Veteran Tory MP warns Theresa May a revolt will defeat her drastic school funding cuts-Dan Bloom

The Prime Minister is facing a blockade by her own MPs over plans to slash thousands of schools' cash funding by 3%

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A delegation of angry Tory MPs has met Theresa May - and they're the 'tip of the iceberg' (Photo: Getty Images Europe)

 

A veteran Tory MP has warned Theresa May he and his colleagues will revolt to defeat her drastic school funding cuts.
The Prime Minister is facing a blockade by her own MPs over plans to slash thousands of schools' cash funding by 3%.
George Osborne has joined the brewing rebellion as research shows the average secondary will lose £291,000 in real terms - having to cut six teachers by 2020.
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown - an MP for 25 years - led a delegation of nine Tories to see the Prime Minister about a consultation on the move that closes next week.

Speaking today, he warned the nine MPs were the "tip of the iceberg".

Educating Yorkshire's Thornhill Academy could face losing 20 staff (Photo: Gary Calton)

"I think ministers recognise, and indeed I told (Education Secretary) Justine Greening in a later meeting, that this wouldn't go through in its present form," he told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4.
Mr Clifton-Brown said the Government would lose a vote in the Commons on the plans in their current form.
He added: "This is only a consultation.

"The Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Education have indicated very strongly that they are listening to the consultation, they will listen to what responses they get back.
"And I think knowing that they will have difficulty getting it through the House, they will have to alter it."

Secondary and primary schools are both hit, analysis by a think tank says (Photo: The Image Bank)

Conservative MP Stephen Hammond said he was "very concerned" at the move last night.
Colleague Antoinette Sandbach added: "It doesn't seem to have addressed the fundamental inequalities in the previous formula.
"So I would say this fails in its job and it has to be looked at again."

Former Chancellor George Osborne revealed he had met the Education Secretary to warn of "teachers' concerns".
He added: "Everyone knows we need a new formula and that there isn't extra money lying around, but the money needs to be fairly distributed."
The government says its changes will stop inequalities, where schools with similar numbers of children receive different levels of cash per-pupil.

George Osborne has also joined the concerns over school cuts

He said: "The money needs to be fairly distributed" (Photo: PA)

But critics and analysts say this will move cash away from deprived inner-city schools to better-off areas.
A report today by the Education Policy Institute says: “The overall impact of redistributing the schools budget results in shifting funding away from the most disadvantaged pupils towards the ‘just about managing’ group.”
Cash cuts for each school under the formula have been capped at a "floor" of 3%. More than 5,000 schools are expected to be on this floor.
But the think tank says the cuts in real terms - once inflation is included - will be 6% to 11% by 2019-20.
Its research said this amounts to an average loss of £74,000 per primary and £291,000 per secondary school.

How badly off could our schools be?

Why are schools losing money? School budgets are failing to keep pace with inflation, meaning rising prices outstrip the amount of cash they have to spend. A new funding formals will also see some schools robbed of hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Where can I find out more? The SchoolCuts.org.uk website provides a calculator setting out how badly each school could be clobbered. The Government has also set up a website where users can discover the potential impact of the new formula.
Mirror

Tory Chancellor Philip Hammond SCRAPS £2bn National Insurance tax hike in gigantic Budget U-turn-Dan Bloom

The Tory Chancellor told MPs he will no longer proceed with a £2bn, 2% hike to Class 4 National Insurance for the self-employed

Philip Hammond has made an enormous U-turn after getting his NICs in a twist (Photo: Philip Coburn/Daily Mirror)

Philip Hammond has SCRAPPED the flagship tax hike from last week's Budget in an enormous Tory U-turn.
Threatened with a rebellion from his own MPs, the Chancellor will no longer hike National Insurance for the self-employed.
His chaotic move leaves a £2billion hole over four years in his Budget.
Astonishingly Mr Hammond appeared to admit people only realised the hike broke a key Tory manifesto pledge when it was mentioned on TV - before quickly backpedalling.
A Downing Street spokesman was forced to insist Theresa May had "full confidence" in her Chancellor.

Labour MP Yvette Cooper said the move came just a year after a £4bn Budget U-turn on benefit cuts, adding: "Is that why they want to abolish spring Budgets? Because they just keep ripping them up?”
Labour tried to take credit for the climbdown as Jeremy Corbyn said: "Seems to me like a government in a bit of chaos here."

WATCH IN FULL: PMQs Corbyn questions May over tax u-turn

But in a raucous session at Prime Minister's Questions - just 23 minutes after the move was announced - the party leader was heckled as he grappled with the details.
Theresa May snapped back: "“When it comes to lectures on chaos, he’d be the first person I’d turn to.”
The National Insurance hike was announced last week as the centrepiece of Chancellor Philip Hammond’s Budget and is designed to raise £2billion for the Treasury after it comes into force next year.
But it breached his own party's 2015 manifesto pledge not to hike so-called NICs.
After fury from her own MPs, Theresa May was forced to announce there would be no Parliamentary vote on the measure until the autumn.

The chaotic move leaves a £2billion hole in Philip Hammond's 2017 Budget (Photo: PA)

Then, last night, Business Minister Margot James hinted the hike from 9% to 11% in Class 4 contributions may not go ahead as planned.
Mr Hammond's letter to Tory MPs today was released to journalists just 23 minutes before Theresa May was due to be grilled over the row at Prime Minister's Questions.

Read More

• 11 things hidden in the Budget 2017 small print that Philip Hammond won't want you to read

He wrote: "The measures I announced in the Budget sought to reflect more fairly the differences in entitlement in the contributions made by the self-employed.
"The government continues to believe that this is the right approach.
"Since the Budget, however, there has been much comment on the question of commitments made in our 2015 manifesto."

The measure breached the Tories' own 2015 manifesto (Photo: Conservatives)

The hike was set to cost self-employed taxpayers an extra £325m in 2018-19, £645m in 2019-20, £595m in 2020-21 and £495m in 2021-22.

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Mr Hammond insisted the rises would have fallen through a loophole in the law which the Tories made to secure their manifesto pledge.
But today he wrote: "In light of the debate over the last few days it is clear that compliance with the 'legislative' test of the manifesto commitment is not adequate.
"It is very important to both me and the Prime Minister that we are compliant not just with the letter, but also the spirit, of the commitments that were made.

Theresa May was facing a Tory rebellion after breaching her own manifesto (Photo: Getty)

"In light of what has emerged as a clear view among colleagues and a significant section of the public, I have decided not to proceed with the Class 4 NIC measures set out in the Budget.
"There will be no increases in NICs rates in this Parliament".
The Chancellor said the abolition of Class 2 NICs, which costs the taxpayer money, will continue as planned from April 2018.
Reforms will only be announced in future after a review of inequality for self-employed people compared to those in secure work, including their parental benefits.
Support for National Insurance hikes themselves - which Labour proposed when it was in government and which the Budget watchdog said would mainly hit higher earners - was mixed.
GMB General Secretary Tim Roache said: "The Chancellor has made a complete dog's dinner of tax policy - and caused chaos for workers up and down the country.

The Chancellor wrote to Tory MPs and will address the House of Commons at 2.30pm

“The Chancellor should turn his attention on businesses using bogus self-employment to avoid paying employers' national insurance contributions and denying workers their basic rights."
Public and Commercial Services union chief Mark Serwotka said: “While the U-turn is humiliating for the chancellor and the Tory MPs who defended the rise, the money it would have raised was tiny compared to the billions being cut from our public services and social security.
“It is an indictment of our political system that the anger and energy directed at this one budget measure is not also trained on the fact money is being taken from the poorest in society while big businesses get tax cuts.”
Torsten Bell, Director of the Resolution Foundation think tank, said: "Whatever the rights and wrongs of Conservative Manifesto commitments, today’s U-turn on National Insurance means the government has missed an opportunity to correct a big structural flaw in our tax system which allows better-off self-employed workers to pay far less tax than employees."

Mirror

INVESTMENT INSTRUMENTS , THE DECIDING FORCE IN PENSION POT INCREASE - Odunze Reginald C

While speaking to a group of customers in one state in Northern Nigeria around 2012 on an interactive session with a higher institution of learning in that state, a customer ask one vital question that I will never forget. And it went thus, where is my investment directed? , continuing he opined that he do not want his pension investments on brewery related products based on his religion conviction. For complete ten minutes, there was a complete quietness.

In my reaction, I decided to be political about it, as any how reaction may cause tension, my final reaction was that the controlling body  will work out modalities for such  if such need becomes more important and is generally requested by majority of the customers, noting those that are in charge of the scheme are also part and parcel of us and may belong to various religious body. Adding that I will take his question to the higher authorities.

In a similar situation while attending a workshop in Lagos in 2015 for public sector, such question reechoed again , there was a tense atmosphere. Reacting then a Nation pension Commission representative, noted that the commission is working out modalities for such, noting that if  completed, it will ensure that customers who want such arrangement will  be considered, adding  that they are working also in  bringing out investment age band which will ensure that those that are young and have longer time to retire may have their fund investment in high yield instruments , noting that such instruments are highly volatile., middle age on semi volatile and those about to retire will have its fund invested in low yield instrument with non volatility , adding that the higher the risk, the high its return on investment (ROI) and the lower the risk the lower the returns.

Tom Macphail in 10 costly Pension Mistakes noted that “If you have a pension, have you ever reviewed it? Millions of people haven't. Moreover, recent research revealed more than two in five adults (41%) - 8 million people - cannot remember how their pensions are invested. Why is that alarming? Performance can vary quite dramatically across investments and even a seemingly small difference could have a significant impact on the size of your pot” Continuing he stated that these are just projections. Investments will not always go up in value, they also go down, so you could get back less than you invested; what is certain is that they won't perform as predicted. Also, these values are in today's terms, without considering inflation, which will reduce the spending power of your money over time “According to several researches, people invest for two basic reasons; they are follows, to make provision for old age and to be wealthy. Being wealthy is a function of the state of mind of the owner and the generosity of the individual.

So many people cling to their money as if their life depends on it. While some are willing to give almost half of their possessions but that is not our subject of discussion. Venita Van Caspel according to schuller noted  while studying investment “heard a very startling statistics of every people reaching age 65, only 2 percent were financially independent” continuing  Schuller op cited opined that Venita was raised in a Christian home without money, which she claims gave a health respect  for a dollar.

Therefore it all portends that even though we value money , some are interested in accumulation of fund , some are skeptical of where their investments are going, some are more interested in meriting heaven than in  the accumulation of fund. But the majority are more interested in having for their investment.

How then do PFAs do a thorough job in beefing up the unit value for their investment, though PenCom has stringent investment policies guiding investment but the onus lies on the PFAs in carrying out appropriate investment strategies in realizing the basic objective of the majority who want a fair value for their money.

To be continued.....

The 7 Most Dead End Jobs-Sam Becker

Dead end sign | Simon Hayter/Getty Images

One of our biggest career-related fears is being stuck in a dead end job. While it’s completely understandable to be worried about ending up in a job that makes us miserable, dead end jobs are not only unpleasant, but can actually hurt your long-term aspirations. These types of gigs have become a serious point of contention among policymakers and economists, as more and more people find themselves taking these jobs as a measure to keep paychecks coming in.
In most cases, dead end jobs are accepted out of necessity. And if you find yourself in one, your main focus should be on a way to get out. But many of these jobs do have certain perks, and people can grow to be comfortable in them. You may end up walking away each day with a pocket full of cash tips, for example. Or get free meals. This can make these jobs hard to escape from.
But the defining variable of a dead end job is that it literally leads nowhere — these are jobs that simply need someone with a pulse to be eligible. They lack job security, pay lousy wages, provide little in the way of skill development, and give you no chance to advance.
If we look at restaurant jobs, you may think the wait staff is better-off than the cooks. In the short-run, that may be true. Waiters will probably make more money than cooks, thanks to tips. But a cook is a position that requires skills — skills that can be improved upon, and leveraged for higher wages with other employers. Waiters? There’s some skill involved, but not to the same extent. In this example, one fits the description of a dead end job, while the other doesn’t.
There are millions of dead end gigs out there, but some fit the bill more so than others. Here are seven of the most dead end jobs on the market.

1. Drivers

Truck driver | iStock

Though driving is in and of itself a skill, it’s a skill that is remarkably ubiquitous — meaning that for every driver out there, there’s someone else who can easily take their job. Driving jobs come in many different forms — school bus drivers, long-haul truckers, delivery drivers, etc. — but most don’t pay very well, require odd schedules, and don’t really open doors for career growth. There are exceptions, of course.
Also, with driving set to become automated in the very near future, it’s not a career path that’s bound to last long.

2. Food service

Waitress taking an order | iStock

We touched on this already, but food service jobs are pretty much synonymous with dead end work. The problem is, you can get comfortable and make fairly good money as a server, with tips padding your wages. But in the long-term there’s nowhere to go with it, as a career. This is the same issue with low-wage fast food jobs. Also, technology is probably going to start creating havoc in the restaurant industry as servers and cooks are replaced with kiosks and robots.

3. Custodial work

Janitor sweeping | Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images

Anyone can use a broom, a mop, and pick up refuse. That’s why janitors and custodians are often paid little, offered late-night or odd shifts, and aren’t given much respect. Custodial work is a dead end job, as just about anyone can do it, and you’re not going to be picking up any serious skills or opening any doors for advancement. Sure, you can use it to prove your worth as a solid employee, but if you find yourself cleaning on the 11 p.m. to 8 a.m. shift for several years? You’ve hit the dead end.

4. Call-center agents

Call-center agent | iStock

Call center jobs are notoriously awful. You end up making calls to people who don’t want to talk to you, or taking calls from people who are already angry, and are looking for a target at which to direct their wrath. For that reason, these jobs pay little, and don’t offer much in terms of advancement opportunities. And being yelled at for your entire shift doesn’t give you a chance to really learn anything new, either.

5. Care givers

In-home care giver | Joe Raedle/Getty Images

There is a need for in-home care givers, but cleaning up after and feeding a person in need won’t propel you to the top of any industry. Though these jobs are important, they don’t require much in terms of skill or training, and for that reason, have lousy pay, lousy hours, and probably won’t lead you to a fruitful career.

6. Security and corrections officers

Security guard | Michael Regan/Getty Images

Ever wonder why TSA employees seem to be terrible? Or where they find the security staff at concert venues and sports stadiums? These are jobs that don’t require much more than a pulse, and not much skill. There is a big need for bodies, though, and a lot of people end up working in these industries to earn a living. Unlike police work, however, these jobs aren’t going to lead anywhere. They are usually part-time, and don’t pay much.

7. Farm workers

Farm worker | Mark Wilson/Getty Images

You famously hear how Americans won’t do farm work, like picking produce, which is why undocumented immigrants often end up doing it. Well, it’s largely true, and being able to pick fruit or vegetables isn’t going to leave you with any marketable skills, money, or a clear career path. Farm work is tough, and the days are long. But at the end of the day, people become stuck in it. It’s a dead end job, and one that you don’t want to find yourself in for an extended period of time.

Culled from Money & Career Cheat Sheet

New five pound note sells for £60,100 on eBay- Charles White

The rare note was found amongst some change (Picture: Caters)

The new fiver caused a Golden Ticket rush last year when people found rare versions of the note.
Now a polymer £5 note has sold for £60,100 on eBay despite being originally listed for just £1.
 

Princess Diana's former lover answers question 'Are you Harry's father?' With the unique serial number AA01 and the serial numbers 444444, the note was expected to rake in thousands.
Seller Piotr Sobczuk, from Telford, Shropshire, listed the new polymer note on the auction site after finding it in his change.
The crumpled fiver has now gone for over 12,000 times its street value after attracting 136 bids from 21 different bidders.

The eBay posting garnered more than 100 bids (Picture: Caters)

The seller is expected to post the valuable note first class standard delivery, having listed postage for just 64p.
The auction site will also take over £250 in fees, according to eBay’s fee calculator.
More than 136 people bid for the note on the site.
At a Bank of England charity auction in October, one new fiver sold for £4,150.
The note, with serial number AA01 000017, was the lowest number offered to the public.

The note was unveiled last year (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)

The lowest numbered note, AA01 000001, was given as a gift to the Queen.
Money collectors have scrambled for certain notes including four which were engraved with tiny profiles of Jane Austen.
Older notes featuring prison reformer Elizabeth Fry will be out of legal tender on May 5.
The seller did not wish to comment.

Culled from Metro