The shame of Austerity Britain

Possibly irrelevant in the context, or possibly not, our local Food Bank is under severe strain at the moment because of serious flooding on some of the estates during last weekend’s thunderstorms and flash floods.
People still need help and those for whom the margin is narrow are the least likely to have emergency supplies to hand.

I’m not convinced that food is cheaper than ever. Also, housing , heating and transport costs are higher than in the past.
Life may be ok for many of us but it’s tough for many. Remember that famous comment “there’s no such thing as society”. Her legacy lives on.

Maizie Could I suggest a sense of humour failure? My post was entirely flippant.

I don't think I was the only person who failed to spot that, MOnica but I'm glad it was...

I think that this might show that, far from being cheaper than ever food prices are rising.

tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/food-inflation

Yes, it does live on Iam64 and many of those people who are doing OK prefer to tell themselves that those who are having a hard time have in some way brought it upon themselves for not working hard enough, not looking after their health, not being careful with their money, etc. etc. etc.

In that way, they can go on supporting a government that is, in my view, responsible for the increasing levels of social deprivation which blight the lives of many people.

Food prices are cheaper in relation to income than they were over decades and food prices in the UK are relatively cheaper than in many other countries. This, of course, is no consolation to those in low incomes.

February 2018:

In just two years, Bermuda has climbed its way to the top spot becoming the most expensive country to live in, pushing Switzerland out of first place. This could be due in part to Bermuda’s tax haven reputation, which has attracted the richest and most powerful in recent years.

It may come as a surprise to many considering high food costs and rising inflation, but the UK has fallen out of the 20 most expensive countries for the first time since 2009, topped by the likes of Ireland and the USA.
On the other side of the spectrum, Egypt is now the country with the lowest cost of living, moving up six places in two years.

Jal can you give a link please?

Oh sorry, yes!
www.movehub.com/blog/living-costs-world-map/
and it says this:

MoveHub has created a map to show the difference in living costs around the world in 2017 using figures from the Consumer Price Index (CPI) – the world’s largest database of user contributed data about cities and countries worldwide.

I will not be moving to Bermuda.

Thanks Jal having looked at it I’m still not sure that because we’ve fallen out of the top 20 it means that prices have fallen here as opposed to having risen elsewhere iyswim - am I misinterpreting?

I'm not sure.

I do know that prices rose quite dramatically in Australia and seem to have overtaken the UK; Australian visitors have been surprised at the relatively cheap prices of our fruit and vegetables.

I did find some more reliable statistics a while ago but I can't remember which site they were on.

www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings_by_country.jsp

This isn't it, but a bit more informative

Since 2010 the numbers of homeless people in temporary accommodation has grown by 61%.

At least 78 homeless people died on the streets and in temporary accommodation this winter, bringing the number of recorded homeless deaths to more than 300 since 2013, research has shown.

Among them was 41-year-old Robert Wallis, who was found dead next to his mother at a homeless drop-in centre in Canterbury in March as heavy snow and sub-zero temperatures gripped the UK.

www.theguardian.com/society/2018/apr/23/at-least-78-homeless-people-died-in-uk-over-winter-figures-reveal?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Of course there are lots of reasons why people become homeless. The new “homelessness reduction act 2018” puts the responsibility on local councils to eradicate homelessness by 2027. It’s an ambitious target. Can it be achieved?

"then who are those who are shopping, visiting restaurants with families, going to theme parks , going on holidays abroad? They are not all so-called 'baby boomers', these are families with children out and about and spending on goods and entertainment."

There are a lot of families earning in excess of 200k a year. They are enjoying themselves, they can afford it. The problem is the wealth gap where the majority of families earn less that 20K.

Jalima
"Do you have any statistics on what is spent by the Government on stately home grants please endre?
Is it more or is it less than the tax on the £1+ billion generated by tourism from visitors to these homes? Or if, indeed, these grants exist?"

The Government refuses to publish the statistics. It is grim. Everything is being run to the ground, the NHS, schools, police. We really need to know the truth about what is going on

Mostlyharmless:
With the new Universal Credit many are no longer eligible for housing benefit. I think in 2015 the figure for housing benefit going to private landlords was 26.7 billions. A huge amount of public money. There was a figure of 11 million private landlords. People on good salaries can never hope to buy their own home because of high rents.

You can’t help thinking that £26 billion housing benefit dwarfs the amount invested in social housing each year endre.
Surely building more social housing with some of that housing benefit would be a better use. Social housing means secure long term tenancies with fairer rents, which must be good for tenants and their families.
I know it’s out of fashion to build big council estates (quite rightly) but small social housing developments could be fitted in.
Housing benefit is being absorbed into the Universal Credit system. This could cause problems for tenants who find it hard to budget or who have debts. Under the old system, housing benefit could be paid directly to the landlord if the tenants was struggling to keep up with rent payments.

The National Housing Federation report highlights how money spent on housing benefit rose from £16.6bn in the mid-1990s to £25.1bn in 2015-16.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-41309316
It added that since 2011, no government money has been made available to build homes in England for low paid people to rent

The building industry has shrunk, developers and councils have other plans for development land. There should be some regulation of rents. Bad landlords are passing overhead costs over to tenants by putting up rents.

Gerispringer Tue 29-May-18 19:04:39
"Yes austerity is a political choice. Many Brexit voters voted as a protest against austerity believing the line that they would be better off outside the EU. Now it appears that austerity isn’t going to end anytime soon."

That would not have been it Geri, the electorate voted to leave the EU for lots of reasons, but above all to free ourselves of the EU restrictions, enormous cost's and continuing "moving ever closer together". The leave voters realise that the EU is a failing system, the Eurozone is collapsing, and in fact had a lot to do with the need for Austerity measure, many of which were placed upon us by the EU from 2008 onward.

Austerity is not a political decision it is an economic one. It's like one of us living high on the hog on our credit cards, then borrowing to consolidate and still using the credit cards.....it's then either Bankruptcy or some serious austerity measure to save us from economic disaster.

This Country is doing better now than it has for a long, long, time. Do you know that every year up until the 1973 when joining with the EU, in what we were told was a 'common market' nothing else, each generation was better off than the previous one.

Since 1973 that has not been the case. Since we have been in the EU each generation has become poorer than the previous one. This has not been the effect of any particular Government, it has been throughout all Governments, the common denominator being our increasing economic obligations and control by the EU.

Endrel do you mean £200,000 ( not £20,000) ?

Not many earn the larger figure, but a lot earn between them £100,000 a year.

The building industry is booming btw not shrinking.We are starting to witness a building boom akin to the 1960’s.

mostlyharmless Sun 03-Jun-18 17:22:04
"Housing benefit is being absorbed into the Universal Credit system. This could cause problems for tenants who find it hard to budget or who have debts. Under the old system, housing benefit could be paid directly to the landlord if the tenants was struggling to keep up with rent payments."

Mh I have a problem with this. There is a lot to be said for people being treated as grown ups and receiving their housing benefits and other benefits directly into their own hands. That is the proper way to treat people with dignity and expectation that they can handle their own money.

However, I do know that some vulnerable adults in receipt of housing benefit, simply have dysfunctional lives and the rent get's spent, placing them in a more vulnerable situation.

My instinct is that there has to be some "assessment " made in the best interests of some vulnerable people and the rent paid directly to the Landlord, who might be a Housing association. I am always uncomfortable with 'assessment" but I can't right now think of another way.

Whilst I am very much against two tier systems in general, this might be an area of such concern where it is the only solution to protect vulnerable adults with dysfunctional lives.

"Mostlyharmless:The National Housing Federation report highlights how money spent on housing benefit rose from £16.6bn in the mid-1990s to £25.1bn in 2015-16."

Mh, there will be multiple reasons for this increase, one of which will be that there are more single adults living alone, rather than couples. I will research the causes of this increase, not tonight though.

That's right lemongrove. The building industry is having a real upturn.

ONS figures 2017

Gross household income before tax:

Poorest 20% households have income of £7,000 p.a.
Next 20% £14,000 p.a
Middle earning 20% £27,000
Next 20% £43,000
Top 20% £84,000

The top 1% earn approx £200,000 upwards.

allyg your figures for housing benefit over a random twenty years don’t take inflation into account so are meaningless.

Since we have been in the EU each generation has become poorer than the previous one
Where is official the evidence for this?

Have you read this whole thread explaining about the economics of austerity?

Parliamentary Briefing Paper 01090, 13, November 2017. Rent setting: social housing (England)
"Chartered Institute of Housing CEO, Terrie Alafat said:
This new rent settlement is good news for social housing-it provides the stability and certainty landlords need to build more desperately=needed new homes and to invest in their existing homes and services for tenants".

What is this rent settlement?

We were talking about Housing Benefit being absorbed into Universal Credit.