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“Councils in country have far less to spend on elderly than those in cities”

“Councils in rural areas like Dorset have five times less than to spend on care of the elderly than those in cities, new analysis reveals.

The study by the Salvation Army warns that areas with lower house prices are unable to properly fund social care, because they cannot raise enough from council tax and business rates.

Experts said the findings were evidence of a “dementia lottery” which meant the chance of receiving help were a matter of geography.

The analysis suggests that typically councils in Dorset would have around £5,762 a head to spend on elderly care – while those in Lambeth in London could have more than £31,000 at their disposal.

Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Somerset, East Sussex, Staffordshire, Lincolnshire and North Yorkshire were among other areas with the most limited resources, according to the analysis.

All the councils which fared best were in London.

The trends also show an increasing gulf, with “spending power” in rural councils falling, while it is rising in urban areas.

The organisation said it was now having to subsidise places in its own care homes, to the tune of an average £302 per person were week.

Lieut-Colonel Dean Pallant, of The Salvation Army, said: “Rural local authorities have been set up to fail with this flawed formula and it urgently needs revision.

“People are living longer and the population is ageing, the adult social care bill is rising but the local authority funding streams aren’t enough to cover the demand, especially in areas where there are not many businesses or people to tax.”

“The Government must prioritise its spending and properly fund adult social care. …”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/07/18/councils-country-have-far-less-spend-elderly-cities/

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Accountability, Inequality, Police (local)

“Police letting down older victims of crime, say inspectors”

“Older victims of crime are being let down by the police and the wider criminal justice system, according to the first inspection report on the age group.

The police have only a “superficial understanding” of the crimes committed against older people, the report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services and Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate says.

Older people account for 18% of the population but more than eight out of 10 victims of doorstop scams are elderly, the report says. Older people also comprise a quarter of domestic homicide victims.

“Despite these statistics and the fact that we have an increasingly ageing population, the two inspectorates found that the police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) lacked any joint cohesive and focused strategy to deal with older victims of crime,” says the report.

Inspectors found that out of 153 cases where a safeguarding referral should have been made by police to the local authority, on 77 occasions there was no any evidence of this taking place.

Of the 192 cases the inspectorates looked at in detail, victim care was found not to be good enough in 101 of them and the victims’ code was complied with on only 97 occasions.

“As people are living increasingly longer, it is imperative that the needs of older people are properly understood by those charged with protecting them,” said the inspector of constabulary, Wendy Williams. “Unfortunately, our inspection found that older people are often not treated according to their needs by the criminal justice system. We want to see a sharper focus on older people and the problems they face.”

John Beer, the chair of Action on Elder Abuse, said: “This is a truly damning report about the way the criminal justice system treats older victims. Action on Elder Abuse has led the call for a specific offence or aggravating factor of elder abuse, in recognition of the devastating impact crime has on older victims. As a society we already recognise that where a victim is targeted because of their race, religion, sexual identity or disability, a tougher sentence should apply. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jul/17/police-letting-down-older-victims-of-say-inspectors?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

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“Rural domestic abusers being protected by countryside culture”

“Rural women enduring domestic abuse are half as likely as urban victims to report their suffering and are being failed by authorities with perpetrators shielded by countryside culture, a report says.

Abusers are protected by the isolation of the countryside and traditional patriarchal attitudes, says the report from the National Rural Crime Network. It is the first study of its kind and finds that close-knit rural communities can facilitate abuse which can last, on average, 25% longer than in urban areas.

Some abusers move their partners from urban areas, where detection is more likely, to rural areas.

The report, published on Wednesday, says: “Rurality and isolation are used as a weapon by abusers. Financial control, removal from friends, isolation from family are all well-understood tools of abuse.”

It continues: “We have revealed a traditional society where women (and it is mostly women) are subjugated, abused and controlled, not just by an individual abuser, but de facto by very the communities in which they live, too often left unsupported and unprotected. This is not at all unique to rural areas, but it is very significant, and change is slow.”

Abusers exploiting isolation is a common theme in the report. One woman said: “My partner used to deliberately drive off to work with the kids’ car seats in his car, which meant I could not go anywhere safely because I was stuck in the cottage with the kids … it was just another way he isolated me and kept me from interacting with anyone else.”

The National Rural Crime Network is funded largely by police forces and their police and crime commissioners, to improve public safety in rural areas.

The report says that traditional, patriarchal communities control and subjugate women. “Rural communities are still dominated by men and follow a set of age-old, protected and unwritten principles.

“Men tend to hold the rural positions of power – head of the household, landowner, landlord, policeman, farmer. This patriarchal society makes women more vulnerable to coercion and control, prevented from speaking out and accessing support.”

Some cases have led to murder, such as that of Lance Hart, 57, who shot dead his wife Claire, 50, and daughter Charlotte, 19, in Spalding, Lincolnshire, in 2016, before killing himself. Claire Hart suffered years of controlling behaviour without the authorities realising and was killed after leaving her abusive husband.

One caseworker in County Durham said of the people suffering: “Many of them are in such a stressful situation they have shut down from any kind of rational thinking. It’s like all their effort goes into survival mode or protection for the kids … The longer it goes on the less likely they are to see the dangers.”

Escape is harder than in urban Britain because of shrinking resources and cuts to public services, the report says. “The availability of public services in rural areas more generally is on the decline, limiting the support networks and escape routes available to victims.

“A recently evidenced reduction in rural GP practices and challenges of effective broadband are good examples. This equally extends to services like buses and trains, whereby it remains very difficult (and getting worse) to travel within rural areas without a private vehicle. Abusers use this to limit victims’ movements, rendering already inaccessible services all but impossible to contact. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jul/17/rural-domestic-abusers-being-protected-by-countryside-culture?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

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“UK’s renting millennials face homelessness crisis when they retire”

“More than 600,000 members of so-called ‘Generation Rent’ are facing an “inevitable catastrophe” of homelessness when they retire, according to the first government inquiry into what will happen to millennials in the UK who have been unable to get on the housing ladder as they age.

People’s incomes typically halve after retirement. Those in the private rented sector who pay 40% of their earnings in rent could be forced to spend up to 80% of their income on rent in retirement.

If rents rise at the same rate as earnings, the inquiry found that 52% of pensioners in the private rental sector will be paying more than 40% of their income on rent by 2038. This will mean that at least 630,000 millennials are unable to afford their rent.

They will find themselves homeless or with no choice but to move into temporary accommodation, at the state’s expense, according to the report by the all-party parliamentary group on housing and care for older people.

“The number of households in the private rented sector headed by someone aged over 64 will more than treble over the next 25 to 30 years,” said Richard Best, the chair of the group. “But unless at least 21,000 suitable homes are built a year, there will be nowhere affordable for them to live. The consequence is bound to be homelessness for some.”

The report also forecasts that, in terms of quality of accommodation, the number of older households living in unfit and unsuitable private rented accommodation could leap from about 56,000 to 188,000 in 20 years’ time and to 236,500 in 30 years’ time. And it warns that the UK is headed towards an ‘inevitable catastrophe for the pensioners of tomorrow”.

Substandard housing is already known to be a direct cause of death for many older people: at least 53,000 winter deaths of old people over the last five years have been attributed to conditions related to living in a cold home.

While retired people in social housing are more likely to live in affordable, decent homes, the report – Rental Housing for an Ageing Population – says there is not nearly enough of this housing even now.

“We see the likelihood of a significant shortfall in the available places within the current stock since, at present, few retirement schemes are being created,” said Lord Best. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jul/17/renting-millennials-homelessness-crisis-retire?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

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“School-holiday pressure likely to push food bank usage to ‘record levels’ “

“Food bank usage is expected to rise again when schools break up this summer, a charity has said.

The Trussell Trust has said it fears UK food banks will experience their busiest ever summer in 2019.

A huge 87,496 food parcels went to children in the UK in summer 2018 – a 20% increase on the previous summer, and the charity expects this trend to continue.

The trust said that more than a third of all emergency food parcels distributed by food banks in the its network go to children, and that extra holiday-time financial pressure placed on families who are entitled to free school meals during term time would fuel the rise.

The total number of food parcels handed out to children and adults between 1 July and 31 August last year was 240,000. The areas that received the most food packages in 2018 were the North West (24,000), London (17,000) and East of England (16,000).

To combat UK hunger, the charity is calling for the government to end the five-week wait for universal credit payments.

Emma Revie, chief executive of the Trussell Trust, said: “Food banks will do all they can to help families over the summer, with many running holiday clubs to support parents who find that their income simply won’t stretch to meet the extra pressure of missing free school meals or paying for additional childcare during the holidays.

“But no charity can replace the dignity of having enough money for the basics.”

Revie called on the government to ensure that benefits reflected the true cost of living and that work is secure and pays the real Living Wage. …”

https://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2019/07/school-holiday-pressure-likely-push-food-bank-usage-record-levels

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Extreme poverty becoming more common

“Extreme poverty – where families are routinely unable to afford regular meals, wash clothes or provide their children with basic items such as beds and sheets – is becoming more common, according to frontline family support workers.

Three-quarters of support professionals such as health visitors and social workers said they had seen an increase in the numbers of families they regularly worked with who experienced destitution and were in need of basic financial support.

Despite more families facing greater difficulties, official support was harder to come by, the survey found. “The only substantive increase in support over the last year was the increase in the number of families support workers have seen using food banks,” it read.

The survey of 1,290 frontline family support workers from 616 organisations across the UK was published by the poverty grants charity Buttle UK. It said it was undertaken to provide a “thermometer reading” of the lives of some the UK’s most vulnerable families.

It comes amid rising concern that alongside headline increases in relative poverty in recent years – more than 4 million children in the UK live below the breadline – a cohort of the very poorest families is experiencing the extreme and intractable form of poverty known as destitution.

Destitution is defined as experience of at least two of six measures over the previous month, including eating fewer than two meals a day for two or more days; or as a weekly income after housing costs of £70 for a single adult or £140 for a couple with children – an amount below which people “cannot meet their core material needs for basic physiological functioning from their own resources”.

Last week, the MPs Frank Field and Heidi Allen warned that austerity cuts meant that the poorest communities were now “blighted by the constant spectre of destitution”. An estimated 1.5 million people in the UK, including 350,00 children, experienced destitution in 2017. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jul/15/destitution-on-the-rise-say-frontline-family-support-workers?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

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Clinton Devon Estates and Newton Poppleford – a lesson from Budleigh Salterton

The people of Budleigh Salterton would advise the people of Newton Poppleford not to hold out much hope in acquiring a surgery or anything of benefit to the village. (see East Devon Watch 11 July) They have been down a very similar route with Clinton Devon Estates.

The failure of the BS Neighbourhood Plan to include all the hospital garden as open space, leaving only under a half leased to the new hospital hub left Clinton Devon Estates controlling the other half. A planning application was submitted for the construction of 2 open market dwellings and associated access in its plot. Like Newton Poppleford the estate lodged an appeal against the delay in making a decision by EDDC. However, the Inspector turned down this on appeal concluding that the benefit to the town of building two houses in the garden was outweighed by the negative effect upon the recreational space within this part of Budleigh Salterton.

“In the absence of evidence to indicate that the remaining garden would adequately meet the needs of visitors to the health and well-being hub, in relation to this main issue, the proposal would have a negative effect upon availability of recreational space within this part of Budleigh Salterton, contrary to LP Strategy 6. The proposal would not result in an enhancement of the retained garden and so would not comply with LP Policy RC1.”

So what did CDE do? Did this estate whose motto is

DOING TODAY WHAT IS RIGHT FOR TOMORROW

allow the continued access to this land which cottage hospital patients had enjoyed since 1887?

No, the estate chose to ignore the spirit of the Planning Inspectorate’s decision.

They erected a fence. I am sure many of Owl’s readers have seen the “abomination” (BS Journal Feb. 15 2018) and may have seen children confined to playing in just under a half of the garden.

So those patients living in Newton Poppleford and seeking to consult their GP will have to continue to travel to Ottery St Mary. (Remember that Newton Poppleford is within the Ottery St. Mary practise boundary, not the nearer Sidmouth!) If they rely on public transport there is no direct bus route, patients have to travel into Exeter and out again, a distance of around 23 miles with a round trip time of at least 2hrs 30 mins. (and don’t ask about the cost)!

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“If you want to build a better society you need to build better homes”

“In the end almost every important domestic issue comes back to housing.

If you want to know why the economy is skewed towards the rich, why social mobility has stalled, why opportunities are curtailed and why health inequalities persist it is impossible to discuss any of these themes without reference to housing.

Having a decent home to live in should be a basic right but there are more than one million people on the waiting list for social housing.

Rent takes up 40% of our income on average, the highest in Europe where the average is 28%.

This consumes money which could, for instance, be spent on purchasing better quality food.

It is no accident the poorest people have the poorest diets.

Those on low-income are more likely to live in low quality homes with short-term tenancies.

A survey in 2016 found 60% of Londoners who rent were living in homes with unacceptable conditions such as damp or vermin.

Lower income families tend to live in areas with higher levels of air pollution and fewer opportunities to play outside either because of a lack of green spaces or high traffic densities.

This in turn puts pressure on the NHS and affects school performance.

Studies have shown that people who live on streets with high levels of traffic are less likely to interact with their neighbours.

Short term tenancies mean families in rental accommodation end up moving more often, disrupting schooling and fracturing social networks.

If you live in an area without decent public transport and cannot afford a car your chances of finding work or studying are more limited which curtails social mobility.

It is hardly surprising that the lack of social housing has driven up rents in the private sector.

A study by Shelter this week says private renting is unaffordable for working families on low wages in two-thirds of the country.

Help to Buy, which has so far cost £12billion, had the perverse effect of stimulating demand while doing nothing to address supply.

Wealth is accumulated in the hands of property and land owners but our local tax system is based on outdated property values rather than wealth and therefore entrenches inequality.

There are few more crucial issues and few of such importance which have been neglected by successive governments.

We are our on 16th Housing Minister in 18 years.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/you-want-build-better-society-17997349

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Business Rates, DCC, Inequality, NHS (local)

NHS: Councils vow to fight £2.35bn business-rates court challenge

“The Local Government Association (LGA) will support 45 councils defending a challenge to business rates levied on NHS hospital properties that could see £2.35bn clawed back and set a significant precedent.

Consultants advising a group of 17 NHS trusts challenging the business rates on their properties said this week that a High Court trial has now been set for a test case in which Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the others will seek 80% relief on its rates bill.

The move aims to gain the same charitable-status rates relief enjoyed by many private healthcare operators and, according to property firm Altus Group, would see the affected trusts get mandatory relief on their business rates backdated to April 2010 – costing town halls and the government around £2.35bn.

Data released by Altus ranked the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, as the biggest single source of business rates payments to any council affected by the challenge.

It said the hospital would pay £9.16m in business rates in the current financial year to Tower Hamlets Council in London.

Altus said the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham and Bristol’s Southmead Hospital will pay £7.15m and £5.99m respectively to their local collecting authorities.

NHS Trusts – and other organisations – have the right to challenge their business rate assessments if they believe they are not fair and correct.

However, formal advice pre-dating the 2017 revaluation suggested trusts are not entitled to relief under Section 47 of the Local government Finance Act 1988 as they were not considered charitable organisations but public-sector funded organisations with boards of directors and rather than trustees.

The LGA, which is the lobby group that represents the vast majority of English councils, said it would back town halls involved in the November challenge on that basis.

“The LGA is supporting member councils who have received applications for mandatory relief from business rates on behalf of a number of NHS trusts and are working with them,” it said.

“We have sought legal advice from counsel.

“We believe that NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts are not charities, and that the applications for rate relief are therefore unfounded.”

Altus Group said around one in four private hospitals are registered as charities – and benefit from the 80% mandatory business rates relief.

It said Nuffield Health, is the UK’s third largest charity by income.

Altus head of UK business rates Robert Hayton said many people would consider it “iniquitous” that NHS hospitals were treated like businesses and called on the government to end the dispute before the Derby-led case came to trial.

“If the case was successful it risks setting a precedent for other deserving public services with the significant loss in revenue which goes to fund essential public services having to shift to businesses at the next revenue neutral revaluation in 2021 at a time when the tax burden is already far too high,” he said.

The court case is scheduled for trial at the Royal Courts of Justice in the week commencing 4 November.”

Councils vow to fight £2.35bn business-rates court challenge

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“More cuts to bus services would leave MILLIONS unable to travel to school or work”

“Millions would find it difficult getting to hospital, school, work or shops without bus services, research shows.

As cuts continue to result in routes being axed across the country, 83% of people think it would be hard to get to shops and town centres if bus services were not available.

Around 75% said the same about work, and hospitals or GP surgeries.

David Brown, chief executive of bus operator Go-Ahead which was behind the survey, said: “Without buses, it would be a tiresome daily struggle for many people simply to get to work or school.

“It’s essential the nation puts in place a meaningful strategy to ensure services can prosper.

“A single bus can take as many as 75 cars off the road, with obvious benefits in terms of relieving congestion and pollution. It’s time for politicians to sit up and take notice.

Buses need to be given greater priority in road design if we want to achieve the Government’s broader policy goals in improving air quality, combating loneliness and regenerating local communities.”

The poll of 2,000 people revealed 63% think schools would be hard to get to without a bus.

The research also showed the role of buses is underestimated.

Over half of those quizzed believe less than 40% of public transport journeys are by bus – in fact it is about 67%.

A cross-party group of 23 MPs last week backed calls for a National Bus Strategy, a key demand of the Campaign for Better Transport.”

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/more-cuts-bus-services-would-17535584

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Millionaire slum landlords … Times (harrowing) special investigation … disgusting flats as small as parking spaces for £800+ per month

The Times today is doing a heart-rending expose of modern slums, slum landlords and the links between these landlirds and donations to the Tory party.

There is a heart-breaking story of one such young mother living with her sick and asthmatic 6 year-old young son in the most appalling conditions in a flat in Croydon – placed there by Waltham Forest council, which is 20 miles away. They pay £800 per month for her to exist there – one cannot say “live”. Conditions worthy of the very worst Victorian slums.

In a second article, the newspaper looks further into the types of properties and their landlords and the loopholes that allow them to benefit from these apalling places. They find:

“The developers have exploited a change in planning rules to convert offices into hundreds of flats without any minimum size requirements, prompting claims from experts that they are building “some of the worst homes in Britain” and the “slums of the future”.

Flats costing £800 a month are as small as 14 square meters (150 sq ft), barely bigger than the size of a typical parking space.

Families are living on industrial estates and alongside busy roads, with some residents claiming that mould, noise and anti-social behaviour inside the buildings are damaging their health.”

They then go on to turn the spotlight on three such landlords:

“ Caridon, a property group founded by Mario Carrozzo, receives at least £8 million in housing benefit payments to house hundreds of tenants in flats as small as one-third of the minimum size which would be required under the planning regime;

Joel Weider, the owner of a double glazing company, has converted office space in Leicester, Aylesbury and south London, including flats branded a “hell-hole” by an MP;

A third developer, Anwar Ansari, a former eye surgeon, rents small studio, one and two-bed flats to tenants, including a former office block which has been cited for fire safety breaches.

A change in permitted development rights introduced in 2013 means that developers do not have to adhere to normal planning standards when converting offices into residential housing.”

A further article goes on to look at how much money these “developers” are raking in:

“Caridon

Mario Carrozzo’s sprawling Surrey mansion was once owned by a Premier League footballer and boasts a tennis court, indoor swimming pool and cinema. The £6 million home has three sitting rooms, a gym, spa and games room with bar. It is a far cry from the tiny flats his property empire is built on.

Caridon Group flats are among the smallest in the country, with some measuring 14 square metres (150sq ft). Three of these flats would fit into Mr Carrozzo’s cinema room.

The conversions include Token House in Croydon, where the smallest flats are 15sq m (160sq ft). In one, a sofa and bed fill the flat. The rent is almost £800 a month. “I can open my fridge and make a cup of tea or answer the door while I’m still lying in my bed,” one tenant said. …

Joel Weider

Located in a south London industrial estate with lorries passing near by, a former office building has become home to dozens of people including families. Many of those living in Connect House’s 86 flats, some of which are only 14sq m (150sq ft), have belongings piled up in suitcases and boxes because of a lack of space. Residents have reported breathing problems and rashes which they claim have been caused by damp and mould. The smell of cannabis fills the corridors. A bag with traces of a white powder lies discarded.

The developer behind it is Joel Weider, the owner of a double glazing company who bought the property for £3.1 million in 2015. …

AA Homes

AA Homes and Housing is owned by a Labour donor, Anwar Ansari, 59, and has property holdings worth more than £170 million. Dr Ansari trained in London as an eye surgeon but is now a full-time developer.

AA Homes and Housing is behind at least five big office-to-residential conversions and rents mainly to private tenants. The flats are generally larger than those created by Caridon and Mr Weider but are often still below space guidelines set out by the government.

The company owns a five-storey former NatWest office building in Croydon. A previous owner had sought permission to convert it into 34 flats but Dr Ansari squeezed in an extra 20. In 2017, the fire service issued an enforcement notice over safety concerns including a locked fire escape, poor ventilation and defective fire doors. The company was also fined £20,000 for failing to secure a landlord licence for 36 of the building’s privately rented flats. It is contesting all of these findings.

Dr Ansari and his wife Hina live in a sprawling estate near Caterham, Surrey. …”

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“Some English schools ‘can’t afford to teach five days a week’ “

“More than 200 schools in England are cutting short the school week, or are actively consulting on it, because they cannot afford to educate their pupils for a full five days, according to campaigners.

The figure was revealed on the eve of a demonstration in Westminster by parents and pupils protesting about a crisis in education funding, which means a growing number of children are being sent home at lunchtime every Friday so schools can save money.

Organised by Labour MP Jess Phillips, whose son’s Birmingham primary is among those affected, the march on Friday afternoon will be attended by protesters from Birmingham, Brighton, Hove, Hitchin, Wiltshire, Stockport, Hastings and Leicester.

To drive home the point, the Birmingham Yardley MP will deposit her 10-year-old son Danny and his best friend Morris on the front step of 10 Downing Street, where they will do their schoolwork, as a reminder of the government’s responsibility to care for and educate the nation’s children on a Friday afternoon.

“The whole thing is quite exciting for him,” said Phillips. “He wants to stick up for his school. It’s a brilliant school.”

According to Phillips, 26 schools in Birmingham including her son’s, Kings Heath primary, are either already on a four and a half-day week or are about to introduce it. Not only are pupils losing out on vital hours in school, parents are left scrambling to rearrange work or find childcare and school staff are losing jobs or pay.

“This is not just a Birmingham issue, which is what the government wants to paint it as,” she said. “It’s a problem in Stockport, Oxford, Cambridgeshire, Berkshire – there was one in Theresa May’s [Maidenhead] constituency – Bournemouth, London, Leicester, Sandwell.

“[The education system] is crumbling and nobody cares. The Department for Education just repeatedly wants to blame headteachers, as if the headteacher at my son’s school does not know how to manage money.”

Phillips said it was the responsibility of the government to make sure that every child is in school five days a week. “There are certain fundamentals in public sector services. Our children get free education five days a week. If you break your leg you can have a cast put on it. There are these fundamental principles that we expect from the state. Currently the state cannot deliver it.”

The campaign group Save our Schools (SOS) says children on four and a half-day weeks will lose 20 days of education over the course of a school year. They also point out the “hypocrisy” of government policies which leave schools with little choice but to close early, when parents face heavy fines for taking their child out of school for unauthorised absences.

“Every day, children are taught in crumbling buildings; subjects such as art and music are disappearing from the curriculum; pupils with special education needs are losing vital support and dedicated teaching staff are losing their jobs,” said SOS campaigner Kate Taylor.

“Now schools are being forced to reduce the length of the school week. Parents, teachers and pupils are living with the effects of a government that is not interested in investing in their education.

“If we were to remove our children for one Friday afternoon, let alone every Friday afternoon, we would be committing a criminal offence. It’s quite simple: we want our children to be in school receiving the education they deserve.”

Asked for comment on the protest, the DfE said flexibility over the length of the school week is not new and that schools have long had the choice to structure the school week as they choose. The department also pointed out that Birmingham’s funding was above average and should cover a full week of schooling for each child.

A spokesperson said: “The funding for an average primary class of 28 in Birmingham is £125,000 – above the national average of £115,000 for an equivalent-sized class. These amounts are to cover a full five-day week in term time.”

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/jul/04/figures-reveal-english-schools-cant-afford-to-teach-five-days-a-week?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

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“More than 100 [East Devon] families faced homelessness in just three months”

“Following the introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act in 2017, councils in England must provide support to eligible homeless households, as well as those at risk of becoming homeless within 56 days.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government data shows there were 109 households which needed support after applying for help from East Devon District Council between October and December, including 30 families with children.

Of these, 85 were at risk of homelessness, meaning the council had to work with them to prevent them losing their home.

The remaining 24 were already homeless and the council was tasked with helping them to secure accommodation for a period of at least six months.

The households owed support by EDDC included:

– 79 contained a person with at least one high need – 25 people had an illness or physical disability, 39 had a mental health condition, two a learning disability and two were elderly.

– 23 were headed by a single mother and three by a single father.

– 12 were at risk of homelessness because of so-called no-fault evictions, after their landlord issued them with a soon-to-be banned Section 21 notice.

– 12 lost their last home because of domestic abuse.

– One was sleeping rough at the time they applied for help from the council.

– 31 were headed by a person aged 35 to 44 – the most common age group.

Housing charity Shelter has warned that councils are struggling to cope with the volume of people needing support amid a national ‘housing emergency’.

One in five homeless or at risk households in East Devon lost their last secure home because their assured shorthold tenancy – the most common type of private rental contract – ended.

There were also six households made homeless because their social tenancy came to an end while one came from supported housing, which could include refugees or housing for elderly or disabled people.

Of the social tenants, five lost their homes because they were behind on their rent.

An East Devon District Council spokesman said: “East Devon have seen a rise in homelessness, including numbers of rough sleepers and households requiring temporary accommodation, in line with the national picture.

“This increase has been intensified by the lack of availability of suitable accommodation options available to people due to factors including reductions in funding of supported accommodation projects, austerity measures and rises in the rent levels in the private sector leading to affordability issues. These factors all contribute towards added pressure on social housing which is already in short supply whilst facing high levels of demand.

“In order to meet this rise in demand, and to address the additional responsibilities brought in through the Homelessness Reduction Act, changes have been made to the service with the responsibility of assisting people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness. …”

https://www.midweekherald.co.uk/news/more-than-100-east-devon-families-faced-homelessness-during-the-three-months-before-christmas-2018-1-6140982

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“Boris Johnson says food banks are ‘fantastic’ and he help set up loads in London”

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnson-says-food-banks-17271784

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The “gig” economy and “high employment” figures

…”Workers’ rights have failed to keep pace with the dismantling of the nine-to-five working week as Britain’s gig economy has more than doubled in size over three years to account for 4.7 million workers, the TUC has warned, in a study conducted with the University of Hertfordshire. “Huge numbers are being forced to take on casual and insecure platform work – often on top of other jobs,” said Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress. “But as we’ve seen with Uber too often these workers are denied their rights and are treated like disposable labour.”

Overall employment in the UK has reached a record 32.75 million following a boom in job creation since the 2008 financial crisis. But economists believe employment is also increasingly precarious, putting pressure on living standards. Poverty while in work has increased, alongside the use of food banks, and average wages after inflation remain below the level recorded before the 2008 crash. The government promised to boost workers’ rights after a landmark review of the gig economy but Brexit has left that process stalled, and unions and Labour say the measures do not go far enough. …

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/28/friday-briefing-gig-economy-making-jobs-ever-more-tenuous?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

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“A million pensioners in poverty because of unclaimed benefits”

These are not benefits – they are entitlements.

“More than a million pensioner households across the UK are living in poverty because of the government’s failure to act on unpaid pension credit, according to the older people’s charity Independent Age.

Almost 2 million people aged 65 and over are living in poverty in the UK. Pension credit is the income-related benefit specifically designed to lift them out of poverty. But it is estimated that four in 10 pensioner households who are entitled to the help do not receive it.

Since the 2017 general election, the government has “benefited” from £7bn in unclaimed pension credit, the charity said. This figure will increase to more than £17bn by 2022.

“The recent decision to limit the TV licence to only those who receive pension credit adds insult to injury to over a million pensioners who between them, due to government inaction, are missing out on a staggering £10m every day that should be in their pockets,” said George McNamara, the charity’s director of policy and influencing. …

Pensioners entitled to the benefit are missing out on an average of £49 a week, just under the average amount that the poorest fifth of pensioner couples spend on food and non-alcoholic drinks in a week. It can, said McNamara, make the difference between being isolated at home or being able to take part in social activities. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jun/26/a-million-pensioners-in-poverty-because-of-unclaimed-benefits?

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Rural broadband still a dream for many – and will remain one

Shelve that dream of running an internet-based company in many parts of rural East Devon.

“The company awarded the publicly-subsidised contract to deliver superfast broadband to thousands of rural homes in Devon and Somerset has been given a deadline to come up with a rescue plan for the programme.

Last September, Gigaclear admitted the project was facing significant delays and was two years behind schedule.

Connecting Devon and Somerset, the organisation in charge of the whole project, stopped paying Gigaclear nine months ago.

It has told the firm it must come up with acceptable plans by the end of July to fulfill the contract.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-devon-48664146

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“Britons between 18 and 29 have less left over after housing costs than older generations had at same age”

“In an inaugural national audit of intergenerational spending power, which is likely to reignite tensions between young and old, the Resolution Foundation thinktank concludes that today’s 18- to 29-year-olds are also spending less on shoes and clothes, hobbies and travel in real terms than those at the same age in 2001 as housing costs have soared. Compared with people the same age at the turn of the millennium they are 7% poorer in real terms, after paying rent, or if they can afford it, mortgage dues.

Meanwhile, in a story that will be familiar to the rising millions of twentysomethings who can’t afford to move out from their parents home, baby boomers have cranked up their spending on fun, laying out more on recreation, restaurants, hotels and culture, as people aged 65 and over have enjoyed a steep 37% rise in spending power compared with the same generation in 2001.

The audit is published by the Resolution Foundation’s new Intergenerational Centre, which is led by the former science minister David Willetts, and it said the findings debunked “the idea that young people are devoting growing pots [of money] to eating in restaurants and cafés (be that those that serve avocado on toast or others) or flying abroad”.

The proportion the young spent on fuel and groceries was up two percentage points while their spending on recreation and culture was down two points, the share spend on restaurants and hotels was down one point and clothing and shoes down two points. The 65s and over spent three percentage points less on groceries, two percentage points more on restaurants and hotels and three percentage points more on recreation and culture.

“The clear picture in terms of day-to-day living standards as measured through household consumption is of generational progress for older generations, and generational decline for younger ones,” the report said.

A spokesman for Generation Rent, which represents young people who have been priced out of homeownership, said in response to the report that “resentment is growing” and the founder of the Intergenerational Foundation, which promotes the interests of younger generations, accused older people of “breaking the social contract”.

Far from wasting potential housing deposits on fripperies, as suggested in 2017 by one millionaire property developer, millennials have been obliged to allocate a greater proportion of any money left over after housing costs to groceries, utilities and education. In 2018 they spent £380 a week on non-housing items on average – 7% less in real terms than they would have done at the turn of the century, analysis of official figures showed. At the same time the spending of people aged 50-64 rose 11% to £460, and pensioner spending rose to £390 a week.

The audit also assesses sharp increases in housing costs, cuts to in-work benefits, stagnant pay since the financial 2008 financial crisis and widening gaps in absolute wealth between young and old as key factors in one of the biggest social changes of this era.

Half a million more twentysomethings are living at home than would have been the case if the pre-crisis trend had not been disrupted, the report found. In 2007, half of 21- to 24-year-olds lived with their parents but by 2018 this had risen to 60%. The increase for those in their late twenties was even greater, up a third from 24% to 32%. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2019/jun/20/young-adults-have-less-to-spend-on-non-essentials-study-says?

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“Weak pay rises and dearer housing fuel jump in working poor, says IFS”

“Britain has seen a big jump in the working poor since the 1990s, with almost three out of five people below the official poverty line living in a household where at least one person is working.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies found that a drop in the number of workless households, better-off pensioners and higher rents had resulted in 8 million in poverty from working households.

The thinktank said that between 1994 and 2017 the share of poverty accounted for by working households had jumped from 37% to 58%.

The in-work poor were living in relative poverty because they were living on less than 60% of median income. The IFS said the less well-off had been financially hit by more expensive housing and by weak earnings growth, but were still better off than they would have been had they been unemployed. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jun/19/weak-pay-rises-and-dearer-housing-fuel-jump-in-working-poor-says-ifs?