Category Archives: Inequality

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16 Dec 2017

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Inequality, Transport (local)

Top ten government salaries in privatised rail industry

“The 10 highest-paid public servants in the country have been revealed – and every single one works in Britain’s widely-privatised rail industry.

Network Rail chief executive Mark Carne earns the most at up to £750,000 per year – almost five times more than Theresa May’s £150,000.

The head of HS2 Ltd, Mark Thurston, is in second place, earning as much as £605,000 while he maps out a multi-billion pound high-speed line.

Not one of the top 10 is a woman.

Cabinet Office figures show a total of 442 officials at government departments and quangos earn at least the same as Mrs May – up 14% in just one year.

This includes 70 who work for Network Rail, which is an “arms-length” public body, and 51 staff at HS2 Ltd, which is a firm funded by a government grant. Train firms are not on the list as they are private companies. …”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/meet-britains-10-highest-paid-11702402

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15 Dec 2017

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Accountability, Affordable and Social Housing, Developers/ Development, Inequality, Land banking, Land Supply, Local Plan, Section 106

How to stop developers using the “viability assessment” loophole to avoid building affordable housing

Excellent report on the current disgraceful situation and what needs to be done about it. Part of the conclusion of the 38 page report of November 2017 which should be required reading for all council planning officers:

“… On its own, Section 106 will never meet the country’s need for new affordable housing supply. But the current use and abuse of viability assessments means that we are getting less affordable housing out of private developments than we were before and during the crash, and certainly less than we could.

Flexibility in the viability system has driven down affordable housing provision at the expense of land price inflation, essentially making development more expensive.

By amending the National Planning Policy Framework and National Planning Practice Guidance to close the viability loophole, we can maximise developer contributions to affordable housing, with knock-on positive effects for overall housing supply, build out rates and community support for new housing.

The government is already consulting on the changes needed to turn affordable housing policies into cast iron pledges. It is now vital that they follow through on these plans.”

Click to access 2017.11.01_Slipping_through_the_loophole.pdf

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15 Dec 2017

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Affordable and Social Housing, Developers/ Development, Inequality, PegasusLife

PegasusLife’s second attempt to demolish New Forest heritage property thwarted

Just one note: where PegasusLife bemoans the fact that they are being prevented from building “housing for older people” it should in Owl’s opinion read: “housing for very, very rich old people”.

A grudging offer of 15 “affordable homes” in the second application should be seen for what it is – an attempt to get their own way by any possible means with as little outlay as possible. Owl imagines – as is usual in these circumstances – that there would eventually be a “viability assessment” that rendered the affordable homes “uneconomic” after construction of the non-affordable properties was well underway.

As an aside: isn’t it time these so-called “viability assessments” were banned by the government and developers forced to sink or swim on their original costings? Imagine buying a house and, just before exchange of contracts, the buyer says: “Sorry, I’ve done a viability assessment of my (unchanged or even improved ) finances and you will have to accept a cut of 30% of the agreed price – and the seller being forced to accept!

“Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s only surviving building has been saved by a campaign run by heritage experts.

The legendary author is best known for creating the world’s most famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, but Conan Doyle also designed houses and even a golf course.

After the fiction writer stayed at the Lyndhurst Park Hotel in March 1912, he sketched designs for a third storey extension and redesigned the front of the building.

The hotel sits in the heart of the pretty New Forest, Hants, just miles from his home, and though it has been vacant since 2014 the building is considered ‘highly historically significant’ thanks to his designs.

A controversial application to demolish the property and replace it with flats and affordable homes threatened the site and heritage charity The Victorian Society stepped in to criticise the plans.

Conan Doyle was a regular at the hotel in the late 19th and early 20th century.

The building was originally built as an early 19th century mansion known as ‘Glasshayes House’ but was transformed into a hotel in 1895.

Conan Doyle, who lived in the New Forest’s Brook, was a regular at the hotel in the late 19th century and early 20th century.

By the autumn of 1912 it was given a major face-lift based on ideas submitted by the world famous writer after he visited with his family earlier that year.

He designed the entire third floor extension as well as the new facade and it is his only surviving building.

Property developers PegasusLife have now submitted two applications to bulldoze the site, with both being rejected.

Their first application to build 74 homes for the elderly was declined in December 2016, and their latest attempt to create 75 new houses has also been turned down.

The new application included plans to replace the hotel with 75 flats and 15 affordable homes.

In a report on the bid, the New Forest National Park Authority ‘little consideration’ had been given by the developers to the ‘very cramped’ development.

It said: ‘Little consideration has been given to integrating the affordable housing element within the scene as a whole.

‘It demonstrates a very cramped form of development set around a courtyard dominated by parking with little in the way of amenity space.’

Despite its historic significance, the building is unlisted and therefore unprotected. Conservationists The Victorian Society say it is of ‘paramount importance’ it is saved.

The fact that Glasshayes House is thought to be the last remaining building designed by Arthur Conan Doyle makes it unique, and therefore highly historically significant and certainly worthy of reassessment.

‘In addition, no justification has been submitted to support its complete demolition.’

Speaking when the application was made, Tom Taylor, from The Victorian Society, said: ‘It is now of paramount importance that the building be reconsidered for listing, as that would offer it valuable protection against demolition and insensitive redevelopment.

A spokesman added: [Conan Doyle’s] ambitious redesign transformed the building into what you see today, the building as it currently stands is a near perfect expression of Doyle’s plans.

‘Time is swiftly running out for Glasshayes House, and the risk that it may be lost forever to be replaced with a run-of-the-mill block of flats is becoming ever more real.’

In the planning application by property developers PegasusLife, it said the building is a heritage asset of ‘minor significance’.

PegasusLife planning director Guy Flintoft said the company was ‘disappointed’ with the decision to reject a second application to redevelop Lyndhurst Park Hotel.

He said: ‘We are disappointed with the National Park Authority’s decision.
‘The rejected application included 15 affordable homes, which we would have delivered with our partners at Sovereign Housing Association, a respected provider working in the area.

‘It is disheartening that the provision of housing for older people is so often disregarded.

‘It is disappointing that this amendment to our application has been largely ignored by campaigners – despite being raised by locals as a key reason for the original refusal earlier this year.

‘We will now take some time to consider our next steps.’ “

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5180321/Sir-Arthur-Conan-Doyles-surviving-building-saved.html

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15 Dec 2017

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Accountability, Affordable and Social Housing, Developers/ Development, Inequality

“Families with stable jobs at risk of homelessness in Britain, report finds”

“Homelessness is now a serious risk for working families with stable jobs who cannot find somewhere affordable to live after being evicted by private-sector landlords seeking higher rents, the local government ombudsman has warned.

Michael King said nurses, taxi drivers, hospitality staff and council workers were among those assisted by his office after being made homeless and placed in often squalid and unsafe temporary accommodation by local authorities.

“People are coming to us not because they have a ‘life crisis’ or a drug and alcohol problem, but because they are losing what they thought was a stable private-sector tenancy, being evicted and then being priced out of the [rental] market,” he said.

King said the common perception that homelessness was about people with chaotic lives who slept rough no longer held true. “Increasingly, [homeless people] are normal families who would not have expected to be in this situation,” he said.

The ombudsman’s report came as the latest quarterly homelessness statistics showed another year-on-year rise in the number of households classed as homeless. There are 79,150 homeless households in temporary housing, including 6,400 in bed and breakfast accommodation.

Homelessness of all kinds has increased for six consecutive years in England, prompting a highly critical National Audit Office report in September that said social security cuts and ministers’ failure to get a grip on a “visibly growing problem” was costing the taxpayer £1bn a year.

The homelessness charity Crisis said: “As social housing declines, welfare cuts bite and private renting costs soar, people who were less likely to become homeless in the past are now being pushed further to the brink of losing their homes.”

The ombudsman investigates individual complaints about public services and registered social care providers, and fines councils thousands of pounds when complaints are upheld. In 2016-17, the ombudsman received 450 complaints about council homelessness services, with 70% of those investigated upheld.

King was particularly critical of local authorities he had investigated that rehoused homeless families in damp, filthy and dangerous temporary homes. “You do not have to look to Victorian fiction to see totally Dickensian housing conditions,” he said.

“Dreadful” cases of homeless families being put up in substandard accommodation landed on his desk every week, he said. Examples include:

A couple with two young children who spent 26 weeks in a single room in a B&B. Although they reported that the shower did not work and the room was infested with cockroaches, the council failed to ensure repairs were made.

A mother whose baby had type 1 diabetes was placed in a dirty and unhygienic B&B room without access to cooking facilities. The baby contracted an infection and ended up in hospital. The hospital blamed the housing, saying the mother was unable to properly feed her baby.

A disabled single parent with four children was put up in B&B accommodation for nearly two and a half years after her benefits were capped. The council ignored letters from medical professionals outlining concerns that living in the property was affecting the family’s health.

Some councils routinely flouted homelessness law, with many placing homeless families with children in B&B rooms for longer than the legal six-week limit, a practice that had a “devastating impact” on many tenants’ lives, King said. The situation had deteriorated in the four years since the ombudsman last examined it. …”

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14 Dec 2017

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Accountability, Inequality, Tax avoidance

“World Inequality Report: Fight wealth inequality with taxes”

Further to the article already posted today:

“Income inequality can lead to “catastrophes,” but there are ways to fight it, according to the World Inequality Report. “Everything depends on the choices that will be made,” says renowned economist Thomas Piketty. …

… Government still have tools to fight inequality, such as boosting access to education, improving health policies, environmental protection, setting up “healthy” minimum wage rates, and adopting better representation of workers in corporate governance bodies.

Perhaps most notably, the authorities should establish so-called “progressive” tax systems, that demand people to pay proportionately more tax with accumulation of wealth. The experts also urged called for a new global register of ownership of financial assets to combat tax evasion and money laundering. …”

http://www.dw.com/en/world-inequality-report-fight-wealth-inequality-with-taxes/a-41793747

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14 Dec 2017

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Inequality

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People with less than £50,000 savings told they are “too poor” for financial advice

“Customers with investments of less than £50,000 are increasingly being turned away by their financial advisers. In 2014 just under a quarter of financial advisers showed customers with this level of assets the door, whereas in 2017 this figure rose to one in two advisers, according to new research by Schroders.

In total, one in four financial advisers asked clients to leave their practice in 2017 for not having enough money.

The research, based on a survey of 250 financial advisers, showed that the number of customers that advisers are no longer choosing to service has steadily grown over the past few years, with some customers being asked to leave if they have less than £100,000 or £200,000. …”

https://www.moneywise.co.uk/news/2017-12-14/one-two-advisers-fire-clients-less-50000

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14 Dec 2017

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Economy, Inequality

“World’s richest 0.1% have boosted their wealth by as much as [all the] poorest half

“The richest 0.1% of the world’s population have increased their combined wealth by as much as the poorest 50% – or 3.8 billion people – since 1980, according to a report detailing the widening gap between the very rich and poor.

The World Inequality Report, published on Thursday by French economist Thomas Piketty, warned that inequality had ballooned to “extreme levels” in some countries and said the problem would only get worse unless governments took coordinated action to increase taxes and prevent tax avoidance. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2017/dec/14/world-richest-increased-wealth-same-amount-as-poorest-half

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12 Dec 2017

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Accountability, Developers/ Development, Housing (local), Inequality, Land banking, Rural communities, Sustainability

The Times: “Builders shun brownfield sites” [what a surprise!]

Are we surprised? Oh, come on – of course not. And interesting that a council, for example, might spend, say, £10 million on a new HQ, but not have the “resources” to identify all suitable brownfield sites for housing in their district!

“Parts of the countryside are being needlessly sacrificed to build homes because thousands of small plots of previously developed land are being overlooked by councils, a study has found.

Sites with room for almost 200,000 homes are missing from official registers of brownfield, according to research by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE). These include former builders’ yards, disused warehouses and blocks of garages no longer used for parking.

The government says that it has a “brownfield first” policy when identifying land for more homes. To help to achieve this it has ordered all councils in England to publish registers by the end of this month of brownfield land suitable for development.

The CPRE examined 43 of the registers already published and found that only 4 per cent of the brownfield land they identified was on small sites that could accommodate up to ten homes.

In the budget last month the government announced that it wanted councils to identify enough small sites to provide 20 per cent of the new homes needed.

Philip Hammond, the chancellor, also said that the government would “ensure that our brownfield and scarce urban land is used as efficiently as possible”.

The CPRE found that if councils met the 20 per cent target on small brownfield sites, an additional 189,000 homes could be built in England.

It asked a sample of local authorities how they identified land for their brownfield registers and found that they “routinely disregarded small brownfield sites”.

Councils overlooked the sites even though they usually had infrastructure in place, such as rail and road links and schools and hospitals, which were less likely to be available for greenfield sites.

The reasons given by councils for not listing small brownfield sites included that they lacked the resources to identify them and that housebuilders did not favour them because of the perception that the planning system was too burdensome for small plots.

The CPRE said that the failure to identify small brownfield sites was resulting in councils allocating land for development in the green belt, the protected land around 14 cities.

It has called on the government to amend official guidance to ensure that councils identified all the available brownfield sites in their areas.

Rebecca Pullinger, CPRE’s planning campaigner, said: “Up and down the country tens of thousands of small brownfield sites are not included in brownfield land registers and their housing development potential missed.

“The current system of collecting this data must be improved if we are to unlock the potential of brownfield and stop developers finding an excuse to build on greenfield areas.”

In October Sajid Javid, the communities secretary, said on The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One: “I don’t believe that we need to focus on the green belt, there is lots of brownfield land, and brownfield first has been a policy of ours for a while.”

Source: The Times (pay wall)

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9 Dec 2017

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Accountability, Affordable and Social Housing, Austerity cuts, Conflict of interest, Inequality

“Human rights commission to launch its own Grenfell fire inquiry”

“Britain’s human rights watchdog is to launch an inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire that will examine whether the government and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea failed in their duties to protect life and provide safe housing.

The dramatic intervention by the independent Equality and Human Rights Commission, which has the potential to draw damning conclusions about the role of the state, could foreshadow the official inquiry, ordered by Theresa May and chaired by retired judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick, which has been criticised for excluding social housing policy from its remit. The commission’s recommendations are due to be published in April, considerably earlier than the official inquiry’s full findings.

The commission’s chair, David Isaac, said the EHRC, whose application to become a core participant in the official inquiry was rejected, had decided to launch its own inquiry amid concerns that key questions – including the extent to which the state has “a duty to protect its citizens”– were being neglected. While acknowledging that the move might be seen as “controversial” in some quarters, he defended the commission’s decision to become involved.

Six months on, Grenfell Tower fire survivors are left demanding answers
“We are the UK’s national human rights body and we have a statutory duty to promote equality and human rights,” Isaac said in an interview with the Observer. “We think the human rights dimension to Grenfell Tower is absolutely fundamental and is currently overlooked. Grenfell for most people in this country, particularly in the way the government has reacted, is a pretty defining moment in terms of how inequality is perceived.”

He recalled his reaction to the tragic events of 14 June. “Like everybody else, it was shock, horror, distress. I think it was a national moment that defined how certain parts of society experience the state’s public provision of housing and also how the state responds. We need to learn from what’s happened with Grenfell, look at it in the context of our human rights obligations, and think about how we can improve. There are loads of lessons to be learned.”

Last week it emerged that four out of every five families who were made homeless in the fire are still looking for new housing, with almost half of them likely to spend Christmas in emergency accommodation.

The EHRC inquiry, which will involve a panel of legal experts, will pay particular attention to the UK’s obligations to the tower’s residents under the Human Rights Act and international law. At a time when some want the act scrapped, the inquiry’s actions could be viewed as provocative.

“Human rights are for everybody,” Isaac said. “This is political and I know there is a view among some politicians, but also among society more generally, that human rights only protect extremists and terrorists but that isn’t the case at all. I always talk about Hillsborough as a really good example of where the Human Rights Act and the human rights lens has been used effectively to ensure justice prevailed.”

In a statement to be published on its website tomorrow, explaining its decision to launch what it refers to as its “project”, the EHRC will say: “The Grenfell Tower fire caused catastrophic loss of life for which the state may have been responsible. More than 70 people died in homes managed by the state. They should have been safe and they were not. The people who died and others affected by the fire come from diverse backgrounds. They include children, elderly people, disabled people and migrants. …

… The commission’s decision to examine the Grenfell Tower fire reflects a more muscular approach to addressing human rights and equality issues. Recently it has brought a number of high-profile legal actions and launched several major inquiries, such as that into the gender pay gap.

Isaac said: “We are a more confident organisation and this is a good example of us being that – holding the government to account by doing what only we can do. It might be perceived to be controversial but I believe that’s our role.””

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/dec/09/human-rights-commission-to-launch-own-grenfell-fire-inquiry

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8 Dec 2017

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Inequality

The spirit of Christmas …

“For many families, coming together to decorate the Christmas tree is the official start of the festive season, but for a growing number of very wealthy people it is just another task to be outsourced to professional help for as much £80,000.

Calling in a Knightsbridge florist to hang a wreath on your front door and install and decorate a fir tree costs a minimum of £1,500. But the battle among London’s elite to produce the most spectacular Christmas displays has intensified, with professional events companies being called in to create winter wonderland house and garden displays that can come with ice rinks, live reindeer and even actors playing Santa or sugar plum fairies.

“Hiring florists for Christmas has been happening for years,” said Becky Handley, director of the event production company Theme Traders. “But in the last few years people have started calling in event planners to come up with themes and make a real production with professional lighting and cherrypickers to decorate the roof.”

Handley, whose company has had more than 50 people working on Christmas installations since mid-November, said the demands of ultra-rich clients were becoming more extensive every year and coming up with ideas for next year’s displays would start in January at Christmasworld, an international decorating trade fair in Frankfurt.

“People want the whole of the front of houses lit up, and bear in mind these houses are pretty big,” she said. “Those with young children want real snow on 1 December, and we can make it happen.

“People also want immersive experiences. They will ask us to provide carol singers, Santa, sugar plum fairies and real reindeers,” she said. “People have gone a bit bonkers about Christmas.”

She said the cost of a “production Christmas” started at a few thousand pounds but could easily stretch into the tens of thousands. “It’s how long is a piece of string really,” she said. “Last year we did one that cost £80,000 – it really depends on what people want.”

Client confidentially clauses prevent Handley from saying too much about the £80,000 decorations, but she said the job involved dressing the whole house, installing an ice rink in the driveway, and going back several times to change the design “depending on [the client’s] social calendar” ….”

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/dec/08/rich-londoners-christmas-decorators-winter-wonderland-live-reindeer

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8 Dec 2017

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Austerity cuts, Inequality

Christmas gifts?

The Radical Tea Towel Company

Owl particularly likes the Oscar Wilde quote:

“To recommend thrift to the poor is grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less”

http://www.radicalteatowel.co.uk

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8 Dec 2017

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Accountability, Accountable Care Organisation, Health and Social Care (local), Inequality, NHS (local), Privatisation

“Labour demands Commons vote on ‘secret’ plan for NHS”

This is the most dangerous thing to happen to our NHS since the Health and Social Care Act 2012 paved the way for wholesale privatisation. Once this goes through (on the nod as it will with this government) our NHS ceases to exist.

Currently, money in the true NHS stays in it and recirculates. With ACOs first big salaries for ACO staff are creamed off, then boardroom and shareholder dividends of the companies concerned and then the NHS gets cut and rationed – with only high-profit interventions (usually things such as elective surgery which can be costed to the penny) made available.

“Party says ministers are trying to push through changes that could lead to greater privatisation and rationing of care

Denis Campbell Health policy editor

Labour is demanding that MPs be allowed to debate and vote on “secret” plans for the NHS that they claim could lead to greater rationing of care and privatisation of health services.

The party says ministers are trying to push through the creation of “accountable care organisations” (ACOs) without proper parliamentary scrutiny.

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, has written to Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the House of Commons, urging her not to let “the biggest change to our NHS in a decade” go ahead without MPs’ involvement.

NHS England’s chief executive, Simon Stevens, and the government see ACOs as central to far-reaching modernisation plans that they hope will improve patient care, reduce pressure on hospitals and help the NHS stick to its budget.

ACOs involve NHS hospital, mental health, ambulance and community services trusts working much more closely with local councils, using new organisational structures, to improve the health of the population of a wide area. The first ACOs are due to become operational in April in eight areas of England and cover almost 7 million people.

Labour has seized on the fact that the Department of Health plans to amend 10 separate sets of parliamentary regulations that relate to the NHS in order to pave the way legally for the eight ACOs.

In his letter, Ashworth demands that Leadsom grant a debate on the plans before the amended regulations acquire legal force in February.

“Accountable care organisations are potentially the biggest change which will be made to our NHS for a decade. Yet the government have been reluctant to put details of the new arrangements into the public domain. It’s essential that the decision around whether to introduce ACOs into the NHS is taken in public, with a full debate and vote in parliament,” he writes.

A number of “big, unanswered questons” about ACOs remain, despite their imminent arrival in the NHS, he adds. They include how the new organisations will be accountable to the public, what the role of private sector health firms will be and how they will affect NHS staff.

Ashworth also says “the unacceptable secrecy in which these ACOs have been conceived and are being pushed forward is totally contrary to the NHS’s duty to be open, transparent and accountable in its decision-making. The manner in which the government are approaching ACOs, as with sustainability and transformation plans before them, fails that test.”

Stevens’s determination to introduce ACOs has aroused suspicion because they are based on how healthcare is organised in the United States. They came in there in the wake of Obamacare as an attempt to integrate providers of different sorts of healthcare in order to keep patients healthier and avoid them spending time in hospital unnecessarily.

A Commons early day motion (EDM) on ACOs also being tabled by Labour on Thursday, signed by its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, and other frontbenchers, notes that “concerns have been raised that ACOs will encourage and facilitate further private sector involvement in the NHS”.

In his letter Ashworth adds: “There is widespread suspicion that the government are forcing these new changes through in order to fit NHS services to the shrinking budgets imposed from Whitehall.” The EDM also notes “concerns that ACOs could be used as a vehicle for greater rationing”.

The King’s Fund, an influential health thinktank, denied that ACOs would open up NHS services to privatisation. “This is not about privatisation; it is about integration,” said Prof Chris Ham, its chief executive.

“There is a groundswell of support among local health and care leaders for the principle of looking beyond individual services and focusing instead on whatever will have the biggest impact in enabling people to live long, healthy and fulfilling lives,” added Ham.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, the chair of the British Medical Association, backed Labour’s call for greater transparency but said care services should be integrated.

However, he added: “ACOs will not in themselves address the desperate underfunding of the NHS and may divert more money into processes of reorganisation. Current procurement and competition regulations create the potential for ACOs to be opened up to global private providers within a fixed-term contract and with significant implications for patient services and staff.”

The Department of Health refused to say if MPs would be able to debate ACOs. “It is right that local NHS leaders and clinicians have the autonomy to decide the best solutions to improve care for the patients they know best – but significant local changes must always be subject to public consultation and due legal process.

“It is important to note that ACOs have nothing to do with funding – the NHS will always remain free at the point of use,” a spokesman said.”

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/dec/07/labour-demands-commons-vote-secret-plan-nhs

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8 Dec 2017

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Accountability, Affordable and Social Housing, Inequality, Privatisation

“Forty percent of homes sold under Right to Buy now in the hands of private landlords, new analysis reveals”

Scotland and Wales stopped these sales – it can be done, no excuses.

“Tens of thousands of council homes sold under the Right to Buy scheme, designed to help low-income families get on the housing ladder, are now being let out by private landlords, new research has revealed.

Just over 40 per cent of properties purchased under the controversial scheme are now being rented out privately – a rise of 7 per cent in the last two years alone.

As a result, properties sold off quickly become significantly more expensive than they were previously. The average private rent in England is £210 per week – more than double the £88 average social rent.

If the current trend continues, more than half of all Right to Buy homes will be rented privately by 2026, according to the research by Inside Housing magazine.

The analysis – based on figures from 111 councils, around two thirds of the total – shows that 180,260 leasehold properties were sold by local authorities since 1980. Of those almost 72,500 are now registered with an “away address”, suggesting they are being rented out privately.

The mass sell-off comes despite council house waiting lists currently standing at more than 10 years in some parts of the country, and a 97 per cent fall in new social homes being built since 2010.

Amid fears over the on-going impact of Right to Buy, the Scottish Government scrapped the policy in Scotland last year and on Tuesday the Welsh government voted to follow suit.

Critics say Right to Buy has led to a staggering loss of social homes because those sold off under the policy are not being replaced. According to Local Government Association analysis, just one new home is built for every five sold.

There are now just 2 million council homes left in Britain – down from 6.5 million when Right to Buy was introduced by Margaret Thatcher in 1980, although a number of factors are behind the fall.

Despite growing concern about the impact of the policy, last year the Conservatives controversially extended Right to Buy to properties owned by housing associations – meaning thousands more low-rent homes are likely to be sold off. …”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/right-to-buy-homes-sold-private-landlords-latest-figures-rent-a8098126.html

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8 Dec 2017

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Accountability, Affordable and Social Housing, Cranbrook, EDDC, Inequality

Cranbrook: bad news for E.on? Regulator to investigate district heating networks

Residents of Cranbrook are stuck with E.on for 80 years unless things change as reported by Owl here in February 2017:

https://eastdevonwatch.org/2017/02/05/cranbrooks-district-heating-system-under-fire-no-switching-allowed-and-developers-get-a-cut-for-80-year-contract/

and here in 2016:
https://eastdevonwatch.org/2016/07/28/cranbrook-what-can-happen-when-you-are-tied-to-one-district-heating-energy-supplier/

“The UK’s competition regulator has announced that it is launching a comprehensive study into domestic heat networks to make sure that households are getting a good deal.

Competition and Markets Authority on Thursday said that heat networks – systems that heat multiple homes from one central source – currently supply about half a million UK homes through about 17,000 networks.

Between now and 2030, the number of customers using heat networks is expected to grow significantly to around 20 per cent of all households. But the sector is not currently subject to the same regulation as other forms of energy supply such as mains gas and electricity.

The CMA said that, as a result of that, it’s concerned that many customers, a large proportion of whom live in social housing, may be unable to easily switch suppliers or are locked into very long contracts – some for up to 25 years.

There’s a risk, the regulator said, that they may be paying too much or receiving a poor quality of service.

It said that its study into the networks would examine whether customers are aware of the costs of heat networks both before and after moving into a property and whether heat networks are natural monopolies. It would also look at the prices, service quality and reliability of heat networks.

“Heat networks can play an important role in cutting carbon and keeping down energy bills for customers. However, we have concerns that this sector may not be working as well as it could be for the half a million homes heated by these systems now and the millions that may be connected in the future,” said Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA.

“That is why we’re taking a closer look at this market to ensure that heat network customers get a good deal on their energy now and in the future.”

The CMA study will be completed within the next 12 months. It said that it would source evidence from a wide range of stakeholders, including heat network builders and operators, other government departments, local authorities, sector regulators and consumer groups.

An interim report updating on the CMA’s progress will be published in six months.

Heating networks can be better for the environment because they deliver lower carbon emissions, which can also result in cost benefits for households.

Because of this, heat networks have become an important part of the Government’s strategy to reduce carbon and cut heating bills.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/uk-domestic-heat-networks-review-competition-markets-authority-review-regulator-a8096396.html

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6 Dec 2017

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Accountability, Inequality

Older women suffer most from inequality

“Older women are more likely to be poor, socially isolated, badly housed, unhealthy and die sooner because of a lifetime of lower pay and unequal working conditions than older men, according to a new report.

A study by the Centre for Ageing Better found “shameful” and stark contrasts in people’s experiences of later life, with severe inequalities among older people largely a product of poverty and disadvantage throughout life.

Women aged 65-69 suffered the worst discrimination of all. Only 36% of this age group received the full state pension in 2014, the review found.

“A good later life is something we should expect for everyone. It should not be conditional on where we live or how much money we have, nor on our gender, race, disability or sexuality,” said Claire Turner, director of evidence at the Centre for Ageing Better.

“But cumulative poverty and disadvantage throughout life mean that many people will suffer poor health, financial insecurity, weak social connections and ultimately a shorter life. These inequalities – with richer older people living around eight years longer than those with less advantage – are shocking and have sustained over time, despite policy and practice designed to reduce them.

Pension poverty looms as women fail to save enough for retirement
“Helping current older people and protecting future generations from this shameful level of inequality in health and wealth should be at the heart of policy making across health, housing, work and pensions.” …

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4 Dec 2017

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Accountability, Affordable and Social Housing, Austerity cuts, Inequality

The scandal of child and pensioner poverty

“Almost 400,000 more UK children and 300,000 more pensioners plunged into poverty in past four years, new study finds.

Hundreds of thousands of children and older people have been plunged into poverty in the past four years, according to a stark analysis laying bare the challenge to families trying to keep up with the cost of living in Britain.

The research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) found almost 400,000 more children and 300,000 more pensioners in the UK were living in poverty last year compared with 2012-13, the first sustained increases in child and pensioner poverty for 20 years. The foundation warned that decades of progress were at risk of being unravelled amid weak wage growth and rising inflation.

The thinktank urged the government to unfreeze benefits, increase training for adult workers and to embark on a more ambitious house-building programme to provide affordable homes for struggling families. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/dec/04/uk-government-warned-over-sharp-rise-children-pensioner-poverty-study

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3 Dec 2017

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Accountability, Inequality, NHS (local)

A Christmas Carol for the NHS

Good king Jeremy Hunt looked out
so did Simon Stevens
healthcare crisis all about
they were disbelieving.
“There’s no problem on the wards
waiting times are super.
Moan too much, we’ll sell the lot
to our friends at Bupa.”
Long term sick and elderly
shoved where you can’t see’em,
care from cradle to the grave
now in a museum.

Trolleys for the dying poor,
posh wards for the wealthy
don’t expect an ambulance –
pray that you stay healthy.
Give us back our stolen wards,
two hundred beds and counting.
Give us back our hospitals:
hear the anger mounting
Pay our nurses what they’re worth,
cherish those who mend you:
Happy Christmas, NHS,
we’ll always defend you.

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3 Dec 2017

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Inequality

“More than 3,000 foster children are excluded from the Tories’ flagship free childcare pledge”

“More than 3,000 foster children will be excluded from the Tories flagship free childcare pledge, ministers have revealed.

Under the policy, three and four year olds with working parents are entitled to 30 hours of childcare paid for by the government.

But early years minister Robert Goodwill has revealed foster children is only available for the 15 hours a week available whether parents are in work or not.

Some 3,030 children in care will lose out on care, even if their foster carers are in full time work.

It means a vulnerable child receiving 30 hours a week would lose up to half of their childcare funding if they were to be taken into care.

Labour’s early years spokesperson Tracy Brain said: “The decision to exclude foster children is cruel and clearly discriminatory.

“Every child should have access to high quality childcare and early years education, and while not every foster parent would decide 30-hours is best for the child, they should have exactly the same right to access as if they were with their birth parents.

“We’re looking at a few thousand children added to a policy already used by hundreds of thousands, in the interest of equality and our commitment to foster children, the Tories should think again and end this unfair exclusion.”

If foster children were included in the policy, they would make up just 1% of the roughly 300,000 expected to be eligible for the full 30 hours from January.

While foster carers do receive an allowance from the government, childcare costs are not included in the calculations.

She added: “We’re looking at a few thousand children added to a policy already used by hundreds of thousands, in the interest of equality and our commitment to foster children, the Tories should think again and end this unfair exclusion.” …”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/more-3000-foster-children-excluded-11632976

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3 Dec 2017

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Health and Social Care (local), Inequality, NHS (local)

“UK, Romania and Poland: fewest doctors in EU”

“The UK has the third-lowest number of hospital beds per person in the European Union as well as the third-lowest number of doctors, with only Romania and Poland worse off, a European Commission report has found.

The report, which compared the 28 EU countries, warned that hospitals will struggle to cope with the winter crisis predicted by many doctors and NHS managers as intensive care beds were full even during the summer.

It warned of the UK’s “limited capacity to absorb shocks”, adding: “Difficulties finding beds have introduced inefficiencies.”

Ian Eardley, vice-president of the Royal College of Surgeons, said Britain’s low ranking in the report should act as “a wake-up call for NHS leaders” and that the cuts have “now gone too far”.

He said: “Bed shortages lead to cancelled operations and patients waiting longer for treatment. Some will find themselves in pain for longer, possibly unable to go about their daily life. In the worst cases their condition may deteriorate while they wait.”

Last week doctors in intensive care units (ICUs) — where the sickest patients are given life support — said they were also nervous about the coming weeks.

Dr Christopher Bassford, a consultant in intensive care at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, said: “At our intensive care unit we have operated at 100% capacity or over for most of the summer. This winter we are anxious.”

Dr Gary Masterson, president of the Intensive Care Society, added: “It does feel as if we are on the cusp. This [bed occupancy at 100%] is the norm for many ICUs. It is right to worry about ability to cope should we have a busy winter.”

Bed occupancy runs at over 100% when more than one patient uses the bed during a 24-hour period.

Dr Nick Scriven, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, recently warned that doctors would need to make drips out of coat hangers this winter because of the anticipated shortage of beds and equipment.

While the number of doctors working in the NHS has increased, the report also found the UK still near the bottom of the EU league table. It said: “There have been steady increases in recent decades, despite which the number of doctors per 1,000 of the population was the third lowest in the EU.”

NHS England said: “These figures show our NHS is much more efficient than other countries such as France or Germany in helping patients avoid emergency hospitalisations, and we do so despite spending less and having fewer nurses and doctors than they do.”

Sunday Times (pay wall)

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2 Dec 2017

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Social mobility? Forget it

“The board of the government’s Social Mobility Commission has stood down in protest at the lack of progress towards a “fairer Britain”.

Ex-Labour minister Alan Milburn, who chairs the commission, said he had “little hope” the current government could make the “necessary progress”.
Tory former cabinet minister Baroness Shephard is among three others to quit.

In a resignation letter first reported by the Observer, Mr Milburn said ministers were preoccupied with Brexit.

He said that meant the government “does not have the necessary bandwidth to ensure the rhetoric of healing social division is matched with the reality”.
Mr Milburn added: “It seems unable to commit to the future of the commission as an independent body or to give due priority to the social mobility challenge facing our nation.”

He took up his role with the commission, which monitors progress towards improving social mobility in the UK, and promotes social mobility in England, in July 2012.

‘Unable to commit’

The resignations come as Theresa May, who entered Downing Street in July 2016 promising to tackle the “burning injustices” that hold back poorer people, faces questions over the future of senior minister Damian Green – who is effectively her second in command – and is under pressure as Brexit talks continue.

In his resignation letter addressed to Mrs May, Mr Milburn said he was standing down with “much sadness” and was “deeply proud of the work the commission has done”.

He said: “All the main political parties now espouse a Britain that is less elitist and more equal, while growing numbers of employers, universities, colleges, schools and councils have developed a shared determination to create a level playing field of opportunity in our country.”

Mr Milburn added: “Individual ministers such as the secretary of state for education have shown a deep commitment to the issue.

“But it has become obvious that the government as a whole is unable to commit the same level of support…

“I do not doubt your personal belief in social justice, but I see little evidence of that being translated into meaningful action.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42212270