That a single parent having her salary topped up to over £6k shows how unaffordable family life now is

@Bellsbeachwaves I agree with you on this - the system has created this kind of thing and we need to look at the underlying issues -

for instance someone living in Leeds would likely get maybe £1200 top up at the absolute most because the rent element woukd be so much less and possibly childcare costs too .

we need to look at solutions which to me are making sure that we are not paying private landlords to charge what they feel like in a free market with significant demand ( like London) - my view is that there needs to be far more social housing in areas of high demand - or we look at situations like underwriting /gifting deposits/ on shared ownership - if people are working , I’m sure more would appreciate the security. At a point when the supply is improved bring in rent caps depending on size and area - yes some might get out of it altogether but plenty who are in it for capital growth will not . Give the pension and insurance companies massive incentives to convert unused commercial buildings into nice social housing or shared ownership housing or mixed - - and stop allowing developments to be built with no element of it - completely stop right to buy in any way .

Why is it either or? Why can't she work, but live somewhere more affordable?

Having seen that she is pregnant with child number five I imagine that they would be blowing up any condoms like balloons to decorate their house since they don’t seem to understand the principles of basic contraception.

Indeed, but on balance better than her not working because she can't afford childcare, becoming deskilled by that gap and potentially not earning or contributing in the future.

Hi i'm a single parent and i take home about 2800k per month. Everytime i (and i do regularly check) i go on a benefits calculator, it tells me no! Lol. I mean i get the single persons council tax, child benefit £100 approx a month and thats it. I would love this extra money you speak of? Ive tried the lottery and its not working either. Suggestions??

Unless she decides to pop out another baby!. That's the problem, removing this cap is going to make people be careless about having more kids.

They don't. They move out of London, or they don't have families.

She's 40 years old. She's been a single parent for 9 years, and her youngest is still a baby. It's quite a sizeable "snapshot".

I think that's right. It's The Mirror clickbait after all.

Isn’t youth unemployment higher in London? So give those jobs to young people, who then move out of London when they get older and want to afford a family home.

Very true!. I wonder how families who earn too much for benefits in London cope!. Rents are astronomical!

I think this is important to note - we are being shown a snapshot in time rather than the bigger picture.

Yes when her children grow up and leave and she gets no benefits, she might get a better paid job and pay tax. She might even be a high earner as she's been working while her children are small. Is that the argument?

Why shouldn't migrants get benefits? My parents are both migrants and one is dead, the other has a state pension. That's a benefit. Presumably you think she doesn't deserve it?

Why the fuck are you lying about not looking at the name on the envelope? It wasn't for you or your house and you opened it to be judgemental and nosy.

I find the amount mind boggling in the face of someone earning 100k is considered wealthy, but benefits can be topped up to more than that.
Maybe this is something that needs looking at for the 100k earner in certain circumstances.

However the woman receiving benefits is working full time and the childcare payments will only be for a short amount of time until her children are school age, after which her effective income will decrease. These payments are enabling her to continue working, so are serving an important function as well as ensuring she can support herself once she is older with the pension she will be paying into.

The 100k earner will surely be in the better position of the two once they no longer need to pay for childcare.

The point I take away for this is a single income of 100k can be a high income or a low income depending on where you live and what your family circumstances and stage of life are.

Yeah, we do need low and mid income workers in London. But people like her moving into London are part of the problem - they displace actual Londoners and drive prices up.

Absolutely I am.

The same news outlets who’ve been reporting the two child benefit cap ending means children being pulled out of poverty… it doesn’t because of the standard benefit cap which Rachel reeves has oddly not mentioned.

They know people have brains of goldfish and choose to not look at information, instead they like to be told what to think.

So lots of people would move out of London... I guess they need people on low to medium income jobs in London. The problem is they can't afford it without rent and childcare help.

I don't disagree with you. I guess the Tory's wanted landlords paid and childcare businesses opened. I guess I'm saying it's a bigger picture than simply benefit bashing. Something has gone wrong and I'm interested in the solutions.

Question - if London presumably needs minimum wage service providers who have to claim UC to afford the costs of liviing there, but the received wisdom is that they should move somewhere cheaper to reduce the drain on the state, how do you propose those sectors continue to function, as presumably their commute would be unaffordable?

Her childcare bill will only go down. She should live somewhere more affordable and pay more of her own bills.

Where’s the link? Is this even true? Or is it like all the budget speculation, just made up?

I'm saying that rent and bills and food and childcare shouldn't be so expensive that you'd need to rely on tax payers money to have as many children as you want. The problem is the system, not the people and how many kids they have. The problem isn't lifting the 2 child cap so less children live in poverty, the problem is that this capitalist society means the bare minimal needs are unaffordable for millions of working people.
And personally, I don't want more children than I have, even if I could afford them. Would you have 4 or 5 or more kids just because you can afford them? Is that your only factor?

Because she scrapes into the system which opens up the rent and childcare support.

What are you talking about?

My point is we don't say to people on £100k "ahh I see you pay £2.5k in rent, that's £30k a year net, at the 40% rate that's £50k gross that you spend on rent so it doesn't count as income - so let's treat you as if you're a £50k earner".

People who work pay all their expenses out of their net pay.