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An excellent post by Alastair Hatchett of Incomes Data Services – he points out that the public sector pay cap is much tougher than was expected.
On regional pay, Alastair notes that large companies with multiple sites tend to have national pay rates, supplemented by a London and South Eastern rate. In the private sector, pay is more likely to be linked to skills level than geography.
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Ben Chu points out that the OBR says it expected growth to be much higher than it has been because of high inflation: "High prices reduced real incomes and dissuaded people from shopping. And businesses did not invest, according to the OBR, because the public weren’t spending."
"Is this convincing? Up to a point. High inflation is unlikely to have helped the economy. Yet the OBR doesn’t even consider the possibility that the Chancellor’s pledges of draconian austerity last year might have helped to undermine consumer confidence."
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Philip Pearson
The talk here at the UN climate conference is of the UK rowing two ways at once. As a party to the EU, we join its solidarity call to other developed nations to renew their Kyoto Protocol commitments. Yet in his Autumn Statement yesterday the Chancellor, George Osborne, called green policies a “ridiculous cost” to British businesses.It’s odd to see the UK seeming to question the purpose of its own Green Economy Council, having just promised to be the greenest government ever, and abandoning hard won global leadership on the issue, here of all places.
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Richard Exell
Two reports published today by the NHS Information Centre show that social care in England is already starting to feel the effect of the cuts. Personal Social Services Expenditure and Unit Costs reveals that, between 2009/10 and 2010/11, there was a 2% real terms decrease in spending on adult social services by local authorities. Secondly, Community Care Statistics: Social Services Activity reports a fall of 4% in the numbers receiving nursing care, a 2% fall in the number of adults receiving residential care, an 8% fall in the numbers receiving community-based services though there was a substantial increase in the numbers receiving self-directed support or direct payments. There was a 3% fall in the number of carers receiving an assessment, a 2% fall in the numbers receiving a service and a 9% fall in the numbers receiving a carer-specific service.
Now, it has to be said that, when the comparison is with 2005/6, not 2009/10, there are substantial increases. The fall over the last year could be a blip, even if it isn’t there could be positive reasons for it – fewer people needing help, for instance. But there is a chilling section that puts this in another light:
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Richard Exell
It’s nice to note the occasional victory, a cut withdrawn. Last year Nicola reported on the plans to abolish the Youth Justice Board and to hive off its job of overseeing the youth justice system in England and Wales to a division of the Ministry of Justice. The government has now announced that it plans to retain the Board (scroll down to column 1070); it seems that the abolition became untenable after this summer’s riots.
HT: Social Policy Digest.
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Nigel Stanley
The Office for Budget Responsibility has increased its forecast for the long run difference between the CPI and RPI inflation measures to 1.4 per cent. Previously they thought it would be 1.1 per cent.
One of the government’s attacks on public sector pensions is to change the way that pensions in payment are linked to prices. In the past they have gone up in line with the retail price inflation (RPI) inflation measure. In future they are linking pensions to the consumer price inflation (CPI) measure.
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Iain Murray
As with much of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, the vast majority of the announcements on education, childcare and skills had already been trailed over the past week. The most controversial is the announcement that an extra £600M will be made available to establish 100 additional free schools in England over the coming three years, including a new type of specialist maths school for 16-18 year-olds. Another £600M will go to local authorities to help them create 40,000 additional school places to meet increased demand resulting from demographic change.
While the additional funding for schools is welcome, the inequitable distribution of resources is one further reminder of the favourable treatment that free schools receive at the hands of government in comparison to local authority schools.
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Owen Tudor
I have speculated before about how the Government might ditch its commitment to spend the UN target of 0.7% of Gross National Income on overseas aid. And about how they have already reduced the amount that would have been spent on overseas aid under the plans of the previous Government. Today’s Autumn Statement managed the neat trick of cutting overseas aid expenditure and maintaining the commitment at the same time – because as the economy falters, a percentage target means less hard cash.
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Nigel Stanley
There are four items of note on pensions if we include the delay in auto-enrolment announced yesterday. Today we also learnt of a rise in the state pension age, the uprating of the state pension and a dog that did not bark.
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Philip Pearson
I’m here in Durban, taking part in an open debate with the South African miners’ union, the NUM, on a post-coal future when news comes through on where the UN will stage next year’s climate conference. How about Qatar, notorious for its violations of workers’ rights?
It’s difficult to imagine a more crass way to handle this. ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow said:
“Huge economic transformation is needed to tackle climate change. This massive task can only be achieved if working people’s rights are respected. It cannot be simply imposed from above.
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Richard Exell
I have a post at Left Foot Forward, looking at today’s Autumn Statement, asking who is paying for the announcement on train fares and fuel duty?
One group is public sector workers (Alice has more on this) and the other is low-paid workers who rely on tax credits. The government has cancelled its promise to increase the child element of Child Tax Credit – because of this, the number of children in poverty will be 100,000 higher than it would have been otherwise. So much for the Coalition’s claims to be “progressive”.