Big Society's Big Mouth Powered by v

Hi Alice, I currently volunteer at a college supporting learning diasable young adults between the ages 16 and 25 they struggle with simple tasks and smile when you help them put their coat on i go to work each day and they wave and smile and i help them improve their number skills and writing their name also with practical tasks like cleaning out pigs and so on. I have made such a bond with them it has inspired me to become a special needs teacher and i am so motivated to getting their. volunteering gives you a sense of satisfaction as you are changing peoples lives, but also it helps you learn a hell of a lot about yourself as a person. Read less

I see where your coming from Leanne, and maybe this big scoiety is pie in the sky, but I do think it will have positive effects on our communities. We do need to help each other out more the goverment sure as hell arent going to do it and this idea does give us the chance to do that, you touched on there being a 60 percent cut on services such as connexions, in my opinion not a loss, everytime i have used these facilities the help i have received has been poor and useless and youth clubs majority of the time are poorly run, what i am trying to get at is WE are going to have more control over what is going on in our communties rather than being told what can and cant be done, yeah it is a cop out and an excuse for cost cutting but we can use the big society to benefit us. and let me add i dont usually agree with anything the goverment does and i think that all the parties are a joke, and maybe just maybe as long as the big society in our areas are governed by people that arent affiliated with any particular party we will get what we want for our societies rather than what the goverment wants  Read less

I think the "big society" can work with people volunteering, but for people like leanne who have a lot on their plate already, it is too much to ask, i agree. Volunteering is only so good when people are able to get involved.

About the housing issue involving only 35's and above, this is outrageous as me and my boyfriend are trying to get a flat and already finding it difficult enough to get the deposit and get the right advice and our parents can't help us out as they're both trying to pay their own morgages! David Cameron is lucky to choose where on Downing Street he wants to live (doesn't even live in number 10 officially as it was too small) and not have to worry about all that, but for us on the ground he needs to live in our shoes and not be the stuck up tory he is.

He speaks raesonably plainly about what he's going to do, doesn't mean it's for the better. Read less

Hi Rachel,
Thanks for your comments above, it's really good to hear your perspective and that you are hopeful the Big Society will have a positive effect on our communities. In your experience of volunteering what local services do you think will need the Big Society the most? Also check out Rachel's discussion she wants to hear from people about the volunteering they do in their communities: http://goo.gl/TNdI7 Thanks
Kate Read less

Thanks Kate :) I think the Big Society will rely a lot on "hobby bobbies" as there are a lot of cuts in the public sector. I think we'll need a lot of people to volunteer to clean up the streets and things as jobs in the council are going and also just volunteering in social services, such as carers, tutors and children in care. I know it's a lot to ask, but surely if everyone pulls together it'll be possible! :) Read less

Interesting, I agree with Rachel - 'hobby bobby' sums it up perfectly. As a serial 'hobby bobby' myself, I think it's great the more attention is being drawn to the positive individual contributions that we can make to communities and the Big Society as a whole.

The catch, though, is that there's a dependence on the good will of volunteers ... here's hoping there's an infinite pool of it ... and if not v is doing great things to make it as sustainable as possible.  Read less

Hi Rachel,

Thanks so much for your post. There's definitely a lot of anxiety about cuts to youth services across the country - and also about how far the government is actually listening to young people. This website is one way for young people to be heard - and here at v, we're hoping to collate some of the most common views and concerns of young people, alongside some of the best ideas and suggestions - and take them directly to MPs to try to influence policies and decisions which are being made about young people.

In terms of your specific question about young carers, I just checked out the Princess Royal Trust for Carers website, and there's an interesting comment from their CEO about the potential impact of changes to benefits and EMA which could mean that carers and their families are worse off. Not good news, especially when carers save the UK over £87bn per year by through the caring role they play for family members.

http://www.carers.org/press-release/cuts-tough-will-it-be-fair-carers

The Princess Royal Trust for Carers has a specific website for young carers which might be of interest to you. http://www.youngcarers.net/

Keep in touch - would be great to hear your ideas for how young carers can be better recognised and supported for the role they already play in helping to create a more caring and compassionate society.  Read less

Hi Rachel

The UK Youth Parliament's Yorkshire & Humberside region are currently campaigning on the isssue of Young Carers. There's currently a bill going through Parliament to try and make it complusory for all young carers to get some support in some shape or form.
We are also working on an acreditation scheme to introduce into schools to identify young carers, along with other initiatives.
I'm really glad you raised this issue, it is a really important one and just to let you know things are being done to try and help Young Carers :) Read less

i also experienced one class mate at college from divoirced parents who took advantage of the system. fair enough to remove these cases. but 'improving the system' and making it work better and for those in the most need, surely doesn't mean cutting it by 66%? the NHS has some people who take advantage of the system, but we shouldn't cut that by two-thirds. I hope I'm wrpong, and this change doesn't affect both the number of children from single-parent and two-parent families going to college, nor the quality of their life whilst at college (16year olds have to go out afterall). we will see. Read less

I noted that from this there was another major loophole. Those children whose parents were self employed and had an "unstable" business could claim EMA in the possibility that their parents business would leave them with nothing. Again it is the problem with monitoring as someone ended up having 2 X-Boxes, a new I-Phone, I-Pod touch, a new car and driving licence and having nights out to local nightclubs every weekend, Friday and Saturday as well as living in a 5 bedroomed house for the 3 people family. And yet, people who were even just £100 away from the cut off point couldn't affor to have any of these things due to their circumstances at home. EMA needs to be monitored, not necessarily reformed.

I agree it shouldn't be set due to how long someone can sit in school or college for, but on the other hand, why should you get EMA for not being there? it's a monitoring problem again, but how do you make sure people learn? How do you suggest we monitor it all? I don't see how it can be monitored without problems arising. (I didn't get EMA so I'm counting on the information i've read and what i've seen here)  Read less

The students on EMA at my sixth form go on holidays to new york, shop in selfrridges and Jack Wills, and spend a few nights a week getting drunk in town. I don't get EMA, I havent ever been abroad, and my last holiday was 3 years ago - 2 weeks in the lakes. I shop in River Island and H&M and dont go out drinking! I turn up to my classes and im working hard to go to uni to study law. It has always seemed unfair that they get paid to go to college and I get nothing. My parents dont smoke or take drugs, they go out and work yet they still struggle to pay the bills. Yet we dont get free money. I just think that the whole concept of paying students to stay in education is wrong, especially if it is restricted to just some students! Education should be about learning because you want to, not because you will get £30 at the end of the week and a christmas bonus! Read less

But we can easily make farming and agriculture an "apprentice" type course. It's easy, i've done bits of farming in the country, i've done the gardening stuff out there, and an apprentiship scheme would be cheaper and more cost effective than cutting out other courses which are, yes creative, but helping those with no academic skills that understand only that 1 thing. Lets bring apprentiship deals in for some of these other courses which will be much more useful long term!!! Read less

That is not fair what so ever. In my opinion Music is the most important to offer all over the globe.Music brings people together, it helps people get an outlet from their regular hard day. I'm in 3 bands and an orchestra soo I know how important music is. I am actually listening to my ipod while typing this :p But music is the one thing in my life that helps me think and clear my head.
I am sure there are others in the world that feel the exact same as I do. Cutting music is never the awnser I'm sure theres something they could have done to fix it.  Read less