Thousands of self-employed workers in York paid £593 less tax

Thousands of self-employed workers in York paid £593 less tax in their latest returns because of a Liberal Democrat policy to raise the personal tax allowance, new Treasury figures reveal.

The January 31 deadline for self-assessment was the first to include the Coalition’s income tax cut, introduced in April 2013. It saw the personal allowance – the point at which people start to pay tax – rise to £9,400.

New Treasury figures showed 2.3 million paid £593 less tax in their returns submitted to HMRC. The Treasury analysis also shows the number of self-employed benefitting from a tax cut will rise to 2.4 Million in 2015/16, with each person saving £825 when they file their returns. 12.8% of workers in York are self-employed according to the ONS (Office of National Statistics).

Liberal Democrat MP candidate for York Central Nick Love said:

“Thousands of self-employed workers in York have benefitted from this tax cut. Raising the personal allowance not only helps the poorest in society but puts more money of the pockets of everyday local small business owners, who are the lifeblood of our economy. This is a flagship Liberal Democrat policy and I’m delighted to see that it will make a difference to local people.”

Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said:

“It’s increasingly widely known that the Liberal Democrat policy of raising the personal income tax allowance will result in a tax cut to millions of working people that will be worth £825 a year to a typical basic rate tax payer on PAYE. But what these figures show is that our tax cuts are now flowing through to the self-employed. This is a boost to the entrepreneurs of Britain – to the men and women who are doing so much to rebuild our stronger economy and power our growth.”

Police Commissioner Orders 2% increase in Council Tax as Force accused of poor communications

Nick Love seeks meeting to discuss crime concerns and IT failures

The Police Commissioner Julia Mulligan has announced a 2% increase in the element of Council Tax which funds Policing in North Yorkshire and York.

The announcement comes only a few days after it was revealed that the levels of, some types of, crime were continuing to increase in the City.

Anyone looking to find a working link to the Commissioners web site (from the police site) will be disappointed Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire Anyone trying to follow a link to the Safer York partnership http://www.saferyork.org.uk/ will find similar frustrations. Even worse, a link to the equivalent site in Selby directs residents to a mortgage company.

And that is part of the emerging problem with local policing. Communications with the public are haphazard in some areas.

2014 by the numbers

Until 3 years ago we all knew how our allocated local “bobby” was”. There were dedicated Police officers and PCSOs for each ward.

There was a local web site which, as well as containing details of the local officers, also set out surgery dates and contact channels as well as crime prevention information.

This has largely disappeared.

While the web site still includes a – user friendly – map showing the distribution of crime reports it currently fails most other tests.

Some wards seem to have suffered particularly badly from the decision to centralise some police officers into an “anti social behaviour” hub located in the York Councils’ West Offices. There has been no report on the effectiveness of this unit although the York council is budgeting to throw a further £300,000 into it next year.

In fairness there has been some progress on some aspects of “social media”.

The twitter feeds for various parts of the force are appreciated by many residents. The daily news updates are also a positive approach

But little performance information is routinely published across the whole county – and what is available is broad brush. It is particularly difficult to find information on detection rates – one of the key tests for any police force.

Even the supposed independent police and crime panel receives little useful information and has a profile which can most kindly be described as subterranean

As a minimum these changes need to be made:

Safer neighbourhood web sites need to be updated and refined
Local communities should know who their dedicated police officers and PCSOs are
They should have an idea about the level of patrolling frequency that they can expect to see.
They should have access to surgeries where they can talk to (at least) a PCSO. (Only one surgery for the whole of February is currently advertised on the local York Police web site)
The positive engagement policy should be reintroduced with the police attending events at community centres, libraries etc possibly when another event is taking place. (unfortunately, with the demise of the Ward committee, one formal link with local communities was lost)
Residents should be clear how to make contact. If police desks like the one at Acomb are manned what the opening hours are and who will be manning the desks (currently volunteers)?
Local Councillors, neighbourhood watch and the media should be routinely told about local crime trends and prevention advice. All should agree to pass on information to local residents. Use could be made of notice boards and Council newsletters.
Crime stats should be routinely published at least for safer neighbourhood areas. These should include detection rates.
The Police Commissioner should ensure that all meeting agendas and supporting papers are readily available – including links to them from local Council web sites. She should trial webcasting and public access sessions.
There should be a review of the location of senior officers. Given crime trends, there may be a case for the DCC to be headquartered in York.

Those at the top of the local Police force need to get a grip on these issues quickly.

Nick Love the LibDem MP candidate for York Central says,

“I will be seeking a meeting with the Police to see how we can best address areas where crime has increased in York and to explore the possibility of a more senior officer being permanently based in the City such as the Deputy Chief Constable.”

Council failing to communicate on major public service changes

Jargon used to hide York Councils real intentions

Residents attending today’s “drop in” at the Acomb Library (1:00pm – 5:00pm) should beware.

They will be talking to the “rewiring” team about changes to “place based” services.

Use of jargon and euphemisms is a well tested way of disguising the true motivations and intentions of corrupt organisations

In reality the proposals in York include plans to charge for waste collection while making local residents responsible for managing and maintaining local parks and open spaces.

Council to charge for refuse collection

The PR campaign is part of an emerging trend with the Council encouraging other propaganda initiatives aimed at influencing public opinion…..while being economical with the facts

These may include the ostensibly independent (business led) @YorkLocalPlan twitter account.

This group advocates building “at least” 850 additional homes in the City each year and erroneously claims that there is only room for 5000 to be built on brownfield land. In fact, over 2000 additional brownfield planning permissions have been granted during the last 2 years…. all on brownfield sites which were not identified on the draft Local Plan for housing. More are in the pipeline.

Still at least that organisation is unashamedly driven by vested commercial interests.

More worrying is the impenetrable “rewiring” project. It aims to save over £4.5 million a year for the Council.

Of this £800,000 will be cut from street level public services.

It is dressed up as a devolution project in a report to the Councils Cabinet next week

The reality is given away in a paragraph in another report which says,

” Community Open Space Management – As part of the review of Place Based Services the Council are looking to transfer the management of open space to local communities. Such a transfer would reduce both day to day and long term costs and enable the Council to achieve savings”.

The Council report – rightly – does criticise some local Councillors for not providing “leadership”.

In truth many – particularly on the Labour side – do not live in the wards that they represent and rarely even visit the people that they are supposed to represent. They don’t produce newsletters, don’t survey public service quality standards and only follow up issues when there is an election in the offing. They are the people who are least likely to drive community action.

It is also fanciful to suggest that all communities have the capacity to take on public service management .

While the devolution of powers to local communities is welcome

Seeking a way of blaming local volunteers for a deterioration in public service standards is a deplorable tactic

Be Clear on Cancer – York campaign starts

Latest data reveals 62 people in York are diagnosed with cancers of the stomach or oesophagus (gullet) each year.

York is supporting the latest ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ campaign that has launched this week urging people to visit their doctor if they have heartburn most days for three weeks or more, as this can be a sign of oesophageal or stomach cancer.
(more…)

Grants to apply for Better Play for young people

Community groups are invited to apply to City of York Council’s Better Play Grant, which provides funding to organisations that deliver play opportunities for children and young people in York.

In the new financial year, £87,000 will be shared between projects of between one and three year’s duration, and which address the priorities highlighted in the York Taking Play Forward policy. In the current Community Play programme, four organisations are delivering projects until the end of March 2015.

To qualify, applicants for the 2015-18 funding must be a constituted voluntary organisation, or a community organisation with policies and operating procedures in place which are appropriate for working with children and young people. Successful applicants will also be required to register their organisation on the YorOK Service Directory.

Anyone wishing to talk through a project or idea in more detail before applying can contact Tim Waudby on 01904 553426 email: tim.waudby@york.gov.ukor Mary Bailey 551812 email: mary.bailey@york.gov.uk
Application forms and guidance can be down loaded from www.yor-ok.org.uk/play and must be submitted before the deadline of 13 March 2015.

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