The Budget

[Desmo]

# Chancellor George Osborne is delivering his first Budget
# VAT to rise from 17.5% to 20% from 4 January next year
# Income tax allowance to rise by £1,000
# No rise in alcohol, tobacco or fuel duties
# Child benefits frozen for three years; medical examination for new disabilities living allowance claimants
# Link between basic state pension and earnings to be restored
# Capital gains tax for higher rate tax payers to rise to 28%
# Two-year pay freeze for public sector workers earning more than £21,000
# Levy imposed on banks

[vix]

Wish they'd stop messing with VAT - makes my notes a nightmare

Liking the medical assessment for new and current DLA claimants.

[Zirax]

Originally Posted by vix

Liking the medical assessment for new and current DLA claimants.

I'm not.

While it would get rid of a lot of the fakers, you also have to deal with dipstick doctors rather than consultants who are more likely to know about the condition. The medical assessment will be outsourced to a generic "know all" who won't have a clue (ticksheet of doom). I know this as I work for the company that does it all at present for other arms of the gov't

Not claiming at the moment but in the future I will be entitled to.

[Haly]

Originally Posted by Zirax

I'm not.

While it would get rid of a lot of the fakers, you also have to deal with dipstick doctors rather than consultants who are more likely to know about the condition. The medical assessment will be outsourced to a generic "know all" who won't have a clue (ticksheet of doom). I know this as I work for the company that does it all at present for other arms of the gov't

Not claiming at the moment but in the future I will be entitled to.

That's my concern too :/

[vix]

Originally Posted by Zirax

I'm not.

While it would get rid of a lot of the fakers, you also have to deal with dipstick doctors rather than consultants who are more likely to know about the condition. The medical assessment will be outsourced to a generic "know all" who won't have a clue (ticksheet of doom). I know this as I work for the company that does it all at present for other arms of the gov't

Not claiming at the moment but in the future I will be entitled to.

Well, yes, it will be more effective if not dealt with by dipsticks!

[Tak]

More blurb...I mean key points:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/politics/10374475.stm

Still skim reading it atm

[Will]

I think it looks fairly drastic but probably necessary. 20% VAT will generate over 13bn alone which isn't a bad thing and won't really affect me in a horrendous way. Liking the captial gains tax increase. Shame about the freeze on public sector workers, but at least they are keeping their jobs, so it's not disastrous, they could have made actual cuts and render people redundant.

It was always going to be a tough one to devise, but I think it's harsh, but necessary. It's going to be a tough couple of years, but we're still so so weak after the recession that we're hardly out of at the moment. It might stifle growth a little, but conversely it *should* help the economy stabilise a little.

[Pheebs]

The Public Sector cuts... is getting my goat. Okay if there has to be cuts then so be it but where are they taking them from!?!?!?!

How many screwballs do they need with their own private parking spot and expensive travel costs and lunches to discuss matters such as seating plan lay outs and who next to chop out of the game... take one of them out and we might be able to fund some of the critical units and keep on the DC's we need. We NEED the frontline staff. It's driving me insane seeing it fall apart all under the feet of incapable morons.

You know what really got me going? When one of these muppets called in two members of staff, sat them down, and told them that they're making job cuts. No **** Sherlock. They then say "We're going to have to lose one of you... and we've decided to put it down to both of you who would prefer to leave and stay".

My blood boiled. Here chaps, this is the position, we don't have the balls to chose, go fight it out yourselves. Both of them have refused to make a decision to the tea drinking biscuit dunking moron who has been on countless holidays to the Caribbean and other exotic locations for the past few months. All this person does is run about chasing after statistics, which is a stupid STUPID task to do with our unit - we're not a standard district unit - we cannot be statistically focused - we need focus on what we're actually doing. We mightn't get anything for months but hell, look at the work that's put in to it and the outcome. THAT'S what's important. Not how many fricken detections we've got.

MORONS. MOOOOOOROOONS.

FFS.

It's ridiculous. Absolutely ludicrous. As for HR - they need to get a grip of themselves and stop dishing out jobs to people and then a day before they start say "Oooh... sorry it's being reviewed" when they were aware of this weeks back. Absolute morons, stop messing with peoples lives.

WHY do they need managers to manage more managers and above?! It's crazy. Absolutely crazy. They also have a whole unit of muppets who analyse figures from a system which, in essence, is the biggest pile of **** in the world. Whatever stats get pulled off them are unnecessary, unreliable and do bugger nothing to reflect any of the good work that's being done. WHY DO WE NEED THIS TEAM!?! Throw them - bosh those out the windows - don't take away DC's and PC's roles. They aren't reducing crime, they're not providing support to the public, they're just boshing out unreliable statistics.

I know I'm talking about people here and about "boshing" them out of a job but to put things in perspective I don't have one come November. I'm bottom rung in my Office and although I process so much of the rubbish they have to do and alleviate worries and stress for DC's... I know I'm not worth staying. I would cut me if I had to cut people. It makes sense. Yeh it means I'm royally screwed but hey, that's life, I'll find something.

Bah.

Makes me angry. Can you tell?!

/rant

[Will]

Well the cuts have to go somewhere old bean, the country's ****ed. They need stability in the economy and whilst drastic I think it's not overly bad. Once they have stability they can start to rebuild some growth - but at the moment there's no flow it's so hap-hazard. In 2 years time we'll see, if there's no growth and GDP hasn't recovered then we'll know they didn't do the right thing.

Rather this than Labour benefits to all and sundry whilst taxing the middle/high earners.

[Garp]

Originally Posted by Will

Rather this than Labour benefits to all and sundry whilst taxing the middle/high earners.

I agree with you completely up until this bit.. The high earners don't get taxed.
They do ostensibly, I mean the taxes are right there, but it's a myth that they actually get taxed because most of them are smart enough to work the system, or pay for accountants to help them work it. Taxes were sold to the population on the basis that the rich would be taking the main load off the poor and middle class for war expenses.
The reality is the rich pay little of the taxes they're 'supposed' to pay and the poor and middle class are the ones that make up the bulk of the tax income. It makes me laugh when I hear people talking about raising the taxes on the rich, because it really won't net as much as the general population would believe, and you can pretty much guarantee any attempt to deal with loopholes in the tax system will only result in the rich / smart folks finding other ways through it.

The UK never used to have an income tax it didn't come in until only 1842 (by the Tories), and only as a temporary measure. 168 years of that temporary measure and counting... even then that was to fund a war.

But yes, the economy and the country is screwed, and harsh steps need to be taken.