I actually don't know yet MMD.
Yes I do work for the public sector but in the Health service and my Trust is already making cut backs so I am waiting to see what happens there.

The retiring age will affect me but that is not a problem at all.

I am in receipt of incapacity benefit in the moment and I'm waiting for the letter to tell me that I have to go back to work.

Is that the one that they're restricting to one year now?

a lot because I am working class, same ole tories, same ole shite

OHH yes and then you go on unemployment benefit and after a year of that, if you still haven't found work and your partner has a job ( if you have one) then you have all benefits stopped cos they can pay for you.

 Is laughable really, where are all these jobs coming from.............


and whats pissed me of today is Rupert Murdoch wading in an the discussion, *adds him to death watch list*

Having experienced this in '79 I think it will have less of an effect on my family. There was plenty of warning of the coming Tory victory disaster and one tends to budget for it. However I think the question is, "how will it affect the locality?" very badly I suspect. We will have to continue to do our best to help and advise those less fortunate.

well said

Well they had one of his puppets on Question Time tonight. I had to turn off as soon as he started bleating.

In truth, I don't know PC. I'm just waiting for bad news. I can't breathe, so I can't walk anywhere, I don't really understand what they want from me, but there you go.

And I'm one of those who doesn't know yet just how these cuts will affect me. I'm just trying to set myself up in business, Still on JSA at the moment but hoping to move on to Working Tax Credits once I'm earning. I haven't seen any details (if they've even been released yet) of how all those benefits will be affected.

Actually, the one I'm most concerned about is Housing Benefit. I can see me still being reliant on that for some time to come, and I know they've said they're capping it.

Maybe they're going to offer everyone miracle cures.

tut tut, they want you to get of your scrounger ass away from your 62 inch plasma and sky tv *that you have paid with out of your £100 a week benefits* and go out earn a living.

This is going to be A MASSIVE problem for low earners or those who are reliant on the benefit system

 I should be so lucky. I have no working TV at the moment and I certainly don't have £100 per week.

One of the issues which annoys our household concerns the welfare state. Our Mums n Dads (I'm old) came out the other end of WWII to a glorious society where the needy had dignity and rights. Now that the Daily Mail heroes have apparently rolled back the state there will be an increasing reliance on charity, means tests, and taxbreaks for patronising rich people. I can feel my bottom line blood pressure rising so will call a halt and wish you all a peaceful night! ( one wonders whether any Tory apologists may turn up later on)

I think they may all be in hiding, I know I would be

Yep, I've said it before, but I reckon they won't be happy until we're back in Victorian times with the underprivileged relying on handouts and the Workhouse.

It's sickening..the Daily heil always has a "Benefits person with 9 kids living in a mansion" story.These cases are miniscule...The majority of folk on benefits are honest folk,there no through fault of their own..

THings can change...My cousin and her partner used to live in Kent,he was a research chemist, she worked part time in Marks and Sparks ,he was on £70,000 a year,he has patents to his name.Alas he suffered a stroke and a heart attack. She herself  now has poor health,stress etc.She has that condition where her pelvis  seperated too much during her pregnancies.Her spine has collapsed discs.
They are now living back in Glasgow ,to be near family,in social housing.The mortgage  on their Kent home  fore closed.They are both on incapacity benefits.No doubt this lot(cameron et al) will say they are "Scroungers"

GJ, I can't believe this isn't all just deja vue for you. I came to Britain in September of 79, which was Thatcher riding high for a few more months. I watched the elections in Germany and the US elections of that dimwit Regan, but within the space of a couple of years, people realised the mistake they'd made, but there was no turning back *well, there was, but people, strangely, didn't take it).

yeah must admit I didnt get that either

Lockes, I was sitting in a very grand downstairs flat in a Country Manor House in Scotland during the election in 1983, which the Tories won again and I listened to the party going on upstairs. I remember thinking that all of them would have to eat their words one day. They did, but it doesn't seem to have helped the proletariat.

I was told this week that my spine is fooked and it will take several years to recover from an op, if at all. I certainly face a life of pain management. Would love to see what kind of work they want me to do considering on top of that crap I use crutches and a wheelchair and probably will do now for some time to come. I can't sit for too long and I can't stand for too long. Lets see what suitable role they pull out of their little hat Judging by the level of CV intelligence of the Career Advisors at the job centre my money's on mountain rescue or under water basket weaving.

Hmmm just thought, I would offer to work from home running a sex line but I'm too grumpy and impatient to put up with some heavy breathing twit at the end of the phone. And God help him if he DARED to call when Emmerdale, Coronation Street, Eastenders, The Apprentice or the X Factor was on. On reflection it wouldn't be a lucrative business proposition. *back to the drawing board*

I'm in the same boat. 

What's annoying me is that it doesn't sound like there will be any differentiation between people who are disabled but with adaptations could work and those who are disabled with continuing ill health.

Where are these jobs supposed to come from?  Are employers going to take on people who have had ill health and are likely to go off ill when their illness flares up?  How can we compete with the able bodied and the unemployed (lost our job because this Government have closed so many public/private section workplaces)?

What happens if they do force us back to work and we become ill by being made to go back to work even though we physically/mentally are incapable of work?  Can we sue the Government????

I hate to say it but it's turning the disabled back to being handicapped (going cap in hand to the Government).  I worry that those that can't cope or are too ill to cope could end up taking desperate measures   <------ I know that sounds dramatic but it's very realistic.

I've already failed medicals to return to teaching 3 times and those were performed by Occupational Health Department at my local hospital.  All this seems designed to save a few quid by moving us from ICB to JSA.  There hasn't been any genuine help for the disabled to get back into work for the 10 years I've been off ill.  These Work Direct offices offer wholly inappropriate advice because they are unable through lack of understanding, to deal with an individual who is in my position.  

Then again I'm not an individual, I'm a gold standard scrounger to some people (not anyone here) who if I was as ill as I say I am, I wouldn't still be here (and yes I've had that thrown in my face during a DLA appeal)!  I guess the Government are praying some of us will succumb to our illness and save even more money for them 

Right that's my Mrs Angry from Birmingham rant 

I don't understand how they think people will be able to pay 80% of the market rate

Though I do agree with the loss of council house for life (if it works the way I've assumed it does anyway)

on housing benefit, they intend to cap each level of housing  benefit so a 1 bed will be capped  at set amount as a weekly rent, as will a 2 bed and so on, so if you are unfortunate enough  to live in  privately rented property, assisted with HB to pay the rent and it's in a more expensive part of  the country, you could find yourself having to move, or if you currently live in  a 2 bed you may have to move to a 1 bed,because HB is reviewed each year and re-set in line with local rents,which ,oddly enough, is always downward....
the removal of the life tenancy for social housing tenants, i tend to agree with,as housing given to  a tenant when  initially applied for.i.e. single mum with a baby,does not mean that housing  assistance will always be needed,circumstances change, but currently social housing  is clogged up by single or married elderly people living in their original 3 or 4 bed house even though the family has left, or by families that may have been in dire need  10 years ago, but  no longer have that have that need  but still hang on to their council house( i have friends who have done this).
it may be a shame that  people are forced to move out of their  homes they've had for years, but that is exactly what happens in the private sector.
the solution, of course  to build more and more affordable housing, but that's not going to happen any time soon, so some thing has to be done  to use more efficiently the  housing we already have.
as for  paying 80%of the amount of private rent in council rented property,that would be fine  if the  councils are going to ensure  that account is taken of the state of many council estates  and price  rents accordingly.

They are going to affect everybody how it affects me personally I am honestly not sure I could probably answer that question at a later date,but one thing for sure is it will hit the working class families and the less well off who are  on any kind of benefits/sick more than the well off  rich families and that is wrong and not fair, all these people who are going to lose their jobs and perhaps their houses if they have a morgage I fear for them.

I agree. There clearly is a difference between those who could work and just milk the system and those who genuinely cant work. I know of people who have a condition that only affects them once or twice a year, they lead a very active life and could clearly go out and work but stay in bed all day claiming their benefits and have the nerve to slag off others and take a moral highground.

W.T.F??!

Sorry to hear this Pengy

Re council house for life...as far as I know the council pay tenants to downsize their homes. Why the hell should they get paid? I agree, if there is one tenant living in a 3 bedroomed home cos their kids have moved on then they don't need to be there. They don't own the house so shouldn't have the right to stay if the additional room is not needed. There are genuine cases of families having to live in one bedroomed homes and parents having to sleep on the floor, bit of a grey area as there will always be the argument about immigrants and their rights, but my stance is if a person has worked and paid taxes in this country then they should be entitled to help in return if and when they need it.

And ello JB! xx

The problem with UK plc is that it lives beyond its means.  We have lost out real industry because we have been out-competed and out-manoeuvred.  When it came to paying a subsidy to keep our industries afloat, we bowed the knee to Brussels and allowed them to go under.  
What don't we do? Cars (of our own but we do provide market access and cheap labour to Honda), steel, ships, coal, planes (nearly). 

What do we do? Tourism and financial (and other) services and bureaucracy.

We have a few people making cash and the rest recycling it down the food chain.  UK plc is borrowing to stay out of the bailiffs court. £18 billion last month.  We pay £176 million a day in interest on the loans.  If we lose our international credit rating the repayments will go up sharply.    
What can we do?  Sad to say, if we try to tax the rich they will clear off and take their money with them although I recently read somewhere that if we took 10% off the richest 10% it would clear a few debts.  We can't tax the poor as we would have to give them the money to pay the tax. So we tax those who work - and we get most of our people tax take from them.  But they are not keen.  Their costs go up all the time and if they are pushed too far they will probably have to give up earning and spending on services.

What else can we do?  We can stop giving it away - except overseas of course.  The list of recipients there is long and interesting.  At home we must penalise those who have become accustomed to this taxpayer 'largesse'.  It is obvious to our lords and masters that cutting the benefits of the shiftless and work-shy will encourage them out of dependency and straight into the many high paying jobs crying out for their skills and abilities at a Job Centre near you.

Fair and balanced?  Of course it is. The people that you are taking it off aren't really contributing to the economy, they are not buying any exciting services or investments so there is no way  you can get your tax take off them then, the only way to get them is to not give it to them.

Cheer up people.  You brought all this on yourselves by your profligate lifestyles and addiction to high risk investments.  You have been paying yourselves far too much for far too long.  Plus of course, by giving less of it away we will need less bureaucrats to administer it, so even more savings.


What else can we do to help? (2) Pray for a warm winter.

I suspect that people brought it upon themselves by shoring up a succession of baffled administrations who never restored industry and had the abstract view that somehow as a sevice/finance centre we might prosper. Alas! The people in charge of finance knew nothing. I dedicate my life to finding the FM who lectured me about how only backward countries made things and banking the money was the way forward. I know that you are hiding somewhere in here.