Tuesday, November 28, 2017
A good day to bury bad news
Wall to wall coverage of a royal wedding is an opportunity as far as some Government press officers are concerned to bury bad news and yesterday was no exception.
As everybody cooed over what is a very impressive engagement ring, and speculated on social media and elsewhere about the significance of the fifth in line to the throne marrying a divorced Roman Catholic American actress, it took just twenty minutes for a far more significant announcement by the UK Government.
As the Independent reports, the Government announced confirmation that it will be freezing benefits until 2020 costing a typical working family around £300 per year:
Caroline Dinenage, a work and pensions minister, said the freeze for working age people who receive benefits will go on even as the state pension and some other benefits increase by three per cent, in line with inflation.
This will be a real terms cut in income of £315 a year for the typical working family with two children as the cost of living will eat further into their income, according to a report by the Resolution Foundation. The freeze, which has been in place since 2015, has coincided with the longest fall in living standards in the past 60 years with the thinktank saying real disposable incomes are now to set to fall for 19 successive quarters.
In a report published before the budget, the foundation warned the freeze would worsen inequality which would take an average of £715 away from the poorest third of households whereas the richest third looks set to gain £185 from other tax breaks.
Some will see the cut partially offset by the increase in minimum wage, which will go up to £7.83 per hour from April, but many will still feel the squeeze as the Treasury hopes to save £1.9bn over the next year.
So much for yesterday being a good news day.
As everybody cooed over what is a very impressive engagement ring, and speculated on social media and elsewhere about the significance of the fifth in line to the throne marrying a divorced Roman Catholic American actress, it took just twenty minutes for a far more significant announcement by the UK Government.
As the Independent reports, the Government announced confirmation that it will be freezing benefits until 2020 costing a typical working family around £300 per year:
Caroline Dinenage, a work and pensions minister, said the freeze for working age people who receive benefits will go on even as the state pension and some other benefits increase by three per cent, in line with inflation.
This will be a real terms cut in income of £315 a year for the typical working family with two children as the cost of living will eat further into their income, according to a report by the Resolution Foundation. The freeze, which has been in place since 2015, has coincided with the longest fall in living standards in the past 60 years with the thinktank saying real disposable incomes are now to set to fall for 19 successive quarters.
In a report published before the budget, the foundation warned the freeze would worsen inequality which would take an average of £715 away from the poorest third of households whereas the richest third looks set to gain £185 from other tax breaks.
Some will see the cut partially offset by the increase in minimum wage, which will go up to £7.83 per hour from April, but many will still feel the squeeze as the Treasury hopes to save £1.9bn over the next year.
So much for yesterday being a good news day.
