UK XI: Please Sir... May I Have Some More?

[Protocol Penguin]

Here in Bristol the Citizens Advice has gone entirely telephone based and it’s a disaster, many clients unable to access advice. It might work for the service, but it doesn’t work for clients.

That isn’t anything to do with WFH rights. That’s because CABs all over the country have been hit by severe cuts to the funding they received from councils. Entire CAB branches have closed in some places. Many others have gone remote only as they can’t maintain their staff, offices and vehicles. It’s a disaster. The safety net below the safety net has been cut away. But that is entirely due to large funding cuts, not WFH.

(For disclosure, I am a former CAB volunteer.)

[Protocol Penguin]

https://archive.is/JOirX

Labour are scrapping the single occupant council tax discount. This will financially cripple young adults already struggling with rent, and won’t be much help for single and widowed pensioners either.

[egparadigm]

That isn’t anything to do with WFH rights. That’s because CABs all over the country have been hit by severe cuts to the funding they received from councils. Entire CAB branches have closed in some places. Many others have gone remote only as they can’t maintain their staff, offices and vehicles. It’s a disaster. The safety net below the safety net has been cut away. But that is entirely due to large funding cuts, not WFH.

(For disclosure, I am a former CAB volunteer.)

I used to work for CAB both as a volunteer and a member of staff. On your point, it’s possible it has something to do with funding. However, in this particular instance, having worked in Bristol’s advice sector for some years, I believe it’s more to do with convenience. It’s easier for the service to run that way and the council, their main funder, appears not to be concerned about this. The concern is that it makes it easier for them to cherry pick clients, i.e. those that are able to engage by telephone, who are not necessarily those in greatest need of the help. In the wider advice sector, Bristol CAB have a bit of a reputation, that goes back before covid, of being hard to access.

In contrast, in neighbouring Bath, the council pushed that CAB back into delivering face to face services, which it has been doing for about a year. That CAB actually had its funding cut more harshly over the last ten years than Bristol. I used to have clients in Bath who simply wouldn’t engage at all with the service unless it was face to face, at that time because of their mental health, including autism. People who didn’t even own a phone in some cases. Therefore I am pleased that they still have a face to face service available.

[Brad]

https://archive.is/JOirX

Labour are scrapping the single occupant council tax discount. This will financially cripple young adults already struggling with rent, and won’t be much help for single and widowed pensioners either.

To be fair, she refused to rule it out, she did not say they were scrapping it and any sensible MP will refuse to rule anything out when asked.

[Protocol Penguin]

I used to work for CAB both as a volunteer and a member of staff. On your point, it’s possible it has something to do with funding. However, in this particular instance, having worked in Bristol’s advice sector for some years, I believe it’s more to do with convenience. It’s easier for the service to run that way and the council, their main funder, appears not to be concerned about this. The concern is that it makes it easier for them to cherry pick clients, i.e. those that are able to engage by telephone, who are not necessarily those in greatest need of the help. In the wider advice sector, Bristol CAB have a bit of a reputation, that goes back before covid, of being hard to access.

In contrast, in neighbouring Bath, the council pushed that CAB back into delivering face to face services, which it has been doing for about a year. That CAB actually had its funding cut more harshly over the last ten years than Bristol. I used to have clients in Bath who simply wouldn’t engage at all with the service unless it was face to face, at that time because of their mental health, including autism. People who didn’t even own a phone in some cases. Therefore I am pleased that they still have a face to face service available.

Oh, I stand partially corrected, then. So some may not be losing face to face services entirely due to cuts.

The cherry-picking ‘easier’ clients aspect sounds ominously familiar. As in I saw the same thing happen, as well as use of offensive and discriminatory language about certain client groups the scenes. Had to give up volunteering with that particular CAB due to the internal culture.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/sep/05/grenfell-report-angela-rayner-labour-tories-uk-politics

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/sep/05/ministers-introduce-plans-to-remove-all-hereditary-peers-from-lords

https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/sep/05/second-class-letter-deliveries-uk-could-be-scrapped-on-saturdays

[Protocol Penguin]

https://news.sky.com/story/amp/offenders-could-serve-sentence-in-estonian-prisons-to-ease-overcrowding-13210297

Sending prisoners to Estonia? This Labour government is just as bat**** as the recent Tory one.

[charlesr]

Hahah what's going on. It's like an episode of Black Mirror

[Asura]

[The Daily Mail headline for the cut to pensioners' fuel allowance is they're going to make Beryl freeze, but in reality, it's only OAPs in the upper income bracket that it's being cut from. Saw one bloke moaning about it online and it took two minutes to look at his other posts talking about his second home abroad and pics of his expensive motorbike.

That's the thing. We've got a situation now where with all the benefits and pensions, a fair chunk of pensioners in the UK are earning more than an above-average 35yo, i.e. more than a working-age person.

Now, I don't begrudge them their private pensions. What they did/do with those is their business. But a pensioner 'earning' more money than a higher-paid working-age person has absolutely no business getting the government to pay for their bills!

[Brad]

https://news.sky.com/story/amp/offen...wding-13210297

Sending prisoners to Estonia? This Labour government is just as bat**** as the recent Tory one.

Read the article. The government has already said no to the ridiculous idea.

"[But] on those reports specifically, I would point out that this was the policy of the former government and that this government has made no such plans or announcements."

[Protocol Penguin]

That's the thing. We've got a situation now where with all the benefits and pensions, a fair chunk of pensioners in the UK are earning more than an above-average 35yo, i.e. more than a working-age person.

Now, I don't begrudge them their private pensions. What they did/do with those is their business. But a pensioner 'earning' more money than a higher-paid working-age person has absolutely no business getting the government to pay for their bills!

Definitely an issue. However, many pensioners are objectively still very poor and live in deep poverty.

Unfortunately there will be many pensioners who are going to suffer severely over the winter when the fuel allowance goes. Those who won’t qualify for pension credit but will still struggle to pay for rising heating bills. Those who can qualify for pension credit, but no longer have access to a CAB which would be able to assist with the copious paperwork required to claim the benefit. Also, the issue of maintaining a universal welfare state – personally, I would like to keep as much of it as universal as possible, as a general rule (I mean, for example, I wouldn’t support the NHS being reduced to a service just for the very poor and uninsurable).

[egparadigm]

I wonder if they could have a “broader group” criteria to pick up those who just miss out on PC entitlement. Those retiring today who have a full state pension no longer qualify for PC unlike a decade ago. SRP is about £170, just above basic PC amount.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/sep/09/labour-to-give-english-local-authorities-power-to-run-bus-services

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/sep/09/tory-covid-contracts-worth-15bn-had-corruption-red-flags-study-finds

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/sep/10/reeves-urged-to-make-tax-changes-to-raise-more-than-20bn-a-year

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/sep/10/lucy-letby-thirlwall-inquiry-how-former-nurse-murdered-babies

Princess of Wales ‘cancer free’ after completing chemotherapy | Catherine, Princess of Wales | The Guardian
Good news for Kate but sweet baby Jesus that video is peak levels of cringe and a real indicator as to how the scales may tip in time for the family's public image

[Nu-Eclipse]

GB News investor acquires The Spectator, also looking to acquire The Telegraph/Sunday Telegraph.

Grim.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/article/2024/sep/10/gb-news-paul-marshall-deal-buy-spectator-redbird-imi