Summer Budget 2015

tapzilla2k

13 million families affected according to the IFS Benefits changes 'to hit 13m families', claims IFS - BBC News

Cliff

But we knew that this Budget was all about re-adjustment.It was about moving away from the tax credit system - which is an artificial subsidy - to a proper wage from the employer.

It would be unrealistic to say that there are not going to be some hardships during the re- adjustment, but is there a better way of trying to balance the books and moving away from a benefit society?

Sve

But as usual it is those with the least been hurt the most. Those with the least who did not cause any of this mess have the hardest pill to swallow. Why did he give higher paid tax payers a break?

Maybe there is.

He has been proven to be a liar just like his best mate.

We are not in this altogether neither is this one nation, its back to the old have and have nots.

kav

I remember the days of being on a sub-£20k salary, just about making ends meet for my family from one month to the next, and terrified of any unexpected bills not in the usual budget. In those situations with money so tight, a reduction in my income of £100 a month would have been disastrous.

On the other hand, much as I moaned about the way which child benefit was cut, I was able to absorb the £200 a month loss of this much more easily.

I wholeheartedly support any attempt to simplify taxation and remove needless constructs like tax credits. What I don't like is that the impact of these changes is (apparently, at least) hitting hardest those who can least afford it.

I am glad that for once, I as a member of the "squeezed middle" am not being shafted by the budget. I'm just not comfortable that the negative impact seems to be concentrated almost exclusively on those who earn the national average or below.

Pecker

Public sector pay rises capped at 1% for the next 4 years.

Speaking as a teacher, that means that, from 2011 to 2019 we'll have had rises of: 0%, 0%, 1%, 1%, 1%*, 1%, 1%,1%, 1%.

* Some experienced staff may get 2%.

What's the average elsewhere?  Wage rises to April this year averaged 2.7%.  Given that this includes the public sector, who only got 1%, then the average for those outside that sector is probably above 3%.

This is morally unjustifiable.  The nation's recovery is apparently predicated on reducing our debt, and this is being done (in part) by causing inequality between the public and private sectors.

Not only is it morally wrong, it's damaging to our society and our economy.

Shortages in the teaching profession have been growing for a while now:

Rise in school teacher vacancies in England - BBC News

With student numbers about to start growing rapidly, and training to be a teacher taking 4 years, we are going to end up in very deep hole.

I can't speak for other areas, but capping teachers' pay rises at 1% for the next 4 years, when they've already been falling behind others for as long, and where wages elsewhere are set to rise even faster, is going to be a disaster.

More and more graduates are going to find the profession looking less and less attractive (not least because they have to run up an extra year's student debt to gain a teaching qualification after their degree), at a time where we need the reverse to be true.

Expect more children to be taught be fewer subject specialists and unqualified staff.

That's not good for education, for the economy, or for anyone in the country.

Steve W

EarthRod

I remember the days when budget changes were either implemented immediately or at the end of the budget week or month.

These days, the period of implementation is laughable. Five years from now some the changes will be implemented (it is said). Five years! That is the time of the next election!!

kav

I work for a bank, which probably makes me a fat cat in some people's eyes. My pay rises from 2011 to 2015 were: 0%, 0%, 0%, 0%, 3%.

Pecker

So that's the same as teachers...and if you were a betting man, how do you think you'll compare over the next 4 years with 4 x 1% ?  The same, more, or less?

Also, is there a recruitment crisis in banking?

Steve W

kav

I plan to leave my current job in the next few months and hopefully get a ~10% pay rise. If I stay where I am I expect no more than 2-3% in total over the next few years. There were very specific reasons why I got a pay rise in 2015, reasons unlikely to be repeated over the next few years, if I stay where I am. I appreciate that as a teacher you do not have the luxury of simply looking elsewhere.

Pecker

It's going to really hurt the profession:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/11285171/Ofsted-warns-of-looming-teacher-recruitment-crisis.html

The figures are frightening.

Whenever this comes up people start to talk about short hours and long holidays. But people need to stop thinking how much they think teachers are worth, and how much the future of the nation's children is worth.

Michael Gove used to remind us that children only get one chance to go through the education system. My kids will be in Years 1 and 3 in September.  What sort of education will they have had when they reach the end of Year 11 ?

Steve W