Low-paid workers will have little to celebrate today (April 1) as a minimum wage rise of 19p an hour is rendered meaningless by rising living costs such as increases in council tax, and energy and…Read more…
“Coronavirus: Newham Council approves more than £60m worth of council tax and business rates relief”
Headline is from the Newham Recorder and picture of Newham Mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz at our 2nd “urgent” Council Cabinet meeting of the current crisis on Friday (3rd April).
Because of legal requirements that all Cabinet meetings had to have at least 3 mem…Read more…
A “People’s Budget” for Newham
Mayor and Cabinet members agree 2019/20 budget proposals
Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz and her Cabinet members have listened to the views of residents and put forward proposals for how Newham Council intends to spend money on what people say is important.
The …Read more…
The government is making it harder to fight crime, says UNISON
By slashing police funding, all the government has managed to do is make it harder to fight crime effectively
The article The government is making it harder to fight crime, says UNISON first…Read more…
Newham Council Budget proposals 2019-2020 – London Living Wage; Cut Council Tax for Poor; Eat for Free & Support Children with SEN
I was really proud of the budget proposals announced today by our Labour Mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz, at Full Council tonight. In spite of further Government cuts and Austerity, we are proposing a London Living Wage for all our care staff (then rolled out to …Read more…
Newham private rented sector licensing scheme breaks £5m barrier for recapturing lost Council Tax
Since the introduction of licensing in 2013 an extra £5,002,203 has been collected from rogue landlords renting out houses in multiple occupation.
Newham’s Private Rented Sector (PRS) licensing scheme began five years ago but was forced, by governme…Read more…
‘Crippling’ household debts soar
While the government celebrated a record budget surplus today (August 21), ordinary people are barely keeping their heads above water in a sea of outstanding household debt approaching £19bn, new…Read more…
‘Stop bleeding councils dry’ plea
Nearly all of England’s local authorities are planning council tax hikes this year, as they battle desperately to stay afloat after years of brutal funding cuts. Unite warned the moves will do…Read more…
Paying more for worse services
This is a letter to the Swindon Advertiser Paying more for worse services I’ve just received my council tax notice with a 10.9% increase for 2017/18. As Mr Renard finally admitted in his column residents are paying more for less. These very high increases are the result of the flagrantly…Read more…
“I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilisation.” Newham Council Budget meeting 2017
This was to be my speech last night at the Newham Council Meeting on the budget. There was a free vote for Labour Councillors (i.e all of us) and I had proposed an amendment to the budget on increasing Council tax by 1.99% in order to pay for hardship …Read more…
Hardship funds & Social care crisis: Proposed amendments to Newham Council Budget 2017/18
This is my proposed amendment to the budget which the Newham Council meeting on Monday 27 February 2017 should consider. See my previous post on this issue.
What I am hoping to do is persuade (there is a free vote) my fellow Labour Councill…Read more…
Surgery performed with plasters
Desperate ministers considering hiking council tax in order to ease the social care crisis have been told their plan will not work by Tory party colleagues, because of “out of control” funding…Read more…
Too Poor to Pay? Is this really the New Poll Tax?
This report is very disturbing. I have asked the Council for a response and agreed to meet with CPAG and Z2K. I will encourage other Councillors to do so as well. By coincidence I have just been to a Unison seminar where the practice of trying to force…Read more…
We need politicians to be bold in opposing austerity
#STUC16 The STUC has backed a UNISON and GMB 10 point plan for decent public services which are key to ‘reducing poverty and economic inequality.’
UNISON’s Stephen Smellie told delegates there was a broad political consensus in Scotland against austerity but words were not enough.
“We must insist that Scottish politicians can’t hide behind the ‘it’s all the fault of the Tories and we can’t doRead more…
LOBOs and debt servicing of Council Tax Income
I am astonished at this graph. Why? Will tackle Executive on these figures. Read more…
UNISON response to Scottish Government council tax announcement today (2 March)
2 March 2016
Dave Watson, UNISON head of policy and public affairs said,
‘UNISON welcomes any progress on the council tax freeze. However after 8 years we had expected more than tinkering with the present system. This will not ensure that local government is properly funded, nor will it ensure a fair funding for local government. Scotland needs a fundamental review local tax funding for localRead more…
Further cuts to local services not sustainable, says UNISON Scotland
Date: Tuesday 2 February 2016
UNISON Scotland is calling for the Scottish Parliament to use its powers to put more money into local services. By 2020 expenditure on public services will be 12.5% lower in real terms. That is on top of the £2.5bn cuts since 2010.
This next round of cuts will mean at least another 15,000 job cuts for local councils. Of the 50,000 jobs that have been lost inRead more…
UNISON Scotland reaction to ministerial statement on draft 2016/17 budget
Date: Wednesday 16 December 2015
Mike Kirby, UNISON Scottish Regional Secretary said,
‘UNISON Scotland recognises that Tory austerity limits the options available in the Spending Review. However, it is unacceptable that yet again local government is bearing the brunt of cuts. We are now in the 8th year of the council tax freeze that limits how councils can choose to respond to austerity. ThisRead more…
UNISON Scotland statement on First Minister’s programme for Government
Wed 26 Nov 2014
Mike Kirby, Scottish secretary of UNISON, said ‘UNISON is Scotland’s largest trade union and we welcome the First Minister’s programme for government. There was much in Nicola Sturgeon’s statement to commend.
We welcome her commitment to protect public services and to increase NHS funding; her commitment to the living wage and to mitigate the problems of welfare reform; andRead more…