• Savers are Losers. Stop it !
    This petition is presented for the purpose of creating a better framework of Interest rates and Taxes, as applied in an inflationary environment to High Street Savers. In this document the word 'real' is used to indicate that Inflation has been taken into account. Present Situation In the past 80 years there has been only one instance of an annual RPI deflation. That was 2009. A Saver is rarely rewarded with a positive real gain under the present methods of setting interest rates and income taxation. Each year the Saver pays income tax and loses a capital value related to Inflation. In Good Years, Savers are provided with a real gain, but real Income Tax is at a high rate, usually between 50 and 100%. Sometimes, Savers pay 100% real Income Tax and a real Capital Tax as well. In Bad Years, Savers pay real Capital Tax, together with a real Ex-Inflation Tax (excess of inflation over interest) . The last 12 years have been 'bad' years, except for 2009. Wealth Transfer For about the past 12 years Savers have been losing real Capital Value from their Savings due to inflation. These losses are not 'lost for all time and to all', but they are losses of capital value from Savers. This capital value is transferred to Debtors, as capital gain or other forms of value transfer. Essentially, due to the action of inflation Savers find their capital value reduced, while Debtors find their debts reduced. The conditions for such a Transfer is caused by devaluation of the GB Pound; recognised by; A) Statutory rate Inflation rate specified to Bank of England as 'monthly' & 'medium term' target, B) Actual Inflation experienced in the UK while the Bank of England attempts to hold Inflation to the Target. No Capital Transfer Tax nor Capital Gains tax is paid on such Transfers. No restitution is paid to Savers for these losses The ONS has no collected data by which to estimate the total value of transfers of such monies. As a first estimate of total UK Saver's losses caused by the current system of Tax&Inflation we can use annual devaluation of the UK Savers total Capital. BoE data suggest that UK Savers have about £1200x10^9 in Term Deposits, and about £800x10^9 in Sight Deposits. A total of some £2000x10^9. This capital loses value at the rate of devaluation/inflation. Say an annual loss of value of £20x10^9 for each 1% of Inflation. To prevent this loss it is suggested that Inflation should be reduced to Zero, or, that Savers should be reimbursed for losses caused by Inflation. It should be noted that currently most Saver accounts are held by Bank, Building Society, and other organisations, who as a matter of course make the calculations for, Interest paid, and Tax deducted. It appears more logical, therefore, to continue with this system, but make sufficient changes to provide a Saver with a real positive reward, after Tax. Proposal I Rarely is the interest paid to Savers, positive after tax and inflation. We suggest that legislation be enacted to provide a legal minimum savings interest rate. Higher rates will be set by 'market forces' It is proposed that there be a legal minimum rate of 1% above RPI Inflation. Proposal II The volume of Tax raised on Savings Interest is currently excessive because no account is taken of Inflation. A fair income tax on Savings Interest might be based on real income. It is proposed that an Index-link to both Savings' Capital Value & Interest, is used for Income Tax purposes. Proposal III An Income tax based on real income would yield a much smaller volume of tax. Were this tax reduced to zero rate, there would be no cost of collection. It is proposed that Savings Interest is declared tax-free. Proposal IV Were no change to be made to the Taxation System as applied to Saving Interest, it would be appropriate to modify the proposed Legal minimum interest rate for Savings, to allow for this taxation disadvantage. It is proposed that in such conditions the Legal Minimum rate of Savings Interest shall be 125% of the rate proposed above. This will over compensate those who do not pay income tax, and will be an insufficient adjustment of those who pay income tax at the 40 and 45% rates. For the purposes of this Petition we retain a simple flat rate tax concept, set at 20% or 1/5. It is proposed that the minimum rate of Savings Interest to be 5/4 x (RPI +1)%. Proposal V So that the lack of 'fairness' is removed, we have made the proposals above. Such a situation might return. We propose that a Treasury position of 'Savings Champion' shall be created by primary legislation. The specific duty of the Savings Champion will be to keep watch on above changes ( when they have been instituted by legislation) and report to the Chancellor of the Exchequer when they are not, or appear not to be, adhered to.
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    Created by Mervyn Randall Picture
  • STOP LLOYDS BANK CHARGING £10 PER DAY FOR ANY OVERDRAFT + MORE
    Lloyds is an old english bank that is changing for the worse and has been owned by the english tax payer yet continued to not realise or accept that it cannot act in non-common sense, off-hand, aloof, over complicated and unreasonable manner when onteracting or communicating with its owners and customers. I have a very small company with a commercial account with lloyds and over a year ago they suspended the functioning of my visa debit card. They admitted it was in error. The forced £100 into my account without my knowledge. I refused this as compensation. They then offered £300 as final settlement. I refused this as it was not enough. I did not have my card for 9 days. I could not buy online. I had to wait for a new card to be sent ans them further for a pin code. When i said £300 is not enough to cover the loss of earnings, stress and compensation for the time to work on their error they sent a letter saying they would not deal with me anymore and the letter has bold capitals at the top saying 'final decision'. The time taken to deal with their error has been hundreds of hours. I have charged for this and invoiced them at there head branch in london. There has been no attempt at any level by lloyds to be approachable and embracing. There has been every attempt by lloyds to be detached, blocking and aloof. I then contacted the uk's financial ombudsman. After 3 or so months i got to a legal person under their adjudication system. I then had health issues and decided to pause the pursuit of compensation for my limited company and also to pursue the well overdue systemic change needed within lloyds, both for commercial accounts and also personal accounts. Lloyds also have my address wrong. This is how blinkered and basic the errors are. Behind every amazing sme business/startup is a person called the m.D, or ceo. Their lives,, and those of their family and friends are directly affected by the appalling behaviour of the uk's banking systems. Its time for deep systemic change within lloyds so great britains businesses can flourish, without being kicked in the face by the organisations that need to help them. I try so hard to strip emotion from this an stick to facts. However, this is near impossible as it is an emotive subject. And so it should be, we are talking about peoples lives and livelihoods. I am not bringing problems without solutions. This does not have to be convoluted, difficult and over-engineered. It is time to be compensated for all the trauma, frustration, distress, loss of business face, loss of earnings, loss of address (to lloyds), the many 100's of hours of deep analytic work, phone calls, letters, emails and recording all these. If you have the same story as me, and maybe you are simply exhausted from the fight, id like to hear from you however it has to be only facts and they have to be substantiated by you with a citation/date time stamps. I cannot do all this on my own but maybe collectivley we can create a register of actions, dates and times with how it cobbled your business and you. After the ppi scandals we now have new lloyds authorised and promoted malpractises coming out. This may be the right time to make a change for the better for everyone and to save a major long standing british institution. Please be aware this petition is first and foremost a petiton for change in culture, mission and dialogue and not a petition to get compensated. If that comes then all well and good but that may be a side-effect of the main petition. We need the uk's financial ombudsman onboard as well. It looks as though they are going through a rigourous and uneasy process of change but unlike lloyds, they are open, transparent, non aloof and reaching out for collaboration. This, and i cannot stress this enough, is an amazing surprising and wonderful discovery. I will be making a website where customers of lloyds can start entering dates, times, action, nonaction and proven affects. It cannot be a forum or hangout yet. We have to deal with only fact Eg: 1. Jan 2013-lloyds cancelled my business card with no notice 2. They admitted liablity verbally and by snailmail 3. They deposited money into my account with no notice and no reference number 4. They offered more money as compensation by snail mail letter 5. When i declined that amount they sent a snailmail letter saying go away and marked it 'final decision' Professionals and time-served heavyweights with a desire to change lloyds please join. We have elliott v lloyds tsb bank plc & anor [2012] ew misc 7 (cc) Citation: http://www.Scl.Org/site.Aspx?I=ed26547 Maybe start by writing a brief story Then start writing down facts Then order them chronologically Stay tenacious, focussed and humble and we can stop these crazy lloyds actions. £10 per day for being a few pounds overdrawn=bonkers
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    Created by Philip Swift Picture
  • Freedom of Information Request Illegally Refused by Sunderland Council
    Sunderland Councils Assistant Head of Law and Governance does not have the authority to decide where the public interest lies. The reply informed the requester the following: (I HAVE CONSIDERED WHERE THE PUBLIC INTEREST LIES) in respect of making the report public in response to your request. I do note that, as you indicate within the body of the request, the conclusion of the report is already in the public domain. While it is apparent that some members of the public, including yourself, consider they would benefit from seeing the report in full, and I take it you would prefer to see proof of the valuation, it is apparent that individuals remain intent on campaigning against this development. In this context, where information has previously been provided by the council in all good faith this has routinely been misinterpreted and misrepresented by individuals, in ways that are in fact misleading to the public and which generate a further administrative burden to the council in addressing and correcting these misconceptions. While I appreciate that you may not be among those individuals who have misused information in this way, it must be remembered that release of information under FOI has the effect of making it available to everyone.) The full reply can be viewed by following this link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/237101463/SCC-Ref-14-05-62 This person has decided that she can decide where the public interest lies in respect of making the report public. The ratepayers of Sunderland have a right to see the file the council holds on the sale of the land at Marine Walk. They have a right to decide if procedures were followed. How could the information within the file be misused / misinterpreted or misrepresented if all is aboveboard? SCC has by their own admission spent thousands of pounds of ratepayer’s money and many man-hours refusing a simple request to view the details of a land sale??? I request Sunderland City Council release the information held on the sale of land on Marine Walk Roker Sunderland.
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    Created by Len Lowther
  • 50+ women being crucified by the new pension rules
    This is an important issue whereby many women over the age of 55 particularly will suffer financial hardship through no fault of their own. There has been no proper planning or compensation considered for or this small minority of women which will suffer as a result. Many women over 50 find themselves living alone and had always expected to retire with a state pension at 60. The new legislation has not given woman a fair enough amount of time to prepare for such a major financial disruption to their lives.
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    Created by Susanna Young
  • Violence towards the women of Raqqa is a flagrant act of war
    I visited Raqqa in 2005 and found it to be hospitable and the home to the many different cultures, which make up the Syrian population. There is no hard evidence, that female circumcision is a religious or cultural practice in Syria, which has an inclusive state education system. The brutal practice is the ultimate war crime against women and the act of marriage absolves the perpetrators of rape allegations. Refusal to comply with their marriage requests can result in ''lashings'' by both male and female mercenaries (Alison Baily, Woman's Hour, July 4th 2014). In the light of remarks made at the recent 'Girl Summit', this petition asks the Home Office to focus on Raqqa and condemn those responsible. At the summit, hosted jointly by the British Government and UNICEF, the Home Secretary Teresa May pledged to end the practices of forced marriage and female genital mutilation in the UK. Justine Greening, International Development Secretary, is quoted by the Telegraph as saying: ''We need to take on the issues that we have instinctively shied away from in the past. This has got to be a global movement. We know we need to do much, much more." The brutal acts against women are carried out by one or more of the groups, which declared Raqqa a ''Caliphate'' in February of this year. No-one admits to owning the groups, which carry out the barbaric acts but the British Government recognise them as ''invaders'' and ''terrorists'' and not part of the solution to the crisis in Syria. In a recent letter my local MP stated, that ''...the UK government is deeply concerned with the growth of terrorism in Syria...'' This is for Afaf, a young woman from Raqqa, who befriended me when I was there. Syria was once a safe destination and living space for women; lets make it so again. I don't have any recent photos and it would be dangerous to publish them. I do have photos taken in 2005, of some local children, who were attracted to my sun umbrella and made my walk around the now famous city walls of Raqqa fun.
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    Created by Diane Karoui
  • Change the Health and Safety Legislation regarding Public and Private Firework Displays.
    People should not have died in an incident that could have been prevented. There needs to be tighter legislation to prevent this ever happening again. Besides the 7 people who died there were others with life changing injuries and even those who appear to have no physical injuries still suffer mentally, this even had a huge affect on the emergency services who attended the incident.
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    Created by Tonia White
  • More Now Means Less Later
    It is economic and health and well being based logic. If you deal with mental health issues in young people; providing quality support for them at the early stage(s) of their problems, you will not only save millions of pounds in the long run due to less, older adults needing extended support; but you will also create a healthier and more productive adult workforce, thereby increasing the number of persons working, contributing to the UK economy, and paying tax.
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    Created by Charles Lawrence-Neumann
  • A return to affordable council housing
    For many reasons. to house Britain's 1,500,000 homeless. to revitalise the building industry and its ancilliary suppliers. to return Britain to being a community in charge of its own destiny. We have the skills we have the labour and there's plenty of money around at very low rates of interest.
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    Created by Malcolm Hart
  • CLEAN UP CARLYON
    The mess was deliberately created by a developer which began work in January 2004 without planning consent and since having been granted a planning consent has done nothing to clear up the mess that it deliberately created. This beach is the largest and most important in central south Cornwall.
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    Created by Peter Browning
  • Statutory Youth Service
    Currently there is no statutory obligation placed on local authorities to provided a Youth Service via the respective Councils in the UK. Recently, this has meant that councils when faced with Government austerity cuts have chosen to cut vital services to our young people. Through these draconian measures many Youth Centres in the hearts of our communities have already faced forced closure and hundreds of thousands of young people now face a much reduced range of services, support, guidance and now lack access to opportunities to acquire critical life skills. Youth workers who have trained over three years to become professionally qualified are being put out of work after many years of loyal service. The young people in disadvantaged communities, in particular, are being harder hit by these measures. For many vulnerable young people their locally provided service is a lifeline and is a much needed supported pathway to a more productive, happy and fulfilled adulthood. Up and down the country young people, communities , supporters and their Youth Workers have been trying to resist these cuts - but a much louder voice is needed to ensure that services are put on a statutory footing - helping to prevent even more cuts and the betrayal of our young people in the future. With your help and public outcry we may be able to ensure our young people receive the necessary services, opportunities and support that so many so desperately need and rely so heavily upon. Please help.
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    Created by Pete Sims Picture
  • Ensure Fairness in BBC Scotland's August 25th Independence Debate
    The referendum on the 18th September is the most important decision that the people of Scotland could be asked to make. A great deal is at stake for both sides of the argument, and for the rest of the UK. Many of us believe that much of the Scottish and UK media has treated the Yes Campaign and pro-independence supporters with contempt and outright condescension. This petition is urging BBC Scotland to recognize the importance of giving both sides of the debate an equal opportunity to voice their arguments for and against independence.
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    Created by Brian Nixon
  • Kidney Dialysis funding cut backs announced August2014
    The way that these potentially harmful new Tariffs are being introduced does not accord with the stated intention of NHS England and Monitor who say they are committed to setting national tariff in a manner consistent with the principles of transparency, evidence-based policy – making, consultation with the sector, and impact assessment, as well as in accordance with statutory duties.
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    Created by Peter Stevens