costs... without this help, many low income families will find that it's not financially viable to go back to work.

Yeah, so... I think it's going to be interesting. I think it's going to be a huge wake-up call for many who had cushy lives on benefits, which will be no bad thing as long as those who really need the extra money still get it.

Bahtatboy

Just increase bankers' income tax to 90% and banks' ct to 75%, that'll sort it out.

coffindodger

Better still tax 99 per cent those clowns they call footballers
paid about 100k per month as !!!???.
After last nights farce,

coffindodger

It is thought public workers will face a pay and pension squeeze in next Tuesday's emergency Budget.

The Budget is expected to be the toughest in years with the Government launching action to tackle the record £155bn deficit.

The annual £180bn public sector pay bill and pension schemes - the cost of which is set to triple to £9.4bn over the next five years - will be targeted.

However, the Prime Minister said there was no agenda against public sector workers.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Pol...Burden_Of_Cuts

Hello.Kitty

no, there is certainly no "agenda" against public sector workers, but there has been talk of an across-the-board 5% pay cut in the public sector, the argument being that private sector workers have had one.

Jim Smith

Some on 150k per week!!!!!!!!!!!!

coffindodger

Yes sorry it should have been a WEEK not a month.
group of Prim'a Donna the lot of them.

Hello.Kitty

we're soooooo going to get shafted!

MacScot

..what d'ya mean NEXT Tuesday...it's THIS tuesday

PS Had this problem with English and Australians !

coffindodger

It was last week some where in the world when i wrote this.
Hey never mind it is still going to be bad news for a lot of people.
Iam Sooooo glad i do not or have any plans to retire to dear ole blighty.

Ethos83

Eh. Five to ten years of austerity and then the country will be back on track. 5-10 years is a blimp in the eye of history.

This needs to be done and sooner rather than later and I for one am gleeful at the prospect of reducing the size of the welfare state. As been pointed out before Canada underwent a similar restructuring and has come out even richer and more prosperous.

littlejimmy

Are you? In Dubai?

Hello.Kitty

We're planning on moving back to the UK next year... and yes, it's official. We're getting shafted. All child-related benefits have been cut for households earning over £40k/year, down from no means-testing for Child Benefit and a threshold of £55k for CTC. VAT at 20%, pensions linked to income (kind of normal) and Capital Gains Tax has been affected too.

Anyhow, it needed to happen. Only a small part of me is sad to say goodbye to some potential free money.

The interesting thing is that these new thresholds (and even the old ones) are based on taxable income, and most benefits aren't taxable, so it's still possible for a family to be raking in over £40k (lets say if they had a football team of kids) in benefits and still qualify for more... and that's not including the "benefits in kind" such as the "Warm Front" thingumy and "healthy Start" food vouchers. They'd therefore be "better off" than a family earning £40k the traditional way.

Grace O Malley

I have never understood Child Benefit for everyone. I used to save mine up and buy something or other. Do people sitting in million pound houses, driving range rovers . kids at private school, really need child benefit?