Poverty is a choice made by the powerful

Take action now - end the cost of living scandal. Email your MP: https://action.unison.org.uk/page/128.... Every day working people are unable to keep the lights on in their own homes or feed their families. It’s the government’s choice. If they can afford to give tax breaks to the mega-rich, they can afford to pay workers fairly.

"Over-55s braced to work into their 70s as cost-of-living bites"

 A dreadful story. While some of us may want to think about working after retirement, nearly all of us would want to have the choice and not be forced to work until we drop. The answer is greater financial support by employers and government for pensions.

Check out this report in HR news https://hrnews.co.uk/over-55s-braced-to-work-into-their-70s-as-cost-of-living-bites/

• "Over a quarter (26%) of over-55s in work think they will still be working in their 70s
• 44% say the cost-of-living crisis has made retirement impossible
• Yet just 37% have a financial plan for retirement; only 43% know how much is in their pension

Over a quarter of over-55s believe they will still be working in their 70s, with the majority lacking a financial plan for retirement, new research by My Pension Expert has revealed.

The UK’s leading at-retirement adviser commissioned an independent survey of 2,000 UK adults. It found that the cost-of-living crisis has significantly impacted retirement plans, with 44% of over-55s in work believing it has made retirement impossible.

Over a third (37%) say the current economic climate has derailed their financial plans. Over a quarter (26%) think they will still be working in their 70s.

My Pension Expert’s research showed that, while Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is urging over-55s to either remain in work or re-enter the workforce, for millions, they do not feel they have a choice either way. Just 35% of over-55s think they will be able to retire when they want to.

The survey also revealed that many over-55s are not sufficiently prepared for stopping work. Less than half (43%) know how much they have saved in their pensions, and even fewer (37%) have a financial plan in place for retirement...".

You now need a pension pot lump sum worth £646,000 to have a comfortable retirement

Check out this shocking report that rising prices mean that in last year a couple on a "minimum" retirement income (including state pension) will need almost 20% income (extra £3200 pa) per year.  But who anyway wants to retire on the "minimum"?

To get a "comfortable" retirement (e.g go on holiday Europe for 3 weeks per year) a couple will need a "pension pot" lump worth a staggering £646,000 to provide this income. 

I wonder how many of my UNISON members will have a pension pot anywhere near that figure. 

Employers must take the lead in providing suitable pensions for its staff. They must pay the lion share. It is in their interests since otherwise you will find a workforce unable to retire regardless of their age or health since they would be living in poverty. 

The rush to the gutter in pension provision of so many employers in a national disgrace. I hope and expect a future Labour Government to act. 

"A Space to Learn, Live & Play" (but can West Ham residents afford to live here?)

 

Today I joined a zoom presentation by the developers of the old Ford car dealer showrooms at 259 Plaistow Road, West Ham ward, Newham.

I was there as a local ward Councillor with my colleague Cllr McLean (Cllr Whitworth had a medical clash and will be briefed later). 

This site is now owned by the Government's Department of Education and they want to build a new 6th form school with the Big Education Trust as well as community facilities, work places and shops. 

So far so good since it appears that Newham is in  need of more school places. While I would have preferred a local authority school to provide spaces the government refuses to allow Councils to build schools anymore. 

However, my challenge to the development team today was how many of the additional 400 homes  proposed to be built on the site will be genuinely affordable to local residents?  The Government spokesperson made it clear that they will expect the cost of buying the land and building the school will be offset by selling many of these homes. 

In Newham we have a massive housing crisis. If the new school reflects Newham,  66% of its pupils will be living in poverty after their parent's housing costs are taking into account. 

We also have the worse homelessness in the UK with more than 50% children living in temporary accommodation than in the entire north of England.  

It seems as only 30% of these homes will be deemed (even under the current nonsensical government definition) "affordable" even if that means charging 80% of market rent.  In Newham this could be £1400 per month. 

It would appear that only a small percentage of these homes will be at social rents (40-50% of market rents) that local families in need will be able to afford. 

The developers said that they will get back to us on this important issue. 

In the meanwhile they are informally consulting with local residents and I would encourage everyone to look at their website https://plaistowplace.co.uk/  and also attend if possible one of their webinars this Saturday and next Tuesday (links not currently working?). Full consultation is due to take place next year. 

I made it clear that the proposed levels of social housing are completely insufficient and must be reviewed. The developers bought this land in late 2018 after the May election when all Councillors and the Mayor were elected on a very clear manifesto commitment that 50% of all such developments must be at social rents. 

67% of Newham Children live in households in poverty after housing costs

 

I have been pushing on social media the Newham Council consultation on changes to our allocation policy and our new housing strategy.

Recently I had a push back from someone who did not believe our stats on how how many of our residents live in poverty after their housing costs are taken into account.

The caption above is from Newham Household Panel Survey 2017 p6 https://newham.gov.uk/downloads/file/563/research-householdsurvey9…

Every time I walk next to a newham school during play time I think about this statistic and what should we do about it?

ReviveFM 94.0 - Poverty in Newham (and what the Council is doing about it)

Yesterday, in between campaigning for the European elections, Newham Council Cabinet lead for Finance, Cllr Terry Paul and myself were interviewed live on Community Radio, ReviveFM 94, which is based in Forest Gate, Newham.

Our interviewer was our Council Cabinet Colleague, Cllr Shaban Mohammed, who was assisted by local researcher, Armond Dean.

We discussed poverty in Newham and what the Council is doing to tackle it. We have the lowest average income in London, 28 000 families on our Council House waiting list and over 5000 families who are homeless. We have 50% more children living in temporary accommodation in our borough than in the entire north of England!

Since May last year a new Labour administration led by directly elected Executive Mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz, has introduced anti poverty measures such as paying all our workers a London Living wage (with pay rises of up to £100 per week/£5000 per year); reducing Council tax for the poorest by 50%; building 1000 Council Homes at Council rents; ensuring that 50% of new developers homes charge a social rent; spending £120 million on improvements to our Council Housing stock: stop the privatisation of our Council services; introduce Community Wealth Building and tackle violence against our young people.

We did point out that while we can (and have and will do more) do many progressive things as a local authority to counter poverty in our borough, we need a change of our national Government and the election of one prepared to truly eliminate it.

Many thanks to Cllr Mohammed for organising and leading the discussion. Next Thursday he will have Newham Council Cabinet lead for Sustainable Transport and Parking, Cllr Zulfiqar Ali.

One of the reasons why we have chronic poverty & homelessness in this country

“Almost one in five of Britain's biggest companies paid not a penny of corporation tax in the UK last year, it can be revealed. 

The Mail on Sunday has managed to obtain the details of the tax paid by 69 of the FTSE 100 group of largest companies on the stock market – many of which do not publish these figures in their annual reports.

The remaining 31 refused or failed to respond to repeated requests to disclose their tax payments.

Where details could be obtained, 13 firms – equivalent to one in five of the 69 that came clean – either paid no corporation tax in Britain or received a tax credit from HM Revenue & Customs.

The list includes household names such as BP, Royal Mail and British Gas owner Centrica ...

Some firms are even paying their chief executives more than they pay in tax. Royal Mail boss Rico Back stands to earn £1.4million this year on top of a £5.8million 'golden hello' for joining the company.”

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-6522913/Almost-1-5-biggest-firms-paid-year-5-got-handout-taxman.html

This is a common theme amongst big business, for example:

“Netflix received a €199,000 (£174,000) tax rebate from the UK government last year and paid no corporation tax, despite making £500m in revenue from British subscribers to the streaming service.”

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/jun/21/netflix-paid-no-uk-corporate-tax-last-year-and-got-a-200k-rebate

“Kellogg’s paid no UK corporation tax on its biggest British-based businesses last year ... Accounts show its four trading arms made profits of nearly £40million on £944million of sales.”

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/kelloggs-paid-no-uk-corporation-13545780

“Cadbury owner Mondelez International paid absolutely no corporation tax to the UK taxman in 2017 despite making profits of £185m. The tax bill should have come to £35m.”

https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/money/cadbury-mondelez-pays-no-tax-uk-multi-million-profits/

That’s before you get to the likes of Amazon, Facebook, Google and Apple, who have effective tax rates of less than 1%. 

https://www.facebook.com/276296686091515/posts/920427521678425/

Analysis has shown that £110 billion of tax giveaways will have been handed to corporations by the end of this Parliament. 

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/splash-bonanza-big-business

“It’s not a story of individual villains, of bad people, that if we simply replaced them with good people then all the problems with our society would be solved. The problem is to do with a system and the behaviour that it not only encourages, but depends on ... Ernest & Young, this is what they do. Along with other large accountancy firms, they facilitate tax avoidance on an industrial scale...”

https://www.facebook.com/AdSinistram.u.k/videos/664224917298688/

Our system is purposefully designed to facilitate such behaviour and is protected by complicit tax dodging politicians. Take a look:

https://www.facebook.com/276296686091515/posts/648497285538118/

Hat tip Ad Sinistram

"Support our strike and say no to pension poverty and privatisation"

Support Staffordshire strike

Dear John, Staffordshire University employers have announced that they will move lower-paid staff into a “subco” or wholly-owned subsidiary company, with the aim of cutting the pensions of mainly lower-paid women. Our branch is currently in dispute over these changes. Our employer wants to  transfer grade 1-6 staff over to the new subco. This would strip them of the local government pension scheme (LGPS) and replace it with an inferior defined contribution scheme. This would result in much lower pensions for the majority of these staff – who are already the lowest paid and are mainly women. In addition, it creates a two-tier pension scheme in the workplace, where the better paid staff remain in the LGPS but the lower paid staff lose out. Our members at Staffordshire University were recently balloted for sustained strike action. On a 56% turnout over 80% voted yes for strike action; and have embarked on a series of strike days. We are asking UNISON branches to support us because this issue has national implications and if the employers are successful, it will be attractive to other universities looking to cut costs at the expense of lower-paid workers and other areas of the public sector. Send us a messages of support to enquiries.unison@staffs.ac.uk  Send a donation cheque Make it payable to UNISON Staffordshire University and post it to: Staffordshire University UNISON Branch E237, Cadman Staffordshire University College Road Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 2DE Together we can stop this and protect fair pensions for our members. Yours in solidarity, Amelia Rout Branch Secretary Staffordshire University Branch (letter of support and donation request to be considered at my UNISON branch F&GP meeting next week. Do not expect any problems with this request whatsoever. There will also be smodel motions condemning this thievery submitted to Labour Party CLPs/branches and all Councils. This is disgraceful behaviour by Staffordshire University who are simply cheating their low paid workers and condemning them to retire and die in poverty)

Strike over Staffordshire University cheating low paid workers out of a decent pension

Good luck to UNISON members in Staffordshire University striking again tomorrow to save their pensions.

The University is planning to get rid of its existing pension scheme for its low paid workers and replace with a rubbish scheme that will mean they will retire and die in poverty.

How on earth can parents and students support an institution that cheats its low paid workers of a decent pension?

VIOLENT CRIME: Labour MP Lyn Brown gives a moving speech in parliament

Intelligent and passionate speech by Lyn on the recent violent deaths of 9 young men (and children) in West Ham.

Is it really no coincidence that 65% of Newham children are brought up in poverty while living in one of the richest cities in the world? I think not. 

The Emperor has no clothes. DC Pensions

From Professional Pensions "John Gray looks at whether current contribution levels across DB and DC are adequate.

As well as being an employee representative on a pension board I am also a UNISON trade union branch secretary with members in more than 140 different private and public service employers.

While I am pleased that auto-enrolment (AE) has taken off so far, I am astonished about how little money employers are paying into pension pots. While many do pay more than the statutory requirement, we see well known national organisations with supposedly good reputations paying peanuts into their employee pension schemes.

If you put in only the AE 8% then you will be retiring and die in relative poverty.

I remember my first ever TUC pension course and our tutor (by coincidence the father of present day PLSA CEO, Joanne Segars) telling us there was an unscientific rule of thumb that you need to put around 20% of your income into a pension for 40 years to retire on half pay and receive a lump sum. Since workers cannot afford to pay 20% into their pension the employer has to pay the greater share.

Whenever I repeat this story to trade union members and to employers they are genuinely horrified at both the amount and the length of time needed.

I know this 20% rule of thumb is full of holes but recently I went to the website of a well-known stakeholder provider and spent a little time on its pension calculator site. While there is no such thing as a perfect projection I was pretty shocked at what I found.

How much?
I used the example of a worker aged 28, who has no existing pension provision on £30,000 per year, who is planning to retire in 40 years' time at age 68. I worked out that not 20% but a ridiculous 50% (£1,250 per month) of their income would have to be invested in order to hopefully retire on half pay (with no lump sum).

If you include the projected state pension you will still have to pay in an eye-watering 34% of your income (£850 per month). So only paying 20% into your pension for 40 years will actually get you nowhere near half pay. If you put in only the AE 8% then you will be retiring and dying in relative poverty.

Okay, maybe under AE a 28-year-old will by that age have some existing pension provision. Current investment assumptions may prove to be wrong and be too pessimistic. Perhaps the industry will really drive down costs and charges (including hidden fees) and increase return. Annuity rates could improve?

Maybe, maybe not. Young people have student loans to pay off, sky high rents to cover while also trying to save for a mortgage. While retention rates for AE have been much higher than expected, this might change. Especially if people think it is not going to be worth it. Current investment assumptions could prove to be optimistic. The industry is very good at side-tracking attempts to cut its charges and annuity rates could remain the same for decades.

So let's keep the 34% of income figure. It's a good enough guess as any I think. Now, should the union be arguing with employers to be paying, say, 26% employer pension contributions and employees 6%? I can imagine the response. Let's face up to it – defined contribution schemes are just not going to deliver.

But why is it some of my union members still belong to a good-quality, national, career average defined benefit schemes, whose total cost for future actuarial is capped at 18.5%? With the employer contribution a maximum of 13%? Surely it's time to think again about modern defined benefit schemes?

John Gray is a London Borough of Tower Hamlets Pension board member though he is writing in a personal capacity

Karren Brady: hands off West Ham fans' tax credits

To: Baroness Karren Brady

"Stop voting to cut the tax credits that hard working West Ham fans rely on to get by.

Why is this important?

I'm a former season ticket holder and lifelong West Ham fan. I was disgusted to see that West Ham's Vice Chairman, Baroness Brady, voted with the government to take away tax credits from working families, even through around 40% of working families rely on the credits.

Nearly half of all children in Newham are growing up in poverty according to the Campaign to End Child Poverty, so why is Baroness Brady taking it out on our community, instead of supporting the people of West Ham?"

 Graham Copp

If you agree sign 38 Degrees petition 

Osborne plays a deceiving game

Hat tip to Bob S for his link to Facebook site "Fight Propaganda" who have dissected George Osborne's speech at the Tory Party Conference last week. Check the references below.

"With scores of economists indicating through open letters that Osborne is making bad financial decisions, and indicators of poverty rising sharply, It is impossible to see these parts of his speech as anything other than misleading propaganda.

Market crash not Labour: www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/former-bank-of-england-governor-claims-labour-government-not-to-blame-for-last-financial-crash-9948434.html Crash started in America: http://www.economist.com/news/schoolsbrief/21584534-effects-financial-crisis-are-still-being-felt-five-years-article

More debt than every Labour Government: www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2014/06/17/the-coalition-will-leave-more-debt-than-all-labour-governmen

Slowest economic recovery since 1720: http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/quarterlybulletin/threecenturiesofdata.xlsx www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/britain-has-taken-longer-to-recover-from-recession-than-at-any-time-since-the-south-sea-bubble-9645218.html 

Homelessness up 40%: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/homelessness-statistics 

Food bank use: http://www.trusselltrust.org/stats 

Longest sustained decline in average wages since records began: www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/british-workers-suffering-worst-decline-in-real-wages-on-record-9789942.html 

Economist open letter: http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2015/06/12/80-economists-say-osbornes-economics-make-no-sense-in-the-guardian/ 

Transcript of speech: https://www.politicshome.com/party-politics/articles/news/george-osbornes-full-speech-tory-conference"

10,900 working families in West Ham to lose out in Tory tax credit "snatch and grab" - 5.2 million children affected nationally

A horrifying report is released today by UNISON on the impact of the Government cuts in Tax credits next April. The rise in the minimum wage will not offset these cuts.

Working families and their children who already find it a struggle to survive are about to lose as much as £60 per week. This is appalling.

5.2 Million kids will suffer while the Tories give inheritance tax breaks to the wealthiest 60,000 families in the country.

"Government cuts to tax credits next April will leave more than 2.7 million low to middle income working families across the UK – and their 5.2 million children – significantly worse off, according to new research published today (Saturday) by UNISON.

Using official figures published by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) UNISON has calculated that across the UK more than 2.7m working families – or two in five of all working families with dependent children – could lose as much as £3,000 a year next April. This is equivalent to the entire population of Greater Manchester, where the Conservative party conference gets underway tomorrow (Sunday).

And in working households where the parents are in receipt of tax credits there are 5.2m children, equivalent to the entire population of Scotland".

"The worst affected constituency in the country is West Ham in East London where 10,900 families will suffer as a result of the proposed tax credit cuts. The capital features heavily in the 20 worst affected places with nine constituencies, including Barking, Tottenham, Brent Central and Ilford South all registering large numbers of tax credit families".

Commenting on the research UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis said: “Many of the millions of families who will be the victims of the Chancellor’s cruel tax credits snatch and grab still have no idea that they are going to lose out next year. When they start receiving letters in the post from HMRC just before Christmas, it will mean chaos for family finances.

“Tax credits are a lifeline for these families – quite simply they are the difference between them keeping their heads above water and going under.

“The huge loss of income – of between £1,000-£3,000 a year – will have a devastating impact upon the millions of family budgets that have yet to recover from the living standards crisis. Parents, who will go without in a vain attempt to make sure their children don’t, will be forced deeper into debt.

“The government is full of praise for people who go out to work to try and provide better lives for their children. Yet these are the very people these punitive changes will hurt. It’s time for the Chancellor to admit that he’s got this one very wrong, and back down before it’s too late.”

 hat tip picture Kilburn Times

Dare To Dream: Shape the Future of London

On Tuesday evening I went to the launch of  #Daretodream in South London with fellow Newham Cllr, Rokhsana Fiaz OBE. This was an amazing networking event for young people on how to shape the future of London. The theme was that politics matters to young Londoners and how they can make a difference by engaging and voting in the Mayoral elections 2016.

There was a series of informal speakers followed by London Labour Mayoral Candidate, Sadiq Khan MP.

The event had been organised over social media and over 200 people had registered. The room was  full of confident and articulate young Londoners aged 14-24. A number of whom were invited to tell their story and what they wanted out of politics and politicians for their city.

One young man described himself as lucky since many of his inner city childhood friends were now in prison but that the difference between him and them, was that he was a dreamer but a dreamer with his eyes wide open. Another described himself as the 17 year old son of Iraq refugees. To him politics is not something that other people do  but he believed that politics must adapt to make itself relevant to the young.

Another argued that it was vital for there to be on line voting to engage young people in politics. While the next wanted to dare the Mayor candidates on what they will do if elected to challenge the 2.1 million Londoners who live in poverty?

The last speaker was Sadiq Khan, who spoke about the modern day broken promise that each generation would be better off than the previous. To tackle poverty if he was elected as Mayor, he would make sure that 50% of new homes would be genuinely affordable; that Londoners should have first choice for homes; no more "poor doors", there to be a real living wage and he would cut transport fares. He also wants policing by consent in London and would follow the successful Northern Ireland model of expecting 50% of new Met recruits to be black.

Sadiq finished by saying anyone of you here tonight could be the next great business leader, or could find the cure for cancer or even be the next Mayor of London (but he quickly added - not for the next 8 years).

This was a hugely impressive event, organised predominantly by and for young people, who tend so often nowadays to get a negative press. I don't think that no one who attended this event could be anything but positive about the current generation of young Londoners and the future of our capital in their hands.

Update: Sadiq has written about the event here  http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/sadiq-khan/sadiq-khan-london_b_7946508.html

"Incredible wealth in the UK exists alongside unimaginable poverty"

Check out the latest Inequality Briefing "Since 2009 executive pay has soared and the number of billionaires has increased, while food bank use has rocketed and pay for ordinary workers has fallen".

If you want to really do something about this - then vote Labour. If you want inequality to carry on and get even worse - then vote for anybody but Labour or don't vote at all. 

80 Richest Own Same Wealth As Half The World

How on earth did we allow this to happen?

When Christmas is a choice between eating and heating

We have had soup kitchens and shelters for the homeless for decades. But I despair that we live in a society that hundreds of thousands of UK children are dependent on personal charity to stop being hungry.

The cuts are getting worse, the safety net is being sold off and dismantled. Where is this going and where will it all end up? We are already suffering the biggest pay cuts since Victorian times.

· Statistics from The Trussell Trust show that there has been a dramatic increase in demand for food banks and charitable help in the UK, with more than 20m meals provided in 2013 – a 54% increase on the previous year.

913,138 people were given three days emergency food and support in 2013-2014, of whom 330,205 were children.

· 423 food banks have now been launched, with two new food banks being launched every week to support growing demand.

(hat tip recent email encouraging donations)

TUC March 18 October: Britain Needs a Pay Rise #Oct18

Picture collage from today's TUC "Britain Needs A Pay Rise" March in central London. I was in between my branch (UNISON Greater London Housing Associations) and the London Regional banner. The March was I think a fantastic success. UNISON did the TUC proud.  At the rally I also joined up with West Ham Labour Party comrades.

I met with many London and national trade union and Labour colleagues and discussed a number of issues including the Union busting attempt by Catalyst Housing Association to attack their workers' human rights.

The key message of the March was of course that workers are currently facing the biggest squeeze on incomes in recorded history. Wages have fallen in real terms every year since 2010. No wonder they are angry and we have seen a rise in support for far right racist parties such as UKIP.

When we marched past the opulent Ritz Hotel and then the busy Fortnum and Masons in Mayfair, one of the most expensive and wealthy areas in the world,  I thought not only does Britain deserve a pay rise but we evidently can afford it. In fact the risk to social cohesion from mass poverty, unaffordable housing and food banks is such that it is in the long term interests of the wealthy that we get a pay rise. If nothing changes, people will not continue to march peacefully for ever.

More pictures from today on my Facebook page here.

"Landlords face strikes after predicted rise in pension contributions"

On Friday Inside Housing Magazine reported on some of my comments about how angry UNISON members will be if employers tried to close their pension schemes or raise contributions so high that schemes would have to close anyway since no one could afford to join.

The world is a very different place from where it was 3 years ago, when some employers took advantage of the recession to close schemes or increase contributions. While we are certainly not out of the economic woods yet, most Housing Associations are now enjoying record surpluses and paying their Executives inflation plus pay rises and bonuses.

Modern day Defined benefit pension schemes are affordable and sustainable. If any employer decides now that it wants its employees to end up dying in miserable retirement poverty then they could find themselves in for a fight.