The Budget!

Spot on, Stuart.

In the NHS the number of administrators and managers has increased severalfold over the past 10 to 15 years. Any efficiency savings need to be focused there. However, in any public service organisation, administrators and managers tend to be better placed to articulate why thier jobs are ‘essential’. Management talks to management, not front line staff. They have to sit outside a closed door whilst thier futures are discussed. I think this applies to all public services. In private industry companies run in this manner would go bust very quickly. I hope the new government take heed of your hunch, Red Hunter.

Admittedly not, but you know as well as I do that when the word ‘cuts’ is mentioned anywhere near the NHS, it’s the frontline services that are the first to suffer…

Well, perhaps I am not as cynical as you ;), because I just have a hunch that this lot might axe where it should and not where it hurts most – at the user’s end. But it’s academic as the NHS is a no-go area – for now. In the much longer term I cannot see how cuts are avoidable.

Admittedly not, but you know as well as I do that when the word ‘cuts’ is mentioned anywhere near the NHS, it’s the frontline services that are the first to suffer…

Why do you object to the NHS being protected RH? I’d say it was one of the most important things to be protected…

Because I am sure that there is wasteful expenditure and inefficiency in that massive department as much as there is in every other department. And in the state we are in I do not believe that anything should be sacrosanct. I must add that front-line services, i.e. those that benefit the user directly, should be protected in every department.

We do not have either the best or the most efficient health service in the world – in the WHO pecking order I think we are about 18th. However the NHS, supporting a population of about 60 million, is the 4th largest employer IN THE WORLD.

Something does not add up, does it?

I remain unconvinced that the additional 2.5% VAT will affect consumption.

I didn’t see much of the news coverage of the budget…

…but did see Harriet Harman criticizing the rise in VAT; what short memories these politicians must think we have! :rolleyes:

Why do you object to the NHS being protected RH? I’d say it was one of the most important things to be protected…

Leaving aside how it will affect us personally, because some of us will feel more protected than others, I though it was pretty much as expected.

I am not sure that the government has the power to define the remuneration packages of independent banks. In the state owned sector, that is another matter, of course. I cannot share the universal vilification of this small group of people – I am far more exercised by the necessity to make the reductions across the public sector, which have promised. Although I do not think that health and international aid should have been excluded from the 25% figure.

I remain unconvinced that the additional 2.5% VAT will affect consumption. 25p on every £10 spent, I would suggest is little more than people already feel with inflationary increases. A greater affect will be on those who feel worse off in their pockets after the tax changes next year.

It was never going to be an easy task putting a budget in place to sort out the problems we have in the economy. But I feel that this budget does not tackle same areas I was expecting and holds fear for the future.

I was hoping he would make moves to stop the huge bonuses paid in certain job within banks,Cut out the middle management roles in sectors like the NHS(maybe this will come later).
I am worried about the 20% VAT hike as I feel this is going to reduce the amount people will spend in shops putting shops at risk again, and indirectly lead to costs going up on everything including food and clothes.

The effects of the cuts to the public sector remain to be seen, But I am personally worried for both my wife and myself in this area as we both have jobs connected to be public sector although not directly in the sector.
I work in the rail industry and my wife works for a company contracted to train unemployed people to regain work.
So it will depend where the axe falls whether we suffer or not.

Either way there are troubled times ahead for all, Lets hope these moves work if not there appears to be no alternative.

Ah well, I can’t complain too much. The last government spent my money creating non-jobs. The new government says I have to pay for it now.

I look forward to seeing the Nappy Co-ordinators and PR Advisers and thier other non-job colleagues getting the boot from my local authority. As far as I’m concerned, that’s worth a few quid from me. When the quangos and all the excess managers are gone too I could just about swallow the hardship for people in real jobs.

Not strictly part of the budget perhaps, but it’s my money they spent on sh*te.

Odd thing is, I may very well catch up (salary wise) with grades senior to myself who fell into the frozen salary dept. 😀

Ho hum…:o

Oddly enough I appear to have survived this round ok as well, us lowly paid Civil Servants have escaped a pay freeze, unlike our Uber salaried brethren.

Some of us who won’t escape the pay freeze are on nothing like ‘uber salaries’, matey.

I am OK :diablo:

Oddly enough I appear to have survived this round ok as well, us lowly paid Civil Servants have escaped a pay freeze, unlike our Uber salaried brethren.

20% VAT wasn’t really a surprise, sooner that than have my job axed. Mind you, I wonder what the defence review will bring for me instead:rolleyes:

I am OK :diablo:

There is to be a bank levy but I don’t think the Government has any powers over non state owned banks remuneration agreements.

We knew it was going to sting, let’s face it. The Chancellor has the unenviable task of shifting the huge pile of manure left on the doorstep thanks to Brown and friends. It could have been a Hell of a lot worse.
That said, why were banker’s bonuses left alone???