Happy New Year! In this edition of Hinterland: falling incomes, the pivotal role of the care system in all things health, strikes, recycling and inflation…

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UK household income likely to fall by £2,000 a year, says thinktank

We know the cost of living in rural settings is higher so this is a very interesting challenge to start 2023 with….

British households are only halfway through a two-year cost of living crisis, with average incomes likely to fall by more than £2,000, a leading thinktank has warned.

Typical disposable incomes for working-age family households are on track to fall by 3% in this financial year, and by 4% in the year to April 2024, according to the Resolution Foundation.

Only incomes of the very richest will rise, according to the thinktank’s annual Living Standards Outlook for 2023, while middle-income households will struggle to make ends meet after an average £2,100 loss.

The warning comes amid a rash of strikes by workers demanding pay rises closer to the average inflation rate of 10.7%.

A vote by teachers is expected to back strike action when the ballot results are announced over the next fortnight, adding more than 500,000 public sector workers to a tally that includes nurses, Whitehall civil servants and Border Force staff.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/09/uk-household-income-likely-to-fall-by-2000-a-year-says-thinktank

Care providers ask for doubled fees to care for people discharged from hospitals

With a disproportionately higher proportion of rural dwellers in the care demographic and a shortage of local choice this story highlights the differential impact the health and care crisis if likely to have on people living in rural settings…

Care providers are demanding double the usual fees to look after thousands of people who need to be discharged from hospitals to ease the crisis in the NHS.

Care England, which represents the largest private care home providers, said on Sunday it wanted the government to pay them £1,500 a week per person, citing the need to pay care workers more and hire rehabilitation specialists so people languishing in hospital can eventually be sent home.

The rate is about double what most local authorities currently pay for care home beds, an amount Martin Green, the chief executive of Care England, described as “inadequate”.

The demand comes as the health secretary, Steve Barclay promised “urgent action” with up to £250m in new funding for the NHS to buy care beds to clear wards of medically fit patients. The money will be used to buy beds in care homes, hospices and hotels where people are looked after by homecare providers, as well as pay for hospital upgrades. Stays will be no longer than four weeks until the end of March.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jan/08/care-providers-ask-for-doubled-fees-to-care-for-people-discharged-from-hospitals

Single-use cutlery and plates to be banned in England

A slightly different story, I wonder what the implications in terms of waste management and fly tipping of this feature in relation to rural settings are:

Single-use items like plastic cutlery, plates and trays will be banned in England, the government has confirmed.

It is not clear when the ban will come into effect, but it follows similar moves already made by Scotland and Wales.

Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey said the move would help protect the environment for future generations.

Campaigners welcomed the ban, but called for a wider-ranging plastic reduction strategy.

Government figures suggest that 1.1 billion single-use plates and more than four billion pieces of plastic cutlery are used in England every year.

Plastic waste often does not decompose and can last in landfill for many years.

Although it might be useful in terms of food hygiene, it can also end up as litter, in turn polluting soil and water.

The confirmation of the move from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) follows a long consultation, which will be published on Saturday 14 January.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64205460

Strike daily: How Monday 9 January strikes will affect you

Staple fare for 2023 methinks, it would be very interesting to look at the disproportionate impact of current industrial disputes in rural settings.

Monday is the first time since many people returned to work after a Christmas break that most rail services will return to normal.

But one train operator, Chiltern Railways, is still warning passengers to expect disruption.

The main strike action on Monday is by driving examiners.

Looking ahead, ambulance workers in England and Wales will strike for 24 hours on Wednesday.

Some bus drivers, and teachers in Scotland, will also strike this week.

We'll bring you another update on Tuesday to explain how these may affect you.

You can read more or watch this report about why people are taking strike action, and below you can find information on how it could affect you.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64189824

NHS to buy care beds to make space in hospitals

Innovation in action, the second story in Hinterland this time pointing to the pivotal role of social care in our current travails…

Thousands of NHS patients in England will be moved into care homes as part of the government's plan to ease unprecedented pressure on hospitals.

The NHS is being given £250m to buy thousands of beds in care homes and upgrade hospitals amid a winter crisis.

The move aims to free up hospital beds so patients can be admitted more quickly from A&E to hospital wards.

Labour's shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, said the announcement was "another sticking plaster".

The plans will be included in an emergency package to be unveiled by Health Secretary Steve Barclay.

Later in the day, Mr Barclay will outline a series of measures to address pressures on the NHS, including long waits for emergency care and delays to discharging patients who are medically fit to leave hospital.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-64204367

And Finally

UK inflation rate calculator: How much are prices rising for you?

You can now work out your personal inflation rate, not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing!!

Every month there's a new figure for inflation - it estimates how much prices are rising across all the goods and services in the economy.

In the 12 months to November 2022 the figure was 10.7%. That means things costing £1 in November 2021 cost more than £1.10 the same time the following year.

Our personal inflation calculator, built by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in collaboration with the BBC, shows you what the inflation rate is for your household, and identifies the items in your household budget that have gone up the most in price over the past year.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62558817