IN A court in Highbury, north London, a resigned-looking 59-year-old with a thick beard and alcohol on his breath pleads guilty to assault. The judge hands down a fine of £65 ($100), but waives the offender’s obligation to contribute to prosecution costs: his weekly disposable income is just £40 in welfare payments, after he pays the rent in the supervised hostel where he lives. But the judge has no discretion over a “criminal courts surcharge” of £150, an innovation introduced in April. Had the man pleaded not guilty and then been convicted, the charge would have risen to £520, or £1,000 had the crime been a more serious offence. The Ministry of Justice expects the new charge to bring in up to £85m a year.
Strapped for funds, central government departments and local councils are scrabbling to find new ways to balance their books. Ministries outside the departments for health and education have seen their budgets cut by an average of nearly one-quarter since 2010–11. Local councils have seen 37% of their central government funding disappear. And that is just the beginning: departments have been asked to find further savings of up to 40%, as...Continue reading
via Brian Rushton, Pay-as-you-go government
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