Author Topic: Please Read and Help  (Read 22002 times)

Sinbad7

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Re: Please Read and Help
« Reply #20 on: November 04, 2010, 19:14:34 »
I was just going to post a reply when I read Betula's and then went and read the article on Cameron's film maker.  I think it would have been fairer if you had stated that he was going to cut the communications budget by two thirds and stated what the former PM had spent on an image consultant and on photographs and video's which all of these things come out of the communications budget the same as Cameron's film maker is.

Now to my original post:

A bit off topic I know but I have always wondered why do the elderly in residential homes still get the fuel payment?

Every year my mum received it they gave it to me.  I could never figure why, when I said to the home you keep it they said no it's yours. Imagine what that is costing the tax payer. What a waste of tax payers money.

Maybe things like that should be sorted and the Jo's of this world could have it.

betula

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Re: Please Read and Help
« Reply #21 on: November 04, 2010, 19:16:24 »
Yes I will give you that one,it does seem very odd.  :)

betula

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Re: Please Read and Help
« Reply #22 on: November 04, 2010, 19:24:06 »
Whoever holds power it is a waste of money.

If they want image consultants let them pay for it out of their own pocket. :(

mat

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Re: Please Read and Help
« Reply #23 on: November 04, 2010, 19:28:28 »
Yes, and why do all the retired folk living in Spain, etc, still receive their winter fuel allowances when they don't even need heating in some cases???

And why do all elderly receive bus passes that allow them to use buses anywhere in england as holidays?  I think bus passes should be means tested and for their locality.  Up near where I live, the coastliner from York to Scarborough is usually full of people using their passes as holidays (obvious - they have suitcases with them...) which means I've seen local people with pushchairs denied access to the bus as there's no room...

and why do hospital departments all do their ordering of supplies seperately?  why is there no centralised ordering system which each department completes, so as to gain bulk discounts?

I could go on...

I was hoping the current cuts would mean efficiency savings... just as private businesses have had to make... rather than just cuts to front line services which are "easy to make" and make good headlines... and the officials who are in the job because it makes them feel imprtant are still protected...

Oh, how I'd love to get into some of the Govt. departments and make some efficiency savings...

Thanks Sinbad for that comment on comms expenses - the media are often one sided in their reporting... lies, d**n lies and statistics comes to mind...
 

grawrc

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Re: Please Read and Help
« Reply #24 on: November 04, 2010, 19:50:47 »
Happy to oblige Anne  :)

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ed-miliband-attacks-david-cameron-over-vanity-staff
Thanks Den! I've read the article and it has left me with more  questions than answers. The only thing I do know is that contracted employees tend to be cheaper than freelance. I'm going to probe a bit more next week. (very busy until next Tuesday)

gp.girl

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Re: Please Read and Help
« Reply #25 on: November 04, 2010, 19:54:03 »
I was hoping the current cuts would mean efficiency savings... just as private businesses have had to make... rather than just cuts to front line services which are "easy to make" and make good headlines... and the officials who are in the job because it makes them feel imprtant are still protected...

Yeah like my place of work. Redundency Tuesdays got to be a very sorry joke with the third round....no warning just rumors followed by the visit from my boss to explain. And if you think he knew what was happening think again, one department manager came back off holiday to find 3 members of staff gone, when he went there was a vacancy advertised  ???
A space? I need more plants......more plants? I need some space!!!!

grawrc

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Re: Please Read and Help
« Reply #26 on: November 04, 2010, 20:02:22 »
Yeah like my place of work. Redundency Tuesdays got to be a very sorry joke with the third round....no warning just rumors followed by the visit from my boss to explain. And if you think he knew what was happening think again, one department manager came back off holiday to find 3 members of staff gone, when he went there was a vacancy advertised  ???
Hey but that is down to bad management, not the government as such.

Mr Smith

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Re: Please Read and Help
« Reply #27 on: November 04, 2010, 20:10:44 »
 Mat, I still have to pay NI when I have paid well over my fortythree years contributions and I'm  still paying in to the system when NI contributions are now only for thirtyears, I want a rebate ;D,  in my case I think I'm entitled to a free bus pass to swan round on my hols and a winter fuel payment. Ever heard of ESPO?they are an organisation of five counties, Lei, Lincs, Norfolk, Cam and Warwickshire they buy in bulk for the schools, colledges, old folks homes etc for what they are responsible for in their own counties with a distribution centre in Leicester, agree a system like this could also apply to the national health service, I would not like to see any disabled person suffer from the cut backs unlike myself who in the new year will be made redundant from my job because of the cut backs, but not being one to sit back and moan about it  I can guarantee I will find myself a job even at sixtythree,
« Last Edit: November 04, 2010, 20:14:12 by Mr Smith »

Martin T

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Re: Please Read and Help
« Reply #28 on: November 04, 2010, 20:14:43 »
The only good thing about paying my taxes is the fact a tiny percentage of it is going towards helping people less fortunate than myself.

You should be worried about the huge amount that is wasted and not begrudging OAPs a bus pass!

All the best to you Graceland.

Martin.

mat

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Re: Please Read and Help
« Reply #29 on: November 04, 2010, 20:20:40 »
You should be worried about the huge amount that is wasted and not begrudging OAPs a bus pass!

I think giving pensioners who still earn so much that they still pay 40% tax, a free bus pass, is a waste.  I know pensioners who cannot believe they still receive a free pass, as they are relatively rich, but as they do, they use it, and travel all over the place with it as day trips out...
« Last Edit: November 04, 2010, 20:43:52 by mat »

gp.girl

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Re: Please Read and Help
« Reply #30 on: November 04, 2010, 20:24:11 »
That would be to pay for those who don't contribute ie the disabled people who you wouldn't like to see affected by the current cuts......

Only 2 years to go for the free bus pass  :)

And before anyone says disabled people work, yes they do but probably not if they live in a care home.

Weed Farmer - Like the family recieving £95,000 a year? That's twice the average wage so it really annoys me because 2/3 of it is going to someone better off than me.....
A space? I need more plants......more plants? I need some space!!!!

grawrc

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Re: Please Read and Help
« Reply #31 on: November 04, 2010, 20:42:40 »
I am 61. I have a free bus pass for Scotland. I have used it twice since 30/8/09 to travel into the centre of Edinburgh. I would have paid £3 or £4 pounds minimum to park in the centre of Edinburgh plus whatever running my car cost. If I paid for the bus it would be £1.20 each way. Who's subsidising who?

betula

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Re: Please Read and Help
« Reply #32 on: November 04, 2010, 20:46:37 »
What a disgrace Anne,you could have walked it or at least thumbed a lift . :)

manicscousers

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Re: Please Read and Help
« Reply #33 on: November 04, 2010, 22:09:13 »
Rod stewart was saying he has a free bus pass  ::)

Melbourne12

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Re: Please Read and Help
« Reply #34 on: November 04, 2010, 22:57:56 »
Betula, you normally talk good sense, but I think you've got it wrong on this one.

No-one, certainly no-one on this thread, and least of all me, begrudges the mythical "Jos" his trips to the cinema.  Quite genuinely, as far as I'm concerned, he can split his days between hobnobbing with Prince Philip at the four-in-hand trials and fishing for salmon on the best Scottish lochs.  Out of season he might like to go to Ascot for the occasional day out.  And in the evenings he can go to the opera or perhaps a private soiree to be entertained by a string quartet.  All of these things have disabled access, so he certainly isn't excluded in any way.

I have no jealousy about people who do that sort of thing at all.  Best of luck, say I.

It's just that I don't want to pay his dues.


Paulines7

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Re: Please Read and Help
« Reply #35 on: November 05, 2010, 00:13:56 »
What if it was revealed that "Jos" is a paraplegic or has had some other terrible form of disability since birth, is it fair to take away his DLA because you don't want your taxes to go towards helping him?

I don't think Betula has got it wrong as she obviously shows she cares for others.

The problem is that there are several degrees of disablement.  I am registered as disabled because I cannot walk very far even with the special shoes made for me at the hospital.  I also have spinal problems.  I don't qualify for benefits though because my disabilities are not severe enough.    

At the other extreme there are people that are very severely disabled and many have been from birth.  They need to have some money for clothes, entertainment and anything else they need.  How can it be right to take money away from these people? Yet this is what the Government is proposing:

From October 2012, the Department of Work and Pensions will no longer pay the DLA mobility component to those who are in state-funded residential care for more than 28 days.

People who have profound or multiple leaning disabilities are most likely to be living in residential care homes over a long period of time if they are not living at the family home. The mobility allowance enables people who are in care homes get the support they need to get out and about.

Mencap, which supports 1.5 million people with a learning disability in the UK, claims the cut, announced in the Government's Comprehensive Spending Review, "affects the independence of those who are already the most discriminated against".

Mark Goldring, Mencap's chief executive, said: "This cut will take us back to the days when people were left in care homes with just four walls for company and will undo decades of progress.

"Mencap is calling for the Government to urgently review this proposal and prevent this devastating blow to some of the UK's most vulnerable people."
« Last Edit: November 05, 2010, 00:33:12 by Paulines7 »

betula

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Re: Please Read and Help
« Reply #36 on: November 05, 2010, 00:42:18 »
I think Mencap have said it far better than my feeble efforts.

Melbourne you have lost me on this one ??

I was thinking more a trip to the local flicks or perhaps the Hippodrome .

You obviously move in more elevated circles than I   ;D

daveyboi

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Re: Please Read and Help
« Reply #37 on: November 05, 2010, 05:29:26 »
Jos spends most weekends at home with his family and relies on the car most days. They use it for trips to the theatre cinema, shopping, visiting the Wildlife Trust nearby and for visits to friends and relatives. Having the car also means Jos can pursue his hobby of carriage driving as well as enjoying more everyday activities, such as taking garden waste to the tip! Losing DLA mobility component will mean losing his car, no longer being able to take part in any of these activities, and losing his independence.



I just question the family use of the car!
From the way this reads it says to me that Jos is the taxi service for the family.

It automatically got my back up in the anti mode!

Maybe it is just badly written and not the true picture they were trying to get across.

Whilst trying not to appear mercenary for the long term disabled I do wonder if there should be some form of productive work they could partake in and therefore be able to pay for these things even if it is only a partial contribution.
Maybe the answer should be that just the cost of adapting a vehicle could be paid for by the state.

As to the other things in this topic such as bus passes and the winter fuel allowance I think rather than the expensive means testing they just should not be paid to anyone who is still in employment is the simple answer.
« Last Edit: November 05, 2010, 05:32:33 by daveyboi »
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Melbourne12

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Re: Please Read and Help
« Reply #38 on: November 05, 2010, 09:22:16 »
What if it was revealed that "Jos" is a paraplegic or has had some other terrible form of disability since birth, is it fair to take away his DLA because you don't want your taxes to go towards helping him?


But it isn't so revealed.  Quite clearly, we should help people "according to their needs".  The paraplegic will need a lot more help than someone with an arthritic knee.

I'm beginning to wonder if the letter that was quoted in the original post might be a hoax, actually intended to reduce sympathy for people like "Jos".

Paulines7

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Re: Please Read and Help
« Reply #39 on: November 05, 2010, 10:06:28 »
Quite clearly, we should help people "according to their needs".  The paraplegic will need a lot more help than someone with an arthritic knee.

Someone with an arthritic knee would not get DLA unless they defrauded the system by making it appear that they are worse than they are.  There are people that do that and yes, they should be weeded out.  Let us not forget those that earn millions and yet practice tax evasion or tax avoidance.  If yhey paid their dues this country would have plenty of money to help those less fortunate.

Whilst trying not to appear mercenary for the long term disabled I do wonder if there should be some form of productive work they could partake in and therefore be able to pay for these things even if it is only a partial contribution.

When I worked for Mencap, some of the less disabled people did have jobs and this is encouraged.  Fortunately employers such as Tesco will take on people with learning disabilities though what they can do is very limited. 

However, there are an awful lot of people in Mencap homes who are severely mentally and or physically disabled.  They need constant care and there is no way they could do any kind of work.  Yet these are the people that will suffer from having their "pocket money" ie their DLA taken from them. 

In a civilised society we should take care of those people who are less able to help themselves. 

 

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