Something i just DON'T get.......

[pucca]

I have briefly looked into this before and i still cannot get my head around it.

I applied for a part time job a couple of months ago, my earning for example would have been £100 per week, but childcare would have amounted to £105 per week, i rang up tax credits and was told because my dh earns on the threshold we wouldn't be entitled to help with childcare.

I have no family to help, so in order for me to go back to work (which i would like to do for the £) i would be working and £5 a week down?!? what the hell is all that about? i thought the childcare element of tax credits was to help mothers back into work.

Am i just really stupid that i am missing something here? why would i put my kids into childcare, go out to work AND be £5 down?

Is there no help for people in our situation? dh is by no means on a good wage, but it just wouldn't be viable for me to go back to work yet, plus dh now works very odd hours, different all the time and quite alot of overnight stays so i couldn't work evenings for eg.

There is help for the people on really low incomes, obviously the rich doesn't need help, but what about the lower part of inbetween-ers like us?

[Wisteria]

It seems to be 'just the way it is' pucca...

No help I know, but you are not on your own in this - the only way is to either find other Mums in the same boat and mutually help each other with the childcare/ job share etc, work when your dh is home or wait until the dcs are a bit older.

[mustrunmore]

I'm looking for a weekend job now, as i've run out of off-work-with-boys money. But there's no way we can afford childcare either. Like your situation , dh does a range of shifts, so I'm looking for a job for 3 weekends a month (he works the other one). As a manager befoer kids, I know my chances of someone wanting to employ a weekender that cant work one on four are very slim . But thats our only way, as I refuse to give all my wages to not be with my kids

[alfiesbabe]

You've hit the nail on the head pucca.....people on really low incomes/single parents etc get support. People who are really well off don't need the support. And then there's a whole layer of people in the middle who get shafted!
We were in exactly the same situation some years back. DH didnt earned a reasonable,but by no means great, income. It wasnt enough to live on, so I needed to work too. But if i worked, virtually all my income went on childcare! Catch 22!! There's no easy answer - either you need to try to find some reciprocal arrangement with other mums, or accept that for a while you won't get any financial benefit from working (I paid almost my entire salary on nursery fees for 2 kids for a year or so simply to maintain a foothold in my career), or you can decide it's not worth the hassle and remain at home for the moment.Atleast its temporary - once the kids are in school you're looking at before and after school and holiday care only. You'll get a good 6/7 hours of the day when they're looked after for free!!
I know how you feel - it's NOT a fair system, and it particularly pisses you off when you realise that if you left your DH, you'd get more help to enable you to work .

[alfiesbabe]

sorry i meant DH did earn a reasonable income - duh

[pucca]

Thanks for the replies

So it isn't that i am incredibly stupid then, i thought i must be missing something lol.