“… It is the bruising combination of low pay, insecure hours, rising housing costs and cuts to benefits that has driven in-work poverty to its highest point in 20 years.
Innes says: “The labour market is trapping people in poverty, when it should be offering people a route out. It is very demoralising for people who are doing what society expects of them, going out to work to meet the essentials but still unable to do that.”…
“… Figures show one in ten cash machines – or ATMS – have disappeared from East Devon’s high streets in the last two years, amid warnings the UK’s cash system is ‘falling apart’.
At the end of 2017, there were around 230 ATMs – according to data from the cash machine network Link – this has now fallen to 208, as of February this year.
The number of free-to-use cash points has also gone down from 179 in 2017 to 171 two years later.
An independent review published in March found that around eight million adults – 17 per cent of the population – were still reliant on cash and would struggle to cope in an entirely digital economy.
These included people in rural communities, those on a low income who may struggle to budget without cash, and older people or people with disabilities who rely on cash for their independence.
Natalie Ceeney, chair of the Access to Cash Review, said: “There are worrying signs that our cash system is falling apart.
“ATM and bank branch closures are just the tip of the iceberg – underneath there is a huge infrastructure which is becoming increasingly unviable as cash use declines.
“We need to guarantee people’s right to access cash, and ensure that they can still spend it.”
A recent report by consumer watchdog Which? found almost 1,700 previously-free cash machines had begun charging users between January and March of this year. …”
https://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/east-devon-atms-disappeating-figures-show-1-6047802
“Inequalities in pay and opportunities in the UK are becoming so extreme they are threatening democracy, an Institute for Fiscal Studies study has said.
The think tank warns of runaway incomes for high earners but rises in “deaths of despair”, such as from addiction and suicide, among the poorest.
It warns of risks to “centre-ground” politics from stagnating pay and divides in health and education.
The report
https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/13075
says such widening gaps are “making a mockery of democracy”.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), one of the country’s leading research institutes, is launching what it says is the UK’s biggest analysis of inequality.
That will be chaired by Nobel Prize-winning economist Prof Sir Angus Deaton. …
It suggests pay inequality in the UK is high by international standards – with the share of household income going to the richest 1% having tripled in the past three decades.
The middle classes are also under pressure, particularly younger generations, with stagnant pay and unaffordable house prices.
The long-term decline in trade union membership is identified as another factor in wages not increasing. …
Richest increasing their earnings
As well as inequality in income, the think tank highlights divergence in health.
It says there is almost a 10-year gap in male life expectancy between the richest and poorest areas – and the IFS warns of “deaths of despair”, with a rise in early deaths from drug and alcohol abuse and suicide being linked to factors such as poverty, social isolation and mental health problems.
Patterns of relationship are also affected by inequality, the study suggests.
Over recent decades, wealthier people have become more likely to be living in a couple, either married or co-habiting, the IFS says. …”
“Flagship welfare reforms will trigger a big increase in families unable to make ends meet, new analysis reveals.
The number of children living in families that have a monthly deficit will double in some areas, because of the combined impact of universal credit, a two-child limit on some welfare payments and the benefits cap.
The research, produced for the children’s commissioner, found that a quarter of children in its sample would be hit by the measures. Almost half of low-income households examined were affected, losing on average £3,441 a year.
Charities and researchers are already warning of rising child poverty. Amber Rudd, the work and pensions secretary, has been attempting to soften the government’s reforms, putting more money into universal credit, limiting the two-child policy and sanctioning fewer claimants. …”
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/12/welfare-children-poverty-low-income-families
“An emergency food bank has been set up in the Whitehall offices of a government department after cleaners and other support staff became the victims of a payroll blunder by one of Britain’s biggest outsourcing companies.
An email was sent to workers at Greg Clark’s business, energy and industrial strategy department on Thursday asking them to donate food at four drop-off points set up in the ministry.
The email, seen by The Sunday Times, said the request followed problems with the department’s new facility services contractor, ISS World.
The problems meant that “every single payday since they took over the contract on March 1, our staff have not been paid, paid incorrect amounts, unexplained deductions, etc.
“This has resulted in cleaners unable to travel to work as they have no money for bus fares, a member unable to give their wife transport money to take their sick son to the GP, forcing her to walk for 1.5 hours and others facing eviction proceedings. The situation has become unbearable for them.”
The email, which was written by a trade union official, added: “We have called for crisis talks with [department] senior management, after repeated assurances have been reneged on . . . Please donate whatever you can urgently.”
Reacting to the appearance of a food bank at the department, Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, said: “It is absolutely shocking that our members are being forced to use food banks because of ISS’s mismanagement of the contract. This underlines why all contracted-out services in . . . government departments must be brought back in-house as a matter of urgency.”
The department said last night it was in “daily contact” with ISS, and promised that “any additional costs incurred by staff due to the error” would be reimbursed. It said it was contacting every contractor to “ensure any further errors not yet identified are resolved within the same day”.
ISS World did not respond to requests for comment.
Source: Sunday Times, paywall
“The headmaster of a leading private school has compared the rise in Oxbridge admissions among state-educated pupils to the policies of Hitler’s Nazi Germany.
Anthony Wallersteiner, head of Stowe School in Buckinghamshire, told The Times that parents of his students are complaining about “social engineering” edging their children out of places at Oxford and Cambridge.
He said: “There’s a much more concerted effort by [Oxbridge] admissions tutors to drive down the number of places given to independent schools and redress the balance and to put in context. …
… Last year a report found 42 percent of places at Oxford and Cambridge go to independent school students, even though just 7% of the general population attend a private school. …”
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/private-schools-nazis-hitler_uk_5cd683e9e4b054da4e89ba72
“Rural communities have been “ignored” and had “inappropriate” policies forced upon them, a report says.
A group of peers said a new agenda for the countryside was needed similar to the government’s industrial strategy.
Priorities included improving mobile and broadband connections, replacing lost bank and bus services and tackling social isolation, the House of Lords Rural Economy Committee said.
The government said it was committed to “rural proofing” policies.
Ministers plan to spend £3.5bn on supporting economic development in the countryside by the end of 2020 through the Rural Development Programme.
The cross-party committee of peers said policies suitable for urban and suburban areas had too often been foisted upon the countryside.
As well as improving communications, it is calling for action to address the supply and cost of housing and a lack of training for people working in rural industries.
“Successive governments have underrated the contribution rural economies can make to the nation’s prosperity and wellbeing,” it said.
“They have applied policies which are often inappropriate for rural England. This must change. With rural England at a point of major transition, a different approach is needed.”
Lord Foster, the Lib Dem peer and former MP who chairs the committee, said the “clear inequalities” between urban and rural areas could not be allowed to continue.
He called for a policy blueprint of equal ambition to the government’s industrial strategy to realise the potential of struggling and under-performing areas. …
… Only 41% of rural premises received a mobile data link of 2Mbps or higher, it found, compared with 83% in urban areas. …”
“Pensioner ‘perks’ such as free bus passes, TV licences and inflation-busting pensions should be scrapped and more money spent on young people instead, a new parliamentary report has urged.
The House of Lords Committee on Intergenerational Fairness called for stronger worker rights for those in the ‘gig’ economy and new policies to create more affordable homes for sale and for rent.
Age impacts of all government policies, including a regular assessment in the Budget, should also be introduced in a bid to end the growing gaps in income between the young and old, the peers said.
The committee – whose members have an average age of 66 – warned that “mutual support and affection” between the generations had been “undermined” by years of unfairness on basic tax and benefits and housing and other public services.
Among the key recommendations in its report are:
ending the ‘triple lock’ on pensions, phasing out free TV licences based on age and restricting winter fuel payments and free bus passes to only five years after retirement age.
wealthier pensioners who keep on working past 65 should pay national insurance, ending the tax-free perk they currently receive.
a massive increase in affordable housing, as well as a radical new system of rent regulation
a default assumption of employment status of ‘worker’ to protect young people from exploitation in the ‘gig’ economy
a substantial increase in vocational and further education spending, plus Intergenerational Impact Assessments for all draft legislation
Committee chairman Lord True said that young and older people have strong bonds because they recognise the contribution the other makes and the challenges they face.
“However, there is a risk that those connections could be undermined if the government does not get a grip on key issues such as access to housing, secure employment and fairness in tax and benefits.
“We are calling for some of the outdated benefits based purely on age to be removed. Policies such as the state pension triple lock and free TV licences for over-75s were justified when pensioner households were at the bottom of the income scale but that is no longer the case.
“Young people told us they feel short changed by the housing market, so we are recommending policies to deliver a significant increase in the supply of social and private housing and recommend protections to give renters long term security be backed a new regulatory framework.”
Frank Field, who chairs the Commons work and pensions committee, said: “The committee has hit the bull’s eye. The injustices in both the housing and labour markets have served to torpedo younger people’s living standards in recent years.
“Will the government now seize this report and use it to forge a new contract with younger people?”
The Association of Colleges said: “The cuts to the education system have had big implications over the last decade. Many young people are leaving education without the qualifications needed to get on in life. Some of the ones who are gaining degree qualifications are often finding themselves in low-skilled jobs.”
But Anna Dixon, of the Centre for Better Ageing, said: “Headline grabbing proposals like abolishing free TV licenses based on age risk distracting from the big structural changes needed across housing, work and communities.”
“Housebuilder Persimmon is braced for a fresh revolt over its controversial bonuses after shareholder advisers urged investors to vote against the company’s ‘highly excessive’ pay.
Advisory group PIRC has instructed investors to oppose the pay report for a second year running at the annual meeting early next month.
Last year, the FTSE 100 company narrowly escaped defeat over its bonus scheme for top bosses, but still suffered a major rebellion.
The scheme included a bonus worth more than £100million for former boss Jeff Fairburn that was trimmed to around £75million after a public backlash. The bonus pot was boosted by the taxpayer-funded Help to Buy scheme.
Persimmon, led by new chairman Roger Devlin, has attempted to draw a line under the scandal by trimming the overall payouts, ousting Fairburn, ensuring that all staff are paid more than the living wage, and making steps towards improving the quality of its homes.
Two other advisory firms Glass Lewis and ISS have both backed changes made by Devlin.
A Persimmon spokesman said the company understood ‘the need for pay restraint and spent 2018 working to ensure Persimmon’s future remuneration is clearly aligned with best practice’.”
“Half of England is owned by less than 1% of its population, according to new data shared with the Guardian which seeks to penetrate the secrecy that has traditionally surrounded land ownership.
The findings, described as “astonishingly unequal”, suggest that about 25,000 landowners – typically members of the aristocracy and corporations – have control of half of the country.
The figures show that if the land were distributed evenly across the entire population, each person would have almost an acre – an area roughly the size of Parliament Square in central London.
Major owners include the Duke of Buccleuch, the Queen, several large grouse moor estates, and the entrepreneur James Dyson.
While land has long been concentrated in the hands of a small number of owners, precise information about property ownership has been notoriously hard to access. But a combination of the development of digital maps and data as well as pressure from campaigners has made it possible to assemble the shocking statistics.
Jon Trickett, Labour MP and shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, hailed the significance of the findings and called for a full debate on the issue, adding: “The dramatic concentration of land ownership is an inescapable reminder that ours is a country for the few and not the many.”
“It’s simply not right that aristocrats, whose families have owned the same areas of land for centuries, and large corporations exercise more influence over local neighbourhoods – in both urban and rural areas – than the people who live there.”
“Land is a source of wealth, it impacts on house prices, it is a source of food and it can provide enjoyment for millions of people.”
Guy Shrubsole, author of the book in which the figures are revealed, Who Owns England?, argues that the findings show a picture that has not changed for centuries.
“Most people remain unaware of quite how much land is owned by so few,” he writes, adding: “A few thousand dukes, baronets and country squires own far more land than all of middle England put together.”
“Land ownership in England is astonishingly unequal, heavily concentrated in the hands of a tiny elite.” …”
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/apr/17/who-owns-england-thousand-secret-landowners-author
“A single mum with breast cancer was left with just 84 pence after a Universal Credit nightmare.
Teacher Gillian Sykes found out she had cancer in January and is preparing to have a double mastectomy operation in the summer, Liverpool Echo reports.
She has had to quit work as a supply teacher but says she has been left to ‘fight for survival’ with the Department of Work and Pensions.
Gillian explained how she has been turned down for support and was even made to take bank statements into the job centre just two days after her first draining bout of chemotherapy.
She said she also had money taken away because of the DWP made mistakes over dates – and was eventually left with just 84p to live on, forcing her to rely on hand-outs from family and friends.
Gillian was also told she needed to be looking for work – which the DWP later said was just an ‘automated response.’
The 45-year-old, who lives in Ashton-in-Makerfield with her two teenage children, spoke about the devastating moment she discovered she had cancer.
She said: “I found the lump myself on the 28th December when I was going to bed – and I cried myself to sleep.
“We’ve got a family history of it – its the 20th anniversary of my mum’s death this year.
“I was in an absolute panic and got an appointment shortly after – then two weeks later I was sent to see an oncologist who confirmed what I already knew, that it wasn’t a cyst, it was a solid mass.
“A week later I got given the news and things progressed quite quickly from there. I’ve now had three rounds of chemotherapy. My hair is coming out in handfuls daily.”
“This summer I will be having as double mastectomy – which is not nice.”
Gillian began a lengthy, draining battle with the Department of Work and Pensions to get the benefits she needed to help her through an incredibly difficult time.
After her cancer diagnosis, Gillian said she was never told she qualified for Limited Capability for Work Related Activity – which is supposed to provide extra cash for those who are unable to work.
She was left battling with the department for weeks in a bid to get the extra support.
Gillian said: “To be going through that is enough, only to then to deal with this – after paying into a system as a teacher system that I desperately need help from.
“I’m having battles left, right and centre with Universal Credit – and issues with not being told what I can and can’t claim.
“I’ve had more support from Macmillan nurses than the government.”
“Two days after my first chemotherapy session, I was told I had to take my bank statements in to the job centre to prove that they had taken money from me that they shouldn’t have.
“I’ve had statutory sickpay penalised – I complained and complained. I spoke to a different person on the phone every time.
“I just feel like I’m fighting for survival with benefits, that I shouldn’t be fighting with right now. I’ve got enough stress.”
After spending weeks waiting to find out if she could get the vital extra LCWRA payments, Gillian decided to apply for what is known as a Universal Credit budgeting loan – used to help those who are struggling.
She said: “This particular month was really hard, I rang them to be told by someone that nothing was available to me because ‘all the buttons were greyed out – and we don’t know why.”
“Someone else told me nothing was available because I had earned at least £2,600 in the last six months – well of course I did, I’m a teacher, I was working full time with my agency up until Christmas – so I’ve been punished for actually going to work.
“What I do get from Universal Credit, I’m paying a mortgage, I’ve got two kids. I didn’t expect this to happen to me.
“I have suffered with depression for several years, which has been greatly under control and I have been able to work – and this is now what’s happening on a daily basis when I find out the next step, the next fight.”
After she spoke to the Liverpool Echo, the Department of Work and Pensions told her she did in fact qualify for the extra cash.
The following day she was told she would be backpaid hundreds of pounds that were owed to her, and an apology from the DWP followed.
A spokesman told the ECHO: “We have apologised to Gillian Sykes for the distress caused by this delay and are paying her full arrears.
“She has been placed in the long-term health condition group, meaning she receives a higher level of support and will not be required to seek work.
“We want to ensure that anyone with a health condition gets the support they need, which is why the Government is rolling out a recovery package to support people diagnosed with cancer and over 300,000 people will benefit every year by 2020.”
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mum-needing-double-mastectomy-left-14312002
“Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn this week chose local government funding as the central focus of Prime Ministers Questions, describing the Fair Funding Review as an Orwellian phrase.
Local government organisations have voiced concerns that poor areas of the country will lose out under government proposals to remove deprivation as a factor in calculating the foundation formula for grants to councils.
Speaking in the Commons on Wednesday, Corbyn said that the Fair Funding Review proposals are likely to make things worse for struggling local authorities.
He said: “Tory proposals on the new funding formula for councils will make poorer areas even poorer. “They are removing the word ‘deprivation’ from the funding criteria. “In a phrase that George Orwell would have been very proud of, they have called this the fairer funding formula.”
However, May hit back, saying: “No, that is not what we are doing. “What we are doing is ensuring that we have a fairer funding formula across local authorities. “We are also ensuring that we are making more money available for local authorities to spend.”
However, Corbyn pointed to concerns raised by local authority representatives over the removal of the deprivation factor. He said: “The Society of Local Authority Chief Executives has called the fairer funding formula decision ‘perverse’. “Even before this new formula kicks in, councils are losing out now.
“A Conservative council leader said earlier this year: ‘We are really, really short of money…I mean there is no money.’”
Publication of the review proposals sparked an angry response from urban councils, which said they would be hit by the removal of the current deprivation measure.
And in February, even the County Councils Network (CCN), whose members are set to benefit from the move, said: “Considering recent debate within the sector on deprivation we recognise that the government may wish to consider whether deprivation should be included…”
However, the CCN it said that this should only be done at a small weighting, if its inclusion was supported by evidence, and did not compromise the review’s principles of simplifying the system.
Paul Carter, chairman of the CCN, said: “…if we are to see this review through – and if we are to grasp this opportunity – compromise and pragmatism on all sides of the local government sector, will be necessary.” …”
“Middle-class families are seeing their incomes stagnating as they are squeezed by the ultra-rich taking a bigger slice, says an international report from the OECD economics think tank.
The report says the middle classes are being “hollowed out”, with declining chances of rising prosperity and growing fears of job insecurity.
The OECD says there will be political consequences for Western countries.
It says middle classes have often been the “bedrock of democracy”.
Against a background of political populism and concerns about rising extremism, the report says that traditionally moderate middle-class families are feeling “left behind” and are increasingly likely to support “anti-establishment” movements.
‘Dismal growth’
It warns of a destabilising impact if this section of society – defined as earning between 75% and 200% of the average income – continues to feel that prosperity is slipping away.
In the UK, almost 60% of people live in households classified as being in this middle-income group. …
From an international perspective, the OECD shows a changing economic model, in which high earners have accelerated upwards, while those in the middle have seen “dismal income growth” or a falling back.
Across OECD countries, which include most of the big economies in Western Europe and North America, the 10% of highest earners have increased their income by a third more than middle earners
In the UK, more than a third of middle-income households “report having difficulty making ends meet”, says the OECD
In the United States over the past three decades, the top 1% of earners have increased their slice of total annual income from 11% to 20%
“Middle incomes are barely higher today than they were 10 years ago,” says the analysis.
Loss of trust
The report warns of social consequences if the middle classes lose trust in the system, beyond their own economic self-interest.
It says the middle classes have been important supporters of sectors such as education, health and housing and “good quality public services”. …
The widening gap of incomes has pushed more people to the extremes of rich and poor, so that millennials in their 20s are less likely to be in middle-income households than baby boomers in their 50s and 60s.
“A strong and prosperous middle class is important for the economy and society as a whole,” says the study.
But it says middle-class households feel a sense of “unfairness” and are “increasingly anxious about their economic situation”.
“Two million children in England have been sent to school in dirty, ill-fitting or incorrect uniform, a children’s charity has said.
A Mirror probe has uncovered a surge in cash-strapped families who rely on handouts from uniform banks for school kit, including basic essentials such as coats, shoes and even underwear.
Figures last month revealed 4.1 million children are in living in poverty and 70% of those are in working families.
An estimated 13% of UK children live in families who are getting into debt to pay for school kit, with 17% cutting back on basic essentials, including food, to dress children for school, according to Children’s Society research.
In response, dozens of uniform banks and exchanges have been set up across Britain.
Sam Royston, of the Children’s Society, said: “These community groups… are clearly in high demand, but it is distressing so many families are getting to this point in the first place.”
Kate France founded the Uniform Exchange, in Kirklees, West Yorks, which provides kit for pupils at 181 schools.
Requests have surged from 600 in 2017 to 800 last year.
This year they are on track to clothe 1,200 children.
Kate said: “We have seen a huge growth. I have also seen a rise in underwear requests from families who need socks, tights, pants and vests.
“I can’t believe that families haven’t got the basics – I find it really sad.”
Nicola Roderick, 25, of Holmfirth, who uses the Exchange, said: “Spending £20 for a jumper is hard when your disposable income is very little…”
A Government spokesperson said: “We’re helping parents to move into full-time work to give families the best opportunity to move out of poverty.
“Meanwhile we have made clear to schools that when setting uniform policies they should keep costs to a minimum and be mindful that they are affordable for everyone.”
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/demand-donated-uniforms-spikes-two-14249909
It has been said this was one reason why some people were anxious for an early hard Brexit – and one company mentioned is the Daily Mail!
“BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Britain will have to recover millions of euros from some multinationals after EU antitrust regulators ruled on Tuesday that an exemption in a UK tax scheme was illegal.
The European Commission’s decision, following a 16-month investigation, is part of an ongoing crackdown against multinationals benefiting from sweetheart tax deals offered by EU countries.
The EU investigation focussed on Britain’s Controlled Foreign Company (CFC) rules, which are aimed at attracting companies to set up headquarters in Britain and discourage UK companies moving offshore.
The EU competition regulator said an exemption in the scheme for interest income earned by offshore subsidiaries between 2013 and 2018 – which had been criticised by tax campaigners as a major loophole – flouted EU laws.
“The UK gave certain multinationals a selective advantage by granting them an unjustified exemption from UK anti–tax avoidance rules. This is illegal under EU State aid rules,” European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said.
The Commission said the exemption could be justified if interest payments received from loans did not result from British activities. However, if they were derived from UK activities, the exemption would not be justified.
The Commission did not say which multinationals are affected nor did it give an estimate for the amount Britain would recover, leaving it to UK tax authorities to reassess the tax liabilities.
BBA Aviation, Chemring, Daily Mail & General, Diageo, Euromoney, Inchcape, London Stock Exchange, Meggitt, Smith & Nephew and WPP are some of the companies which have mentioned the EU investigation in their accounts.
Vestager has already ordered Apple, Starbucks, Fiat Chrysler and several other multinationals to pay back taxes totalling billions of euros to various EU countries.”
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-subsidies-idUKKCN1RE0WB
“… In total, there are 35 tax, benefit and pension changes coming into effect on 6 April, plus the increase in the minimum wage from 1 April. The winners are those in higher income bands – up to £100,000 – who will gain significantly from the rise in tax thresholds, although some of that will be pegged back by NI rises.
The losers are those on very low incomes, who gain little from the increase in the personal allowance, and whose benefits will be frozen again. An ongoing work and pensions select committee inquiry suggested affected households will be between £888 and £1,845 worse off in real terms in the coming tax year as a result of the various caps and freezes since 2010-11. …”
“More generous tax relief means the government is providing more in-work cash support to Britain’s richest households than poor families are receiving, according to a left-leaning thinktank.
A study by the Fabian Society said nearly half the savings made in welfare payments in recent years had gone on increases in the tax-free personal allowance, rather than being used for deficit reduction.
The thinktank accused the government of increasing inequality by stealth and called for a five-year freeze on tax-free allowances to “rescue social security”.
The Fabian Society added that the first priority for any money saved from freezing tax allowances should probably be using it to make universal credit more generous, but said consideration should also be given to a basic income – a payment given unconditionally to all citizens.
Both the chancellor, Philip Hammond, and his predecessor, George Osborne, raised tax allowances while keeping a tight rein on benefits.
The result of this approach, according to the thinktank, is that on average, households in the fourth and fifth income quintiles (the top 40%) receive more in tax relief than households in the poorest fifth get in means-tested benefits.
The Fabian Society study showed the cost of tax allowances had increased by 43% from £95bn to £136bn from 2012-13 to 2017-18. Over the same period, social security payments to working-age adults and children fell from £95bn to £94bn. As a share of national income, tax allowances rose from 5.6% to 6.4%, while payments to working-age adults and children fell from 5.5% to 4.4%. …”
“The UK’s super-rich pay half the rate of inheritance tax paid by the merely very rich, according to an analysis of HMRC data that throws fresh focus on how billionaires’ advisers use a “kitbag” of tricks to reduce heirs’ tax bills.
Estates worth £10m or more paid an average of 10% tax to the exchequer in the 2015-16 tax year compared with an average 20% tax paid by estates worth £2m-£3m, according to data released by HMRC following a freedom of information request by asset manager Canada Life.
The law states that estates should pay 40% tax on assets above £325,000 – or above £450,000 if the family home is given to children or grandchildren. But Neil Jones, the market development manager at Canada Life, said the richest of the rich often did not pay anywhere near that rate because they had access to “a myriad of potential solutions in an adviser’s kitbag to help mitigate IHT [inheritance tax]”.
“This difference in the net tax rates paid by estate isn’t always down to the value of the estate or the different type of assets held in an estate,” Jones said. “It’s often about a willingness to plan.”
The heirs of the late sixth Duke of Westminster paid no inheritance tax on the bulk of his £8.3bn family fortune following his death in 2016. Probate records show that Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, who died aged 64 in August 2016, left a personal estate of £616,418,184 after payment of debts and liabilities.
The rest of his wealth had already been transferred to family trusts which largely passed on to his son Hugh, 28, without incurring inheritance tax. His son also inherited the title, becoming the seventh Duke of Westminster and the world’s 108th richest person with a £9.2bn fortune, according to estimates by Bloomberg Billionaires
The Resolution Foundation thinktank has been campaigning for a radical shakeup of the inheritance tax system to make it fairer for those inheriting smaller sums. Its research director, Laura Gardiner, said the findings showed that “inheritance tax is no longer fit for purpose”.
She said: “Inheritance tax has both a terrible record of raising revenue, despite record levels of wealth across Britain, while still being widely despised, even by people who are never likely to pay it. At the very minimum, there are billions of pounds of worth inheritance tax loopholes that need to be closed. But ultimately we should scrap inheritance tax altogether and replace it with a far fairer lifetime receipts tax [cumulative across a person’s life], which would be harder for the super-wealthy to avoid.”
Perhaps Swire and Parish have a view on this?
Austerity?
Poverty?
Inequality?
Universal credit?
Brexit?
Lack of suitable housing?
Education cuts?
All of the above?
All of the above and more?
https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/anti-depressant-use-higher-devon-2698261
“A record 2.9 million children from working families in the UK are living in poverty after housing costs have been paid, the latest figures show.
This means 70% of all poor children were in working families last year, up from 67% on the previous year, official statistics show.
The face of child poverty is also getting younger with 53% of poor children aged under five, data shows.
The government said that tackling poverty was its priority.
Analysis of the statistics, published by the Department for Work and Pensions, shows the high cost of housing in the UK is pushing more working families over the poverty line.
‘Hard working’
According to calculations by the National Housing Federation (NHF) , nearly a third more children – or 193,000 – are now living in such meagre circumstances because of spiralling rents and mortgage costs, compared with 2010.
The federation, which represents housing associations, points to a lack of social housing being built over the same period, as well as a lack of affordability of home ownership.
It is calling for the government to urgently invest more money in social housing.
NHF chief executive Kate Henderson said: “Year after year hundreds of thousands more hard-working families are falling into poverty – forced to choose between feeding and clothing their children, or providing a roof over their heads.
“We are now seeing the full effects of low pay, benefit cuts and the housing crisis. The lack of affordable homes is exacerbating in-work poverty.”
‘Avoidable’
Alison Garnham, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, said: “Despite high employment, today’s figures reveal that 70% of children living under the poverty line have at least one parent in work.
“That is not an economy that is working for everyone. …”
East Devon Watch 