Politics Thread 5

[KK]

'£1bn in unpalatable county council cuts' ahead in England

Council bosses in England say the "worst is yet to come" in cuts to services, as the government further reduces local authority funding.

The County Council Network predicts "unpalatable cutbacks" next year as the councils identify at least £1bn savings to plug a £1.5bn shortfall by 2020.

It also warns the risk of some councils stripping their services back to a minimum 'core offer' is growing.

The government said councils will get a real term funding increase in 2018-19.

It insists its approach strikes the right balance between relieving pressure on local government and ensuring taxpayers do not face excessive bills.

'Cost-pressures'

But town hall bosses say local government funding from central government, through the revenue support grant, will have been cut by around 60% by 2020.

Cllr Paul Carter, chairman of the County Council Network and leader of Kent County Council said: "Counties will work hard to deliver the savings required, but the scope for making deliverable savings has dramatically reduced, and decisions for next year will be truly unpalatable if we are to fulfil our statutory duties.

"Without additional resource, the worst is yet to come."

Some councils have reached a financial crunch point, such as Northampton - where £70m of savings are required by March.

And Somerset and East Sussex have had to rubber-stamp in-year funding cuts to keep to their 2018-19 budgets.

The County Council Network, which represents 36 larger authorities, surveyed its members about their budgets and what they planned to cut next year.

All 36 responded said they faced significant cost pressures, including a growth in demand in some areas - particularly children's and adult social care, inflation and rising costs outside of their control.

The survey revealed council bosses had already ear-marked £1bn worth of services as potential sources of savings.

Some £685m of those are to balance the books going forward.

Twenty five councils who responded to a separate survey, set out what they were planning to cut, moderately or severely:

58% said highways and transport (including road improvements, streetlights, pothole filling)
47% said libraries
45% said early years and youth clubs.
44% ear-marked public health services like smoking cessation, sexual health, substance misuse
36% said children's services.

Councils say they are expecting to have to switch funds from non-statutory services - the ones they are not obliged to provide by law - to ensure statutory services are provided.

Councillor Nick Rushton, CCN finance spokesman and leader of Leicestershire County Council, said authorities were in a "serious and extremely challenging financial position" and further cuts and rising costs would make a "bad situation even worse".

"County councils across the country have no choice but to find a further £1bn of savings next year," he said.

"There is not enough money today to run vital services. Next year there is even less from the drop in government funding."

He added that councils were again at the point where council tax rises alone would not protect services.

Councillor Martin Hill, leader of Lincolnshire County Council, said his authority had to save £25m a year since 2010.

He said it would soon come to a point where the council would have to consider whether it can operate safely with regard to its responsibilities to vulnerable children and adults.

A Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government spokesman said local authorities were responsible for their own funding decisions, "but over the next two years, we are providing councils with £90.7bn to help them meet the needs of their residents".

They said local councils would have the power to retain the growth in income from business rates and develop a system for the future.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-45573921

Going to be a very rough 2019 for a number of people, mainly those featured in videos like the Guardian on the prior page.

[Errkal]

So we will strawberry float the economy and jobs by leaving the eu and strawberry float the people strawberry floated by the above by removing all services.

Epic work, love the cuntservatives.

[BID0]

part 2 of which released yesterday



Focuses on a school in Walsall this time. So sad

[captain red dog]

So we will strawberry float the economy and jobs by leaving the eu and strawberry float the people strawberry floated by the above by removing all services.

Epic work, love the cuntservatives.

Services have been absolutely savaged since 2010. Maybe the effects are only really biting now but many people have been suffering for the best part of a decade now. Looking back, as much as I hated the illegal wars and corruption, the 1997-2003 years seem like a fond memory.

[KK]

I keep hearing over and over the recurring narrative of 'I have a University degree, I'm now thousands in debt, and I can't get a job'...it really does make me wonder are these things even worth anything? Unless you really are aiming for the high end (lawyer, doctor etc), just what is the point? That woman in the video saying she has a degree (but not mentioning what) and works in McDonald's is not uncommon. But does she have the desire to leave her area? If there's nothing of worth job wise in Walsall then obviously a degree is not going to change that.

[Drumstick]

I'd rather have another GE.

[Preezy]

I don't know if it's just me, but the whole student debt thing hasn't been an issue at all. I came out of uni with about £18k of debt, but it comes out at source from my wages so it's not like I'm having to find the money to make a payment or anything. If you don't have a job, you don't pay the loan. If you earn below a certain amount, you don't pay the loan. What am I missing? Genuinely a bit ignorant about it all to be honest . I get my annual loan statement and go "ok, thanks for that", and it goes in my filing folder.

As to what KK is saying - I think that the vast majority of graduates would have been better off having actual on-the-job experience than a mickey mouse degree in a subject they'll never have a career in (myself included!). If everyone has a degree, who stands out?

[OrangeRKN]

Going to university is worth much more than just getting a degree to start a career. If I was rating what I valued most from university my actual degree would be several points down behind making new friends, general socialising, living in a different part of the country, expanding my interests, having my first real relationship, and learning to be independent in a supportive and safe environment.

Of course my degree has also helped me start a well paying and promising career, but then that is both not guaranteed and possible without a degree (and perhaps even easier in some industries).

Student debt is also much better thought of as a student tax. You're never in danger of not meeting repayments because they scale to your income, so there is very little risk in that respect.

[Errkal]

The money supermarket guy made a good point about student finance and how it shouldn't be refereed to as Debt as it is misleading.

As it doesn't appear on credit reports and doesn't matter if you don't pay it all back it shouldn't be bigged up as a debt like it is, it just encourages stress etc. over something that plain doesn't matter.

[Jenuall]

Calling it a debt isn't exactly inaccurate though - there is a cost to going to University and in lieu of paying for that upfront you are taking a loan in order to cover those costs. Calling the amount that you then owe a "debt" seems perfectly reasonable - you owe the money back. It's obviously one of the best loan deals you're ever likely to get because of the way the repayments are handled, but it's still a factor you need to take into account when working out your own personal budget.

Also saying it "doesn't matter" is playing it down a bit too far, it's still money that you are having to pay out that previous generations would not have had to do (or not to the same extent), money which could have been used for something else. I for one would much rather have been able to plow £10k+ into my savings in the years after getting my degree than on paying back my loan - it would have made buying a house much easier for starters!

[Lex-Man]

I think the guy has a point, it's not as big a deal as it's made out but having money coming out of your pay packet does have an effect. I pay £97 a month to the Student Loans Company and having that money in my bank account would be really nice.

[OrangeRKN]

Practically it works more like an additional income tax than a debt

[Jenuall]

Practically it works more like an additional income tax than a debt

In terms of the mechanism through which it is collected yes, but in it's central properties it is still very much a debt.

It's an amount of money that you have borrowed from a lender, which you pay back over a period of time, gains interested over the length of time which the debt is still owed, and which you stop paying once you have cleared the original loan amount plus any interest. None of that is true of income tax.

[OrangeRKN]

All true, but I'd argue the mechanism of repayment is what mostly matters to the person on the end of it. A significant percentage of people will also never repay their student loan, so in that situation the fact it can be paid off and that it gains interest over time is largely irrelevant - it's the state that ends up covering the rest of the cost down the line.

If you never pass the threshold of paying off more of the loan than it gains in interest, you may as well just think of it as a tax. Once you pass that threshold the only thing that changes is that at some future point you will stop having to pay it.

[Jenuall]

True, it's certainly not the worst system in the world that's for sure.

I do feel sorry for folks going through the system now though, my loan was comparatively tiny based on what I hear some people leaving uni with these days. It's a pretty big weight to have over you, even if the way you pay it back is handled quite generously.

[Lagamorph]

Yeah I came put of Uni with barely £8k in student loans that I've now paid back , but another guy at work has about £18k having gone through just a few years after me.

[Jenuall]

Yeah mine was just under £10k I think but the average seems to have stepped up quite a few times in the years since then. I think students leaving uni now are supposed to be looking at something insane like £50k worth of debt.

[OrangeRKN]

My loan is 20k+ and I was still only paying the 3k a year fees. The jump to a 9k per year limit on fees has basically doubled the size of the loan, but the way they calculate interest has also changed that means even more is likely to be owed.

[Lagamorph]

I still lived at home while I was at Uni so only got the minimum loan for basically spending money

My parents paid the fees for my Bachelors and I somehow tricked the government into paying the fees for my Masters

[Jenuall]

I can't remember the exact details but I think it took me about 8 years before I had paid off my loan, it would have been quicker had I gone straight into a job but I had 3 years of it not being paid at all and accruing interest whilst I did my PhD which made things slower than I would have liked!

Also whilst it started as a fairly small amount being taken each month (maybe £40 or thereabouts) by the end I was taking a fairly big hit on my take home pay to the point where the month after I had finished paying it off actually felt like my biggest pay rise since starting work!

I hate to think how long someone would be paying for and how much they will be paying out each month as their career progresses based on the current deals.