Reports of Ukrainian refugees returning to Ukraine for dental treatment as they’re unable to find treatment in the UK
People turning to DIY dentistry, pulling out their own teeth or creating home-made fillings and dentures
Tooth decay is the leading cause of hospital admissions for 6-10 year olds
In 2021-22, 83,000 people attended A&E for dental problems
Around 12 million adults in England haven’t seen an NHS dentist in the last two years
“They [people in England] are becoming so desperate that they are taking matters into their own hands. You’re then seeing the spillover into general medical practice, because people can’t get access to dental practice. And so doctors are becoming overwhelmed, A&E is becoming overwhelmed with dental problems. I think broadly the word ‘crisis’ is overused but we have been in a crisis situation for many years.” – Shawn Charlwood, chairman of the general dental practice committee at the British Dental Association
A 2022 BBC investigation found that 9/10 NHS dental practices across the UK aren’t accepting new patients for treatments. This is creating a huge oral health disparity between those who can afford to seek private dental treatment as an alternative, and those who can’t. Private dental care can be very expensive, and for many people in England, this simply is not a viable alternative.
NHS dentists will be given a ‘new patient’ payment of £15-£50 to treat patients who haven’t seen an NHS dentist in 2 or more years
Around 240 dentists (about 1% of the workforce) will be offered one-off payments of up to £20,000 for working in under-served areas for 3 years
‘Dental vans’ to be used to help reach the most isolated communities
NHS work made more attractive to dentists, with the minimum value of activity being raised from £23 to £28
Water fluoridation programme to be consulted on to attempt to reduce the number of tooth extractions from decay in the most deprived areas, starting in the North East
‘Smile for Life’ programme will offer advice to parents for baby gums and milk teeth and aims for children to see tooth brushing as a normal part of their daily routine
“Backed by £200 million, this new recovery plan will deliver millions more NHS dental appointments and provide easier and faster access to care for people right across the country” – Rishi Sunak
Criticism
The plan has been criticised by Labour’s shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, for being a “temporary measure.” Streeting has also drawn attention to the £400 million underspend in the NHS dentistry budget last year. Given that the new proposal is only backed by £200 million of funding, there are concerns that it may not be enough to drive the reform we so desperately need.
There was also strong criticism from the British Dental Association…
“Our recent surveys show over 8 in 10 dentists have treated patients who’ve undertaken some form of ‘DIY’ dental work since lockdown. It’s a national disgrace.
Ministers need to take some responsibility. A wealthy 21st Century nation is slipping back to the Victorian era on their watch.
The Government keeps saying it wants everyone to be able to access NHS dentistry. But there’s no sign of a credible plan to make that a reality, and no willingness to break from the failed contract” – British Dental Association
“This ‘Recovery Plan’ is not worthy of the title. It won’t halt the exodus from the workforce or offer hope to millions struggling to access care” –Shawn Charlwood
by Red Star Wealth
The XL bully dog ban was made effective yesterday, making it illegal to own a dog of this breed without a valid certificate.
What is the Ban?
Under this new law, it is now a criminal offence to own or possess an XL bully dog in England and Wales unless you possess a valid Certificate of Exemption. You also cannot:
Sell an XL bully
Abandon one
Give one away
Breed from one
Applications for Certificates of Exemption are now closed, meaning you must get authorisation from a court order for any new exemptions.
The new law comes with a range of other strict regulations. If you own an XL bully you must:
Keep it at the same address as the certificate holder – you can only keep it at a different address for a maximum of 30 days in a 12 month period
Tell Defra if you permanently change address
Have third party liability insurance for the dog and provide proof of renewal to Defra every year
Tell Defra if the dog dies or is exported
Keep the dog muzzled and on a lead whenever in public spaces
Keep the dog in secure conditions to prevent escape
Why Was the Ban Introduced?
The ban has been introduced in an attempt to reduce the number of dog attacks. It comes in the wake of publicised XL bully attacks which have led to severe injuries and in some cases, death. This includes people like Ian Price, age 52 who died in September 2023; 10 year old Jack Lis who died in November 2021; and Bella-Rae Birch, who died in March 2022 when just 17 months old.
NHS consultant, Richard Baker, has commented that XL bullies have very powerful jaws, which is why attacks from them can be so severe. He said, “It’s a crushing or tearing injury. Once they grip they don’t let go.”
Controversy
There has certainly been controversy around this law, particularly given its short notice for owners, breeders and shelters. Its opponents have argued that action needs to be taken against unscrupulous breeders and irresponsible owners, rather than punishment being carried out on the dog breed.
The Dog Control Coalition, made up of groups like the British Veterinary Association and the RSPCA, said “Banning the breed will sadly not stop these types of incidents recurring.”
In an open letter to Rishi Sunak in December 2023, they outlined a number of concerns, such as:
The speed of the ban being introduced
Inadequate financial support for owners to comply with the exemption
Whether the vet profession has the capacity to neuter tens of thousands of dogs in order to comply with this ban
The impact on the rescue sector
A lack of enforcement support
Sophie Coulthard, an organiser of the ‘Don’t Ban Me – License Me’ campaign group, said “The problem with this knee-jerk reaction is that it won’t stop dog attacks. We need to focus on licensing and educating owners, with compulsory training and tougher punishments to prevent people from impulse-buying dogs.”
The group is calling for the government to adopt a similar approach to the Calgary Model in Canada as an alternative to the XL bully ban. The Calgary Model is an educational, licensing and stronger enforcement programme that has been hugely successful, helping to reduce the number of dog bites by 70% and creating a 15% decrease in aggressive dog incidents within 5 years of implementation.
by Red Star Wealth
When it comes to government policy and funding, the North of England often seems to miss out. The scrapping of the Northern leg of HS2 is one of the most recent examples of this, so is ‘levelling up’ a lie?
North Cut out from HS2
Last month, Rishi Sunak announced that the Northern leg of HS2 from Birmingham to Manchester was to be scrapped due to spiralling costs.
This means that the high-speed rail line intended to transform transport over Britain now will only exist between London and the West Midlands. Once again, ‘levelling up’ has been abandoned in favour of serving the needs of London.
Sunak’s Alternative: Network North
Sunak has promised that all the funds intended to be used for the Midlands and Northern areas of HS2 will be reinvested into transport plans for those same areas.
Some of the funding from these new plans include:
£12bn to better connect Manchester and Liverpool
Nearly £4bn allocated to improve local transport across the North’s six city regions
£2.5bn to fund local transport for towns and smaller cities
Upgrades to the Energy Coast Line between Carlisle, Workington and Barrow, enabling trains every 30 minutes between them
£100m shared across North and Midlands to support the development of London-style contactless and smart ticketing
£3bn for improving connections between major cities
£2bn towards new Bradford rail station and line connection
Almost £3.3bn set aside for building potholes
£2 bus far extended to December 2024 rather than rising to £2.50
£700m bus funding package for the North
£1.5bn for Greater Manchester
Nearly £1bn for Liverpool City Region
“Every penny of the £19.8 billion committed to the Northern leg of HS2 will be reinvested in the North; every penny of the £9.6 billion committed to the Midlands leg will be reinvested in the Midlands; and the full £6.5 billion saved through our rescoped approach at Euston will be spread across every other region in the country.
Instead of one line, serving a handful of stations and tens of thousands of people each day, Network North will serve hundreds of places and tens of millions of people each day, right across the Midlands and North. That is real levelling up.”
This all sounds pretty good, doesn’t it, but how can we be sure the government will deliver and that this isn’t just another failed promise?
As argued by The Yorkshire Post,
“Taken together, it means the Government has cancelled the certainty of a high-speed rail line serving the North and Midlands that was more than a decade in the planning in favour of a series of hypothetical schemes that run the risk of either requiring much more funding or simply not coming to fruition at all.
It is little wonder there is growing cynicism about whether much of ‘Network North’ will happen as billed”
Andy Burnham’s Response to Network North
Mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, responded to the replacing of the Northern leg of HS2 with Network North by pointing out how no Northern leaders or mayors had been consulted in this new plan. Whilst the HS2 transport plans involved Northern leaders and helped represent Northern voices, this new plan does not. How can a plan be created to help the North of England without the input of actual Northerners?
“So, what has been announced today is not a solution to the East-West bottleneck that we face on the railways in the North. It does not deliver that new line. It involves patching up existing lines and leaving us with a problem that has still not been fixed. So, it doesn’t work East-West.
“It just does not make any logical sense to take HS2 trains up from London to Birmingham and then off HS2 onto the West Coast Mainline which is already a heavily congested line
“And people here know […] it’s not just East-West where people can lose hours of their working week when making journeys. It can be North-South as well, because neither railway is as reliable as it needs to be for people here in the north of England.”
Manchester City Council Leader, Cllr Bev Craig has said
“We need to approach this with diligence and a watchful eye to make sure the North isn’t being hoodwinked into the promise of more cash, into the promise of more investment, and into the promise of legislation to deliver this without it being realistic or without it ever being on the table”
Will the government actually deliver the new plan of Network North or will it face the same fate as the northern leg of HS2? Will the north finally have our transport needs considered? I guess only time will tell…
by Red Star Wealth
Sunak’s recent decision to ’empower’ patients by giving them the option to travel further or go private to receive treatment highlights the continued struggles of the NHS to cut down on waiting times.
Sunak’s Decision
Rishi Sunak recently announced that GPs will now be required to offer patients up to 5 healthcare providers where clinically appropriate. They will have to give patients the option to travel further for treatment or to go to a private alternative (bypassing the NHS).
The aim of this measure is to tackle the continued NHS backlog in an attempt to reduce waiting times for treatment.
“While we agree that patients should be at the centre of decision making about their care, doctors working in both primary and secondary care are acutely aware that our patients just want to be seen in good time and close to home. It is long waiting lists, due to the long-term undervaluing of NHS staff and poor workforce planning, that are preventing this from happening, not a lack of patient choice”
“There are no shortcuts here- in order to make real progress, the Government must focus its efforts on addressing the workplace crisis across the NHS, investing in the health and appropriately valuing staff. That is the only way to tackle the record-breaking backlog and help patients who are desperate to be treated swiftly and close to home”
This is a particularly prominent set of points when we consider figures that show the NHS to be strained, and its staff to be overworked. The number of patients per fully qualified GP has grown in 66% of practices since 2015; this means that each GP is having to deal with more and more patients every year.
Further to this, the BMA recommends that GPs see no more than 25 patients a day. Despite this, over the whole of March, the local GP practices for 62% of people living in England’s most deprived neighbourhoods saw over 25 patients a day on average.
The Turn to Private Healthcare
Sunak’s recent decision highlights NHS’s struggle as he is essentially trying to get GPs to get more patients to use alternatives to the NHS (through private options), to reduce the load it is taking on.
Therefore, it comes as little surprise that Aviva reported a 25% increase in the number of new health insurance policies taken out with them in the first 3 months of this year. Private healthcare is becoming increasingly enticing as the NHS continues to be understaffed, underfunded, continually backlogged, and plagued with strikes from its stressed-out workers.
by Red Star Wealth
Jeremy Hunt’s decision to scrap the pensions lifetime allowance, announced on Wednesday 15th March during his Spring Budget, has been met with controversy.
What was the Lifetime Allowance?
The lifetime allowance previously capped the amount that individuals could save into their private pension before incurring a tax charge. Previous to the Spring Budget, the lifetime allowance was set at £1,073,100, with expectations that Hunt would increase this figure to £1.8 million. However, in a surprise move he instead decided to abolish the lifetime allowance completely.
For most lower and middle earners, the scrapping of the lifetime allowance will not affect them. This decision will mainly affect higher earners as these tend to be the people who can afford to build bigger pension pots.
“It is a pension tax reform that will stop over 80% of NHS doctors from receiving a tax charge and incentivise our most experienced and productive workers to stay in work for longer”
“I have listened to the concerns of many senior NHS clinicians who say unpredictable pension tax charges are making them leave the NHS just when they are needed most”
The decision to scrap the lifetime allowance is aimed to keep people close to retirement in the workforce for longer, as well as encouraging those who have already retired to return to work. This is because there is more incentive for employees to stay in work to continue building their pension as they won’t face tax penalties for doing so. The idea is that this will help stimulate economic activity and produce economic growth.
Criticism
However, this decision has been met with controversy, with some arguing that whilst these changes would indeed combat the issue of 55% tax penalties faced by doctors, they would also give a big boost to many wealthy people.
David Brooks, head of policy at Broadstone, has argued that scrapping the lifetime allowance and increasing the annual pensions contributions has acted as a “huge tax giveaway to the wealthiest people in the country”
The following images is taken from the director of the Social Market Foundation, James Kirkup’s, twitter:
Perhaps the government should be focussing on getting more people to start building pensions, rather than helping those with large pensions make them even bigger.
Shadow Chancellor and Labour MP, Rachel Reeves stated:
“The only surprise in the budget was a huge handout to the richest one percent of pension savers […] Labour believes that the tax burden should be shared fairly. That is why I’ve announced today that Labour will reverse the changes to tax-free pension allowances. It is the wrong priority at the wrong time”
Given that Labour is favoured to win the next general election, it is a real possibility that Hunt’s scheme may not be in place for very long…
To read more about other changes announced in the Spring Budget, check out our previous blog.
by Red Star Wealth
Let’s have a look at some of the key changes announced in Jeremy Hunt’s Spring Budget earlier today.
Pensions
Hunt announced that the pensions lifetime allowance was to be abolished, meaning more people can save unlimited amounts into their private pension without incurring a tax charge.
He also announced an increase in the tax-free yearly allowance for pension contributions, taking it from £40,000 a year to £60,000 a year.
Fuel, Alcohol and Tobacco
The 5 pence cut to fuel duty on petrol and diesel was due to end in April but Hunt has announced a freeze of fuel duty for another year, helping keep down costs for motorists.
Tax on tobacco is set to rise by 2% above the rate of inflation, or for rolling tobacco, 6% above inflation.
Most alcohol duties will be rising in line with inflation as of August, meaning supermarket prices for booze will increase. However, Hunt has also mentioned a draught relief scheme to be implemented from August 2023 which should keep pint prices in pubs down.
Energy
Energy bills for the typical British household were due to rise to £3,000 a year from April but the energy price guarantee has now been extended until the end of June, keeping this figure at £2,500 instead.
Hunt has that the government will invest £20 billion over the next 2 decades into low carbon energy projects.
Nuclear energy will now be classed as environmentally friendly for investment purposes, meaning it will qualify for the same investment incentives as renewable energy.
Hunt has also stated that £63 million will be given to leisure centres to help them cope with rising swimming pool heating costs and investment to become more energy efficient.
Childcare
One of the main highlights of the budget is the expansion in state-funded childcare. Hunt has promised up to 30 hours a week of free childcare for eligible households with children as young as 9 months. This won’t be fully implemented until September 2025 but will be rolled out in stages from April 2024.
Families on universal credit are set to receive childcare up front rather than in arrears. Instead of a cap of £646 per month per child, this will now be increased to a maximum of £951.
Hunt has further announced relaxed rules in England to allow childminders to look after more children.
He’s also increasing the funding paid to nurseries providing free childcare by £204 million from September this year, rising to £288 million next year.
Corporation Tax
Corporation tax will indeed be increasing, taking it from a 19% tax on taxable profits over £250,000, to a 25% tax. However, Hunt has also announced a new policy of full capital expensing over the next 3 years which will allow companies to deduct money invested into new machinery and technology from their profits, helping to reduce their tax liability.
Support for the Vulnerable
Hunt has announced a new system of Universal Support across England and Wales. This is a new voluntary employment scheme for those who are disabled or have health conditions. Up to £4,000 per person will be invested to help support around 50,000 people a year in finding suitable work which caters to their needs.
Hunt has also announced funding of:
£400 million for mental health and skeletal support
£3 million to help those with special needs to enter the workforce
An additional £10 million over the next 2 years to help charities in England who work in suicide prevention
Other Notable Points
-£200 million this year to help local councils in England repair potholes
An extra £11 million in defence budget funding over the next 5 years
