Welfare reforms.

[jon_1983]

Not a lot of difference between the politicians irrespective of party, all career politicians full of theory but lacking the down to earth foresight that could sort out any problems in advance of whatever policy is proposed. Never having to scrat a living and immune to money problems they will never get it right without that grass roots knowledge.Ian Duncan Smith says that he could live on £53.00 a week,the mans a fool, he might do it if he paid no bills ate scraps and walked everywhere, all career politicians are the same, don't know the price of food never had to traipse through several food outlets seeking out the best bargains, best clothes, best food,best of everything plenty of loot, short of nowt, exept perhaps compassion and conscience and worst of all totally ignoring the people who put them there, US.

 

Totally agree with you. The thing everyone is ignoring here is that most people in poverty are actually IN work. The 'failure' of the welfare system is that wages arn't good enough. Living wage is a must, house prices and rents need to come down. Its ****ing simple increase wages and lower the cost of housing and do it properly, not by trying to prop up the broken housing market we already have (home buy or whatever its called).

 

The Mail headline today is a new low. I've never understood why Paul Dacre is so angry? He's a rich white dude what's he got to worry about?

[For Us All]

Is panic setting in?

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-promise-welfare-changes-with-emphasis-on-contributory-principle-8563269.html

[geosname]

Good move, one would assume those 900,000 people thought they would be passed fit to work, so therefore were claiming falsly, this should save the tax payer tens of millions per year.

 

Thats a very wild assumption, its a bit like assuming all people working dont claim benefit or dont need benefits. A huge number of people claiming benefits are working.

It actually suggests that the rules for claiming some benefits have changed, possibly quite drastically, which takes them out of that benefit catchment.

I wonder how much revenue is lost from people accepting cash payments that dont go through the books, or from people buying/selling fake goods or avoiding duties payable??? I wonder also how much is being spent on the re-assessments and appeals?

I think I remember that disabilities are mainly based around physical impairments and take little account of mental frailties ...

[geosname]

Is panic setting in?

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-promise-welfare-changes-with-emphasis-on-contributory-principle-8563269.html

 

If thats their plan I hope the dont win

[geosname]

Not a lot of difference between the politicians irrespective of party, all career politicians full of theory but lacking the down to earth foresight that could sort out any problems in advance of whatever policy is proposed. Never having to scrat a living and immune to money problems they will never get it right without that grass roots knowledge.Ian Duncan Smith says that he could live on £53.00 a week,the mans a fool, he might do it if he paid no bills ate scraps and walked everywhere, all career politicians are the same, don't know the price of food never had to traipse through several food outlets seeking out the best bargains, best clothes, best food,best of everything plenty of loot, short of nowt, exept perhaps compassion and conscience and worst of all totally ignoring the people who put them there, US.

 

Politicians know the price of some food..... they have to to claim it on their expenses.

[geosname]

Every system is open to abuse but to assume that everyone in the system is abusing it is just political and journalists cack, it either diverts attention or sells papers, sometimes both.

The tax system is abused.

The NHS is abused.

Politicians expenses were abused.

The more you tighten the rules the more people with genuine need fall through the cracks.

[bookworm]

Every system is open to abuse but to assume that everyone in the system is abusing it is just political and journalists cack, it either diverts attention or sells papers, sometimes both.

The tax system is abused.

The NHS is abused.

Politicians expenses were abused.

The more you tighten the rules the more people with genuine need fall through the cracks.

 

very true.

[jon_1983]

Benefit fraud £1.2 billion.

 

Tax Avoidance, Unpaid Tax etc £32 billion

[For Us All]

Benefit fraud £1.2 billion.

 

Tax Avoidance, Unpaid Tax etc £32 billion

 

Proof please.

[JOHNNYAITCH]

Benefit fraud £1.2 billion.

 

Tax Avoidance, Unpaid Tax etc £32 billion

 

Source please?

[Andyregs]

Don't know much about tax law, but have just read (from a government website) that the tax gap is £32 billion, with nearly £10 billion of this as tax avoidance. Which ever number you use it is still a bigger problem. Other sources put the number as being bigger.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/reducing-tax-evasion-and-avoidance

[Birdy]

Benefit fraud is crass, ill thought out and easy to track. Tax avoidance is complicated, intelligent and expensive to investigate and prove.

[lymmshady]

it is not lost on me that discussion of "welfare reform" rarely if ever includes removal of bus passes and fuel allowances from the many millions of pensioners who do not need them . perhaps the readership of the daily mail would be a bit less keen on that sort of reform.

[Birdy]

it is not lost on me that discussion of "welfare reform" rarely if ever includes removal of bus passes and fuel allowances from the many millions of pensioners who do not need them . perhaps the readership of the daily mail would be a bit less keen on that sort of reform.

I completely agree. There are many benefits that are not needed due to no financial assessment.

[Warren]

I completely agree. There are many benefits that are not needed due to no financial assessment.

 

In general I would say that people can be entitled to things because they have paid in for them. Secondly some benefits are made universal because the real target group for them would not claim them if they were by application. However .....

 

I was at a risk management meeting in Manchester today and we were looking at the top global risks. These are a combination of things that link together including of course financial crisis. A picture sometimes paints a thousand words and a diagram was put up of deficits and debt / GDP for countries. The top left hand square of this diagram was occupied by Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Portugal and the UK. Most worst, our position was worse than Spain's where unemployment is 25%.

 

On the positive side I got to listen to Kate Green for 45 minutes, the first time in ages a competent sounding MP. Labour needs to replace Miliblub with her.

 

But in the above re bus passes, we are not getting to the hub of the problem. To tackle a structural deficit of the size we have and not delivering on growth, education and health need to be brought within the cuts as some of the largest budgets. It seems there are no parties going to do that alone, so some consensus is needed between the parties on reducing the structural deficit in a sensible way instead of rhetoric.

 

Perhaps more alarmingly, global temperatures are sure to rise 2.5% and 4% is not out of the question.