Post by Admin on Oct 22, 2010 9:12:32 GMT 1
Source: France24 21.10.10
The key points from Britain's spending review
British Finance Minister George Osborne announced a raft of spending cuts Wednesday involving eye-watering sums of cash that would impact most UK government departments. FRANCE24 presents a guide to the key points at a glance.
British Finance Minister (Chancellor of the Exchequer) George Osborne’s spending review involves the harshest and most wide-ranging cuts to public spending in decades.
Osborne on Wednesday outlined where the axe would fall, with everyone from the poorest families to head of state Queen Elizabeth II herself feeling the pinch.
Overall, public spending is being slashed by a fifth, which is less that the 25% many had feared.
Osborne told the House of Commons his 81-billion-pound axe (over a period of four years) marked the day deficit-hit Britain “steps back from the brink”.
• Britain’s deficit stands at 154.7 billion pounds.
• There will be approximately 490,000 job cuts in the public sector, from a total of around six million employees. Many of these job cuts will come though natural wastage (as civil servants retire), but there will undoubtedly be many redundancies.
• For the remaining public sector workers, their pension contributions will be increased by 3.5 billion pounds.
• The welfare bill (around 200 billion pounds) will be cut by seven billion pounds. Much of this will come from a broad reassessment of those people receiving sickness benefit in the UK (ie, those that are unable work due to ill health).
• Child benefit, which is given to all families at a flat rate, will be stopped for higher earners.
• The age at which people can receive a state pension (not linked to earnings) will go up to 66 for everyone by 2020. At the moment, women become eligible for the state pension at 60 and men at 65.
• Central government funding for local authorities will be cut by 7%. These town and county councils are funded by a mix of government cash and local council tax.
• Queen Elizabeth II will also feel the pinch. Grants to the Royal family under the so-called "civil list" will be frozen at 30 million pounds until 2013, calling for a 14% reduction in royal spending. After 2013, the civil list will be changed to a single new Sovereign Support Grant.
• The BBC World Service funding will become the responsibility of the BBC itself. It is currently funded by the Foreign Office. This and other measures will see the BBC’s real-term budgets slashed by 14%. The BBC is funded by an annual 145 pound television licence paid by all households that own a TV. The licence fee will be frozen for six years.
• School funding and the National Health Service, which offers free healthcare to all Britons, will not be cut.
The key points from Britain's spending review
British Finance Minister George Osborne announced a raft of spending cuts Wednesday involving eye-watering sums of cash that would impact most UK government departments. FRANCE24 presents a guide to the key points at a glance.
British Finance Minister (Chancellor of the Exchequer) George Osborne’s spending review involves the harshest and most wide-ranging cuts to public spending in decades.
Osborne on Wednesday outlined where the axe would fall, with everyone from the poorest families to head of state Queen Elizabeth II herself feeling the pinch.
Overall, public spending is being slashed by a fifth, which is less that the 25% many had feared.
Osborne told the House of Commons his 81-billion-pound axe (over a period of four years) marked the day deficit-hit Britain “steps back from the brink”.
• Britain’s deficit stands at 154.7 billion pounds.
• There will be approximately 490,000 job cuts in the public sector, from a total of around six million employees. Many of these job cuts will come though natural wastage (as civil servants retire), but there will undoubtedly be many redundancies.
• For the remaining public sector workers, their pension contributions will be increased by 3.5 billion pounds.
• The welfare bill (around 200 billion pounds) will be cut by seven billion pounds. Much of this will come from a broad reassessment of those people receiving sickness benefit in the UK (ie, those that are unable work due to ill health).
• Child benefit, which is given to all families at a flat rate, will be stopped for higher earners.
• The age at which people can receive a state pension (not linked to earnings) will go up to 66 for everyone by 2020. At the moment, women become eligible for the state pension at 60 and men at 65.
• Central government funding for local authorities will be cut by 7%. These town and county councils are funded by a mix of government cash and local council tax.
• Queen Elizabeth II will also feel the pinch. Grants to the Royal family under the so-called "civil list" will be frozen at 30 million pounds until 2013, calling for a 14% reduction in royal spending. After 2013, the civil list will be changed to a single new Sovereign Support Grant.
• The BBC World Service funding will become the responsibility of the BBC itself. It is currently funded by the Foreign Office. This and other measures will see the BBC’s real-term budgets slashed by 14%. The BBC is funded by an annual 145 pound television licence paid by all households that own a TV. The licence fee will be frozen for six years.
• School funding and the National Health Service, which offers free healthcare to all Britons, will not be cut.
and I only learned from an online check thingy a year or so back that I no longer got my pension at 60 but at 66!!! Anyone born after 1960 is stuffed. My husband only has to wait from the original 65 to now 66 cos he was born in 59 yet I've got 6 whole years cos I'm a mere whippersnapper and a woman. 
