David Eyre’s Post

Here's a familiar story, from West Berkshire regarding how a local authority plans to save money by outsourcing 2 of its remaining 3 care homes. BBC News - Newbury: Two care homes to be taken over by private companies - BBC News https://lnkd.in/eWcPiprB Back in the 1990s, that's what happened to SEN provision as schools were released from local county council management because costs were too high and the council employees lacked the specialist skills needed. I was part of a team of ISA Area Reps sent to visit, advise and recommend accordingly. Here in 2024 is the Yo-Yo back in action, as seen on the pages of the Sunderland Echo. https://lnkd.in/eJEWhMrV. The Secretary of State is right to blame 14 years of Austerity generally, more importantly to identify that inclusion can be a good thing - but not always, if that means large, noisy classes in which too much is expected in a formulaic manner. How Ms Phillipson plans to build a system in the wreckage her government is causing to the private sector beats me, one which now supports a greater % of SEN school population than the state. "Where every child is able to achieve and thrive" is what private schools stand for, but whether we can add 20% VAT, plus Council Tax, Pension Contributions and the 2.5% increase in NI salary costs is a big ask. The Times has 2 great articles today - this morning on the brewer Timothy Taylor, written by Tim Dewey, its CEO. https://lnkd.in/eTWvF9kX I like his summary paragraph best of all: "But many of Britain’s 5.5 million small and medium-sized enterprises (99 per cent of all private companies and 60 per cent of UK employment) don’t have that luxury. They are just getting by. They are not looking for government handouts but they do rely on government to create the environment in which they can thrive. As I said when I spoke to The Sunday Times last year, I sometimes think we are successful despite the government, and certainly not with its assistance. After the budget, the feeling remains." This evening's from James Dyson strikes pretty close to home for me, Claires Court being a family owned school in which my brother and I both still work full time. https://lnkd.in/eysGuFss And tonight's editorial sums Ms Reeve's efforts at the dispatch box completely: "More disappointing, however, than that broken but largely unconvincing promise, has been Ms Reeves’ failure to live up to another pre-election pledge: that of running the most “pro-business Treasury our country has ever seen”. None of the government’s fiscal measures suggest they are serious about creating the conditions necessary for private sector growth.'

In May, BCT drew on the expertise and experience of hundreds of community organisations across Wales to produce a brand new research report: Community Responses to Cost of Living, which documents the impact of the cost of living crisis on these groups and the people who work with and for them. With rather unlucky timing we published on the day that Rishi Sunak announced the dissolution of Parliament, so the report got less attention than it might have done. Discourse around the impacts of poverty then quietened as inflation slowed, summer brought temporary relief to fuel bills, and there was a brief moment of optimism with the arrival of a new UK Government… But the issues uncovered sadly persist. Demand on the services of community groups continues to grow – driven by rising living costs and cuts to public services – while the money available to them has declined, especially from independent funders, many of whom who exhausted their coffers responding to COVID-19. As a result, many community groups have become the default home for referrals from public agencies and increasingly are seen as places to signpost desperate people to, regardless of those organisations’ decreasing capacity to cope themselves. This is the reality, and it is sobering: fuel prices are going up again (with some pensioners much less well-protected than they were last winter), food costs continue to rise as does the use of food banks everywhere, and many public services still face cuts in real terms. The difference this winter is that many community organisations will struggle to make it through the next few months, which will severely impact on the people relying on them and result in wider knock-on effects. But there are opportunities to make a difference and for more innovative thinking across the board. The new UK Government presents its Budget next month – we have heard about the need for economic stability and tough spending rules, but as always, the devil will be in the detail – many will be looking for indications that support for vital community action and the voluntary sector has not been overlooked. In Wales, new First Minister Eluned Morgan has said Keir Starmer is in ‘listening mode’ in terms of the Welsh government’s financial position and that Wales has "taken quite a lot of the pain already.” But what is absolutely crucial is that we have future spending plans that respond to basic need; because how much more pain can community organisations withstand before they simply cannot support people who have nowhere else to go? These are not new questions; we and many others have raised them time and time again. Now is the time for serious answers

Today, Rachel Reeves started fixing Britain’s foundations. 🇬🇧 We’re delivering on your priorities - restoring the NHS, investing in schools, protecting your payslip and making sure those with the broadest shoulders contribute the most. Here’s just some of what the Chancellor announced today… 💷 𝐏𝐚𝐲 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝟑 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬. Increase the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour, and increasing the National Minimum Wage for 18-21 year olds. ❌ 𝐍𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐓𝐚𝐱 𝐨𝐫 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 - a promise made, and a promise fulfilled. ⛏️ 𝐄𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐏𝐒 𝐢𝐧𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 - returning over £1 billion to ex-mineworkers. 🚗 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐙𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐟𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐝𝐮𝐭𝐲 - drivers will see no rise at the pumps next year. 📚 £2.3bn for core schools budget, £𝟏𝐛𝐧 𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐃, £6.7bn to rebuild crumbling schools. 🏥 𝐁𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐡 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐍𝐇𝐒 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟎 outside of Covid - ending some of the hardest times in NHS history. 🍺𝐂𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐭 in your local ✉️🩸 Compensation for the 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐥. 👩⚕️ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐀𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 since its introduction. 🏠 £𝟏 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝 to support those struggling with the cost of living. 👔 Increasing the employment allowance - that’s £𝟏𝟎,𝟓𝟎𝟎 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥. 🛍️ 𝟒𝟎% 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐟 𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬, hospitality, and leisure sectors. 💰 𝐔𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐚𝐱 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟖 🛣️ £500m to 𝐟𝐢𝐱 𝟏 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫. 🚍 𝐑𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐩, protecting passengers from the Tory cliff edge.

Is the privatisation of some of the UK public services now inevitable? Or are there alternatives and different ways of thinking? It is common knowledge that many UK public services are struggling. In the coming years the government plans to decrease public spending (in real terms). Is the only way to rebuild public services to privatise them? The UK taxes contributions have never been so high. The Government have record debts that are going up. There seems to be an omni-crises across UK public services and that are in a 'Doom loop'. Institute for Government At the same time demand for public services are set to increase we have the ‘grey wave’ of baby boomers reach their mid to late 70s. A deeply tragic 34% of all 18-24s are suffering from mental health problems according to the Resolution Foundation. It seems inevitable that if we want to meet the needs of our population, whoever is in power will need to use private investment to address these problems. Privatisation of public services seems like the ONLY way to meet the demand from the population. However, there is a different way of viewing things: The UK is the 6th largest economy in the world. So there is money, it’s just not well used. Top down national planning of public services in the UK has very obviously and consistently failed The vast majority of public service costs are spent on a small number of people. Because of deprivation, frailty and social and mental health needs* (*The Pareto Principle 80:20 rule is very powerful in understanding public spending: e.g. 50% of healthcare costs are down to 5% of people - Health Foundation.) We should give resources to the people that know the people needing care support and education the best and can tailor services to their needs. Let's move resources from big national bureaucracies into local and community services. Getting resources straight to the people that matter and those that work with them. Those services have the huge advantage of knowing and understanding the communities they serve. Targeting the resources where they can make the biggest difference. This approach has a good evidence base and was looked into by the Government's own report “Rapid Evidence Review of Community Initiatives” in 2022. So in my opinion: Yes there is another option to privatisation of public services.  Yes it requires the people in charge of our public services to give up power and control. No the Government is not doing it, instead they are reinvesting tax cuts. But we can start to make the change ourselves. By leading local change in our communities. If you would like to join me in creating a Flow of Change follow me and visit my website leadingtoimpact What do you think?  Is privatisation inevitable? Are there alternatives and what are they? Is investing directly into community services: focusing on individual & community needs a good alternative? #Socialimpact #community #publicservices #charity #socialenterprise

A welcome budget We've been glued to the radio (old skool) listening to Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivering this first budget of the Labour government. As a business, we were poised to see what the anticipated increase in Employer's National Insurance would mean for us. One of the clever parts of leaking budget details in advance is that when measures are announced they aren't as bad as anticipated. A rise of 1.2% is a fair price to pay when we know that the education sector which we serve will benefit from: ✅£1bn funding for SEND - this is SO needed! ✅£1.4bn to help rebuild crumbling schools ✅£300m increase in funding for further education, which as the skills-builder sector is the power house of economic growth ✅£3m for supported internships, which are an amazing way to help support those with SEND into paid employment, building the personal pride, confidence and livelihoods of individuals as well as more fully utilising the strengths and talents of our nation. ✅A tripling of funding for breakfast clubs, which will make an enormous difference to the wellbeing, learning and lives our children. ✅A new rate for the Living Wage, helping to move those who work out of poverty, which we know from the work we do is often the single biggest challenge to the life chances of children. There is more to do, and we at The Essential Safeguarding Company will keep on campaigning for: ⬆️More funding for social and emotional support for children; ⬆️Funding for social care to help to safeguard children and support vulnerable families; and ⬆️More high quality, locally-based Alternative Provision. But for today, we salute you, Rachel Reeves. This is a budget for children and young people. 💚🩷💜 #budget #schools #colleges #education #SEND #loveourcolleges #safeguarding #campaign #support #children #helpingyouhelpothers #thumbsup [Photo credit: Lauren Hurley /DESNZ]

What a load of BS Nicola Willis MP. We in Hawkes Bay trying to save the rural communities have consistently (as late as today) to send the message of what is happening with rural school bus service cancellations to Hon Erica Stanford MP and they are either to scared or just refuse to send information to the minister. Even today when we asked multiple times the MoE representatives repeatedly said they were not allowed to send information to the Minister. So we have a situation where the Minister will not speak to us or communicate in any meaningful way and the Ministry will not talk to her. No communication is a problem. The answers from hired minders points out that the Minister does not even receive our emails. The school bus cancellations will have a huge impact. In fact they are already impacting. How anyone in their right mind or even cognisant with education could not look at the list of cancellations and not go "this will not be good we need to review the generations old policy" They should not be working in the education ministry or overseeing it. As a reminder of what I am talking of: Cancel bus services, leads to closed school, leads to colapse of communities, leads to colapse of rural services, means colapse of rural emergency services, all leading to worker and contractor exodus from rural districts. Then the most damaging of all - WHAT BANK WILL LEND TO RURAL ENTITIES THAT CAN'T GET LABOUR OR SERVICES? The exodus has started already. But no-one listens. I hope the managers in the Ministry of Education have seen this message from the Nicola Willis MP and act with hopefully the information sent up the chain. Mr Meffan, in future do not send someone to a meeting like we had that tells us they can't annswer for some other department. That is unacceptable. They got the bitter end of our words, trying to tell us bureaucratic double talk and repeat nonsence answers. Mr Meffan, it was frankly insulting. Especially by repeated replies that "Its the parents responsibility to get children to school" after being told it is impossible to do so without leaving employment and a good house. Where do they go to replace that. It is not good when he said they will get buses organised in time once children turn up, that is too late. Then shrugs his shoulders when we ask how long do children wait once they are dropped at the designated school "not his department". I think you will need about 12 class rooms and teachers instantly. This is how the MoE have planned for their cancellations. They haven't. Heads should roll starting with a minister that has no oversight.

Let’s make no bones about it - today is a big deal for the UK. In fact, it’s a huge deal 🇬🇧 In just a few hours, Rachel Reeves will present her first budget as Chancellor 💰 The new Labour Government said after entering office that it needed to fill a whopping £22 billion ‘black hole’ in the public finances. However, Ms Reeves is said to have since identified a far larger £40 billion funding gap. Gulp 😳 It’s certainly not going to be pretty. So what can we expect… • Private schooling - from Jan the removal of the VAT exemption and business rates relief. • Education & Childcare - billions already announced to rebuild unfit schools, with yet more billions earmarked for the expansion of Government funded childcare, kinship and foster carers. • Bus fares - increase on the fare cap. • Employment - £240 million will be given to local services to get people back to work. • Social housing - Right to buy dicounts expected to be reduced. • Building homes - £128 million already confirmed for 3 projects, while an increased commitment to energy efficient homes and tackling river pollution that prevents new housing. • Freeports - five new customs sites at three existing freeports. • Debt rule - a change in the way debt is measured, enabling billions to be spent on infrastructure. • NHS - billions of pounds allocated to new surgical hubs, scanners & radiotherapy machines. • Government departures - Reeves targeting 2% savings from a more efficient cabinet. • Taxes - Labour has said it will stick to its manifesto promise not to raise major taxes on working people (national insurance, income tax & VAT). • National Insurance - employer contributions to rise by at least one percentage point. • Income tax - freeze on thresholds, leading to ‘fiscal drag’ for many. • IHT - a potential extension of the 6-year PET rule, to 10-years 😳 • CGT - rumoured increase, applicable to shares and other chargeable assets. • Fuel duty - a potential rise for the first time in over a decade, after a freeze by the Tories in 2010. • Vaping - increased tax on e-cigarettes. • Armed forces - reportedly in line for a £3 billion boost. • Minimum wage - a 6.7% increase has been confirmed by Reeves, meaning a rise to £12.21 an hour next year. Certainly lots of food for thought. Over to you Ms Reeves… 🇬🇧 🤞🏼

I was proud to be in the Chamber today as our first female Chancellor, Rt Hon Rachel Reeves, announced a Budget to fix the foundations and deliver change - fixing the NHS and rebuilding Britain, while ensuring working people don’t face higher taxes in their payslips. Some of the key announcements made today: 🙅♂️No higher taxes in working people's payslips, no increase in NI, all rates of Income Tax, or VAT 💷 National Living Wage increased to £12.21 p/h for full time workers. 👩⚕️Increase in Carer's Allowance weekly earnings limit, meaning carers can work more hours without losing their entitlement 🏠 £1 billion provided to extend the Household Support Fund, helping those struggling with the cost of living 🏥 Extra two million NHS operations, scans and appointments a year 📚 Recruitment of 6,500 teachers as we increase the Core Schools Budget by £2.3bn next year 🎓 Additional £300m allocation for further education next year 💰Unfrozen income tax and NI contributions thresholds from April 2028 - personal tax thresholds uprated in line with inflation 🛒Frozen small business multiplier for a year, over 1 million small properties protected from inflationary bill increases ⛽️ Frozen fuel duty - drivers will see no rise at the pumps next year ✉️🩸Compensation payments for victims of the Post Office and Infected Blood Scandals. 🔨 Going beyond our manifesto commitments, we will fix an additional 1 million potholes per year

Struggling to understand the 2024 UK Budget? We've got you covered! Check out our latest blog post, where we break down the key points of the UK Budget in plain, simple English. Whether it’s cost of living support, healthcare investments, or climate change initiatives, we cover what you need to know—no jargon, no financial lingo, just straightforward insights. 💬 What’s in it? - Clear explanations of energy bill relief and support for families - Updates on NHS funding and mental health support - New moves in climate action and renewable energy - Affordable housing initiatives and support for first-time buyers https://lnkd.in/eAZ8Eywr

Alongside the Local Government Association, London Councils , County Councils Network, District Councils' Network, Key Cities and Core Cities UK we have written to the Chancellor to highlight the action needed to stabilise council finances and protect vital services.   Councils have already seen their funding cut since 2010-11 and any further funding reductions for local government would be disastrous. This is why we've joined together across the sector to call for measures to support and stabilise the sector's finances.   We're calling for a significant and sustained increase in overall funding that reflects current and future costs and demands for services. In particular, we need increased funding for adult social care, children’s social care, special education needs and disabilities (SEND) services, home-to-school transport, temporary accommodation, and funding to accommodate any increase in the National Living Wage.   Read the full letter here: https://lnkd.in/ewPCtBvX   #LocalGov #AutumnBudget #Budget