Emergency Budget

[ophic]

Originally Posted by thulfi

pfft, yeh good one tories.

They've already axed NHS waiting list targets, set by Labour for people to be see a GP within 48hours, and a specialist within 18 weeks of their referral. They're also gonna axe the maximum 4-hour wait to be seen when you go into A&E.

But then again they all probably have private health care, so no loss to them eh!

No point having targets when no-one can meet them. 18 weeks to be seen by a specialist? That's already a ridiculously long time. On the flip side, if a major emergency has just happened, 4 hours in A&E with a minor injury is totally reasonable.

Originally Posted by timwilky

When the company I worked for found itself in a financial mess, we employees were forced to endure a pay freeze and restructuring to aid in the recovery. I see little difference in public sector employees having to endure similar when their employer is in financial poo

Bingo IMO Tim!

Over a year ago I went down to 4 days, (so took a 20% pay cut). A month or so ago a meeting was held and it was decided that we could all;
a, Have our jobs 5 days a week at full pay for a couple of months bleed the company dry and all be out of jobs in a few months.
or
b, come back to work for 5days to be able to take on more work but remain on the 20% reduced salary...

So.... I'm not 20% a year worse off than I was a year ago, I dont see that happening to many teachers/bobbie. MissOwenski is a teacher btw so dont think I'm picking fights with anyone Im just stating that Tim's spot on.

Side note/rant: Pi55es me off that I've been careful with money. I've no credit card no loans etc my only dept is a mortgage which been a homeowner at 25 is a given. So I've not got many "nice" things, no LCD telly, I dont even have a car, for me it was either the bike or a car, not get a loan and do both.
Now because every norman and his wife tried keeping up with the Jones' and got a visa so they could get thier telly, get thier 2nd car and take a holiday.
Its f'kin muggins here thats got to pay increased taxes to pay back the money they couldnt afford to. Sickens me.

[timwilky]

So what is wrong with prioritising on need instead of making the urgent wait because other non urgent cases that have been waiting now have priority. Seemed a bit daft.

As for A&E. Most of the problems their are because the public are now treating it as an alternative to their GP practice and turning up with non A&E complaints expecting treatment.

Originally Posted by ophic

No point having targets when no-one can meet them. 18 weeks to be seen by a specialist? That's already a ridiculously long time. On the flip side, if a major emergency has just happened, 4 hours in A&E with a minor injury is totally reasonable.

Yeh 18 weeks is long, but they can (in general)be met. All that's gonna happen now is some people won't be seen for 40-50 weeks. Regardless of your problem, that's too long for anyone.

4 hours in A&E is reasonable. Without a target though, people will be waiting much longer. Doctors acknowledge that target are good and help people get seen quicker.

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by rowdy

Everyone felt the increase on VAT the last time and they will again this time.
My wife has a VAT registered business, when your paying the inland revenue approx 4 grand every three months for a small business with a relatively low annual turnover, and this goes up by around £500 or so every quarter, then yes, it is quite noticable.
There are many small business that just manage to stay afloat as it is.

You only pay over VAT that you have charged. If your wife's business has 'relatively low' annual turnover, then she should be on the 'cash accounting scheme' whereby you pay the Revenue only VAT you have been paid. If she is on the invoiced VAT system (not sure what it is called) then yes, she may notice a lag where she is funding increased VAT payments before the money comes in off invoices, but this is intended for large VAT concerns which your wife's business should not be.

In general business just acts as unpaid collectors of VAT for the Revenue and only pays what it has charged (less what it has paid out in VAT) it's clients. It has minimal effect on cash-flow, unless of course you forget to save the VAT collected...

Originally Posted by timwilky

So what is wrong with prioritising on need instead of making the urgent wait because other non urgent cases that have been waiting now have priority. Seemed a bit daft.

No that's not true. Urgent referrals are always urgent referrals, regardless of whose been waiting for how long.

[gruntygiggles]

Originally Posted by anna

I appreciate the balance of the economy, but this government has already proven that it doesnt fully appreciate this when they cut the budget for forgemasters.

I dont really understand the concern in the fact that you now have a coalition, some of the best things in this budget were brought about because of the lib deb influences here.

I perhaps jumped at the housing benifit a little too soon and after looking up London house for rent prices I think your right a house in london is a reasonable price at that amount, but other parts of the country are weighted at the same amount.

The concern over the coalistion is what will happen in the next general election? I think, as I said before that a government needs more than one term to make a difference. If this coalition government gets 2 terms, great, but it's up to the country and the lib dems & tories to decide if they'll do that.

And yes...without going and looking for it, one of my posts definitely credits the Lim Dems in this budget. I said that I think they have had a massive influence on the protection of the lower income families.

[rowdy]

Originally Posted by Luckypants

You only pay over VAT that you have charged. If your wife's business has 'relatively low' annual turnover, then she should be on the 'cash accounting scheme' whereby you pay the Revenue only VAT you have been paid. If she is on the invoiced VAT system (not sure what it is called) then yes, she may notice a lag where she is funding increased VAT payments before the money comes in off invoices, but this is intended for large VAT concerns which your wife's business should not be.

In general business just acts as unpaid collectors of VAT for the Revenue and only pays what it has charged (less what it has paid out in VAT) it's clients. It has minimal effect on cash-flow, unless of course you forget to save the VAT collected...

Personally, I don't really know the workings of it, but my wifes business is a hairdressers, so unless she increases prices every time there is a VAT increase she will feel the difference, and two fold as well as she is paying higher prices for the stock that she buys.

Edit; She has only just put the price up recently to cover the last VAT increase.

Originally Posted by rowdy

Personally, I don't really know the workings of it, but my wifes business is a hairdressers, so unless she increases prices every time there is a VAT increase she will feel the difference, and two fold as well as she is paying higher prices for the stock that she buys.

You can claim back the VAT you pay for business expenses..

[rowdy]

Originally Posted by EssexDave

You can claim back the VAT you pay for business expenses..

You can claim some VAT back for business expenses, the 4 grand a quarter mentioned earlier is the VAT bill recieved from inland rev after the accountant has sent all the relevant reciepts etc for VAT reduction.