New Labour government - legislative agenda

[Silas Loom]

It looks good, but can't landlords just increase rents and force tenants out that way?

The background notes when it was first announced said that tenants would be empowered to challenge unreasonable rent increases. There’s already a mechanism for that, so maybe there are plans to strengthen it, but someone who knows the sector would be better placed to spot it in the text of the bill. But with no-fault evictions off the table, it will definitely be much tougher for landlords to squeeze tenants out.

 

[brogdale]

Isn't the state pension going up by more than the maximum benefit for OAP heating allowance?

Possibly, but always best to be wary of the tories' (both colours) spin about pensioners getting "£900 more this year"; that figure can only be correct for the relatively small cohort of those reaching pensionable age after 2016 and receiving the full amount of New State Pension. FoI figures show that to be about 1.5m out of a pensioner population of nearly 13m.

Most pensioners are on the lower, old basic state pension including my old Mum who gets £740 to live on every 4 weeks. The % increases might sound OK, but they're on very low base amounts. Don't forget the UK state pays it's retired workers the lowest % of average earnings of all 24 OECD nations.

 

[The39thStep]

Isn't the state pension going up by more than the maximum benefit for OAP heating allowance?

From next April in line with inflation

 

[teuchter]

Nope. You are means-testing the benefit, which means that the richest don't get it. But neither do the medium or medium-low earners. The richest were paying for those as well as themselves and the lowest earners who are still eligible for it.

Fixing the amount that high earners pay is a imposing a constraint. Take that constraint away and the various mathematical considerations change considerably. The constraint has been self-imposed by the government, remember. No reason whatever why the rest of us should agree with them.

But the amount that high earners pay doesn't have to be linked to the choice of whether something's means tested or not. Your argument seems to assume that they are - that if we apply means testing then we can't alter any other aspects of how people are taxed. That's not the case. You could apply means testing and increase the tax rate for higher earners.

 

[PTK]

Possibly, but always best to be wary of the tories' (both colours) spin about pensioners getting "£900 more this year"; that figure can only be correct for the relatively small cohort of those reaching pensionable age after 2016 and receiving the full amount of New State Pension. FoI figures show that to be about 1.5m out of a pensioner population of nearly 13m.

Most pensioners are on the lower, old basic state pension including my old Mum who gets £740 to live on every 4 weeks. The % increases might sound OK, but they're on very low base amounts. Don't forget the UK state pays it's retired workers the lowest % of average earnings of all 24 OECD nations.

Blimey. I went on the pension in the past year, and I did not realise that people like your Mum got less than me. That is an outrage.

The way I look at it, the "Winter Fuel Allowance" was simply part of the pension. The government has removed part of my pension. The increase in the pension is to compensate for inflation, so people should not quote it as compensating for the cut in the Winter Fuel Allowance.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

including my old Mum who gets £740 to live on every 4 weeks.

I don't want to interfere, but sounds like she should be claiming pension credit, council tax benefit / reduction and so on

Benefits and Entitlements

Each year, billions of pounds of benefits go unclaimed. You might be entitled to some financial support. Find out more here.

www.ageuk.org.uk

 

[danny la rouge]

Well, who’d have thought a front bench with so many connections to private health interests would say such a thing?

 

[PTK]

View attachment 442307

Well, who’d have thought a front bench with so many connections to private health interests would say such a thing?

I turned on the radio a while ago, and there was a news bulletin in which an American man – I did not catch his name – was saying that more money and doctors in the NHS are not solutions to its problems. Putting in more doctors is like putting more soldiers into the Battle of the Somme, he said.

 

[InArduisFouette]

I don't want to interfere, but sounds like she should be claiming pension credit, council tax benefit / reduction and so on

Benefits and Entitlements

Each year, billions of pounds of benefits go unclaimed. You might be entitled to some financial support. Find out more here.

www.ageuk.org.uk

much like the people who constantly whinge aobut NHS prescription charges reference to leading equines to a place of aqeuous hydration but being unable to compel them to imbibe spring to mind

 

[brogdale]

I don't want to interfere, but sounds like she should be claiming pension credit, council tax benefit / reduction and so on

Benefits and Entitlements

Each year, billions of pounds of benefits go unclaimed. You might be entitled to some financial support. Find out more here.

www.ageuk.org.uk

Thanks Puddy_Tat

My Dad died recently and we're in the stage of trying to sort out the sadmin and sort out Mum's money etc.

 

[brogdale]

much like the people who constantly whinge aobut NHS prescription charges reference to leading equines to a place of aqeuous hydration but being unable to compel them to imbibe spring to mind

Not sure why the helpful post got this reply?

 

[brogdale]

Thing is, irrespective of where she ends up regarding Pension Credit and Attendance Allowance, the fact that the UK state pays my Mum (and plenty of other folk) a pension of £740/4 weeks is shameful. Her (D) council tax alone takes £167 of that before we get to the heating/eating bit.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Thing is, irrespective of where she ends up regarding Pension Credit and Attendance Allowance, the fact that the UK state pays my Mum (and plenty of other folk) a pension of £740/4 weeks is shameful. Her (D) council tax alone takes £167 of that before we get to the heating/eating bit.

i agree

although again, i'd have thought she would be entitled to at least some council tax benefit / reduction (unless she has a significant sum in savings / capital - value of your home does not count as 'capital' for this) - this is on income grounds, not the same thing as the single person discount which is not means tested.

and - if she rents her home - to housing benefit towards the rent.

at one time, if your income was at / below the income support level your household would be entitled to, you would not have to pay any council tax. the rules are not as simple / national as they used to be, but every council will have a council tax reduction scheme. i'm not sure whether a claim for pension credit also counts as a claim for council tax reduction, or whether the PC people pass a claim on to local council*, or whether you have to claim direct from local council.

* - although when i did housing benefit for a council, the computer at the DWP or DSS or whatever it was called then never quite seemed to grasp that postcode and borough boundaries didn't match neatly, so some addresses we got notified about were outside our borough, and some of our residents got their notifications sent to the next borough...

My Dad died recently and we're in the stage of trying to sort out the sadmin and sort out Mum's money etc.

sorry to hear that. the amount of bumf and faffing about takes a big chunk of time.

 

[The39thStep]

Thanks Puddy_Tat

My Dad died recently and we're in the stage of trying to sort out the sadmin and sort out Mum's money etc.

Sorry to hear this . All my strength to you and family .

 

[brogdale]

i agree

although again, i'd have thought she would be entitled to at least some council tax benefit / reduction (unless she has a significant sum in savings / capital - value of your home does not count as 'capital' for this) - this is on income grounds, not the same thing as the single person discount which is not means tested.

and - if she rents her home - to housing benefit towards the rent.

at one time, if your income was at / below the income support level your household would be entitled to, you would not have to pay any council tax. the rules are not as simple / national as they used to be, but every council will have a council tax reduction scheme. i'm not sure whether a claim for pension credit also counts as a claim for council tax reduction, or whether the PC people pass a claim on to local council*, or whether you have to claim direct from local council.

* - although when i did housing benefit for a council, the computer at the DWP or DSS or whatever it was called then never quite seemed to grasp that postcode and borough boundaries didn't match neatly, so some addresses we got notified about were outside our borough, and some of our residents got their notifications sent to the next borough...



sorry to hear that. the amount of bumf and faffing about takes a big chunk of time.

The shocking thing is that figure is after the single person reduction. One of the first things I sorted for her.

 

[PTK]

The shocking thing is that figure is after the single person reduction. One of the first things I sorted for her.

When I retired in the past year I applied to the local council for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Suppor, which was granted.

 

[Elpenor]

Not doing an impact assessment feels very much like the recent Tory government?

We did not do impact assessment of winter fuel payment cut, No 10 admits

Spokesperson for Keir Starmer says focus was instead on encouraging pensioners to seek additional support

www.theguardian.com

I thought the grownups were in charge now? Perhaps they were on holiday that day.

 

[Smokeandsteam]

Another piece of the jigsaw in the Starmer masterplan for economic growth slots into place.

 

[Tropi]

View attachment 442307

Well, who’d have thought a front bench with so many connections to private health interests would say such a thing?

'No extra funding' means 'YOU'LL HAVE TO PAY' and 'reform' means PRIVATIZATION.
Bunch of fuckwits.

 

[stethoscope]

Going well...

 

[Pickman's model]

Going well...

labour's plan clearly to kill off any struggling pensioners - problem solved

 

[teuchter]

The Angela Rayner quote, of course, is from a campaign that failed to get enough people to vote for Labour to get them into power.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

The Angela Rayner quote, of course, is from a campaign that failed to get enough people to vote for Labour to get them into power.

Yep. This year, people saw that they were no longer promising to maintain the ridiculous winter fuel allowance and so changed their vote.

 

[stethoscope]

The Angela Rayner quote, of course, is from a campaign that failed to get enough people to vote for Labour to get them into power.

This is a pretty desperate retort even for you!

 

[littlebabyjesus]

This is a pretty desperate retort even for you!

Appropriately New Labour, though. Blair promised not to increase university tuition fees when he introduced them. When he did increase them (tripled them overnight iirc) and was challenged on it, he said that his promise had only applied to the last parliament, not this one.

 

[teuchter]

This is a pretty desperate retort even for you!

I didn't expect my simple statement of fact to get a happy response.

 

[stethoscope]

I didn't expect my simple statement of fact to get a happy response.

I mean, I don't even vote but..

2017 Labour pop vote: 12,877,918 / 40%
2024 Labour pop vote: 9,708,716 / 33.7%

I think we all know that Labour only got in this time because the Tory vote utterly collapsed!

 

[Pickman's model]

The Angela Rayner quote, of course, is from a campaign that failed to get enough people to vote for Labour to get them into power.

you are a miserable wretch

 

[Pickman's model]

I mean, I don't even vote but..

2017 Labour pop vote: 12,877,918 / 40%
2024 Labour pop vote: 9,708,716 / 33.7%

I think we all know that Labour only got in this time because the Tory vote utterly collapsed!

yeh starmer accrued fewer ballots than corbyn achieved in the 2019 debacle too

 

[krink]

I think Labour won the GE mostly because people were sick of the useless Tories. I also think we will see Labour shitting bricks when the next round of council elections take place.

They've attacked pensioners.
What the fuck were they thinking?