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Original poster

Really impressed with the budget

437 replies

Fullrecoveryispossible · 15/03/2023 13:34

I’ll give it to the chancellor. He delivered a bloody good budget today. Childcare reform (including increasing rates paid to providers by 30%) and 30 hours free for 1&2 year olds. Uk has avoided recession despite a global pandemic and Ukrainian war, more money on occupational health, plan to get more people into work

OP posts:
MoonlightMemories · 15/03/2023 20:07

Me too - some people with children will/may benefit from it but there's nothing except maybe for the energy price cap, that does anything for those of us on low wages and just scraping by and to who most of thebudget does not apply or isn't relevant to!

Anotherturnipforthebooks · 15/03/2023 20:11

I think I will delay ttc (am 30) so I will get this benefit.

I suspect a lot of people will do this and primary school intake for the 2029 cohort is going to be an absolute shitshow.

Mummybud · 15/03/2023 20:12

GoodChat · 15/03/2023 19:44

But he also said it's households where the parents work.

Show quote history

Yes, if the family wants to claim the free hours I do think both parents will have to be in work (the intention is to get women back to work, after all), but it looks like it will apply to all families.

BookishKitten · 15/03/2023 20:14

The current government would not get my vote even if they did get some things right - which they don’t or didn’t with this budget. I’m on Twitter reading the analysis of fiscalists, economists, actuaries and it’s not good… No matter how much they try to spin this! Imagine making an announcement like the 30h and then discovering that it would only kick in in 2025 ! Whilst they’re stealing on pensions! And increasing tax burden plus inflation which they haven’t managed at all, plus the scandalous levels of energy bills and the bloody mortgage increases which were all their bloody fault!
they have destroyed so much that they must be punished at the next general election and step aside for another party to take over.

Mummybud · 15/03/2023 20:14

SheilaFentiman · 15/03/2023 19:40

It does say ALL but it also says “the people who will benefit most are eligible parents of children who are born from December 2024 onwards”

A previous iteration of the article this afternoon said they weren’t sure what was happening with the £100k threshold. Then they updated it this evening with the swipey bit which says it applies to all so must have had clarity from govt.

crisscross101 · 15/03/2023 20:14

On paper I'm a higher earner- £80k. Husband is on £40k. 2 kids- one in wraparound care. We live just outside of London where a 3 bed semi is £750k and the cost of living is crippling. No child benefit because we earn too much but the reality is we're working just to pay bills that are high because of where we live.

We've decided that next year when DD1 goes to university we will move to a cheaper county and I will take a pay cut to circa £50k. We will be able to claim child benefit for DD2 and our mortgage will be a third of the cost.

There was nothin in today's budget for us as the "squeezed middle" so I'm not sure I would describe it a vote winner.

FlyOnAWing · 15/03/2023 20:16

@crisscross101 You are not the squeezed middle, you are a high earner. Choosing to buy an expensive house with be expensive.

GoodChat · 15/03/2023 20:18

FlyOnAWing · 15/03/2023 20:16

@crisscross101 You are not the squeezed middle, you are a high earner. Choosing to buy an expensive house with be expensive.

And taking a pay cut so you can claim child benefit is madness when it's £80 a month that won't last forever.

BookishKitten · 15/03/2023 20:18

i think that the squeezed middle are families where the joint income is around 80K max!

Mummysgonetobed · 15/03/2023 20:19

Whilst more accessibility to funded hours is amazing for parents, it’s a disaster for early years settings. And changing the ratio? That’s just dangerous. Who can successfully watch 5 two year olds at once in a setting?

I hope it never comes off (preschool manager here!) it’ll mean the end of us. We’re barely scraping by as it is.

Anotherturnipforthebooks · 15/03/2023 20:21

crisscross101 · 15/03/2023 20:14

On paper I'm a higher earner- £80k. Husband is on £40k. 2 kids- one in wraparound care. We live just outside of London where a 3 bed semi is £750k and the cost of living is crippling. No child benefit because we earn too much but the reality is we're working just to pay bills that are high because of where we live.

We've decided that next year when DD1 goes to university we will move to a cheaper county and I will take a pay cut to circa £50k. We will be able to claim child benefit for DD2 and our mortgage will be a third of the cost.

There was nothin in today's budget for us as the "squeezed middle" so I'm not sure I would describe it a vote winner.

You would take a £30k pay cut so you can claim about £1k in Child Benefit?

crisscross101 · 15/03/2023 20:31

BookishKitten · 15/03/2023 20:18

i think that the squeezed middle are families where the joint income is around 80K max!

80k (gross) in a London borough is nothing. 120k joint income is OK but after 4 years of crippling childcare costs (DD2 is 5) we have little savings and our mortgage payment alone has just gone up by £700 a month. If we're not the middle I dread to think what the middle looks like let alone the 'bottom'.

confused107 · 15/03/2023 20:33

As someone that has already spent £10k plus on childcare for the for my 26 month old after going back to work 3 days at 13 months, facing another 7k before she hits 3 this doesn’t help me one smidge
All I heard was pushing things down the road in the hope of winning things for the next election
Was hoping that this announcement would mean I could afford to work more, but no. We will carry on scraping by, working to pay the nursery, with me trying to keep one foot in the workplace in the hope things will get easier when she is 3!

MamaBearBoo · 15/03/2023 20:34

I have a a 7 year old and a 2 year old who will be 3/4 in 2024 so I'm still going have to pay for her pre-school from April this year til Xmas 2023 -so by 2024 she'll be entitled to free hours anyway as this is the term after she turns 3!

FlyOnAWing · 15/03/2023 20:34

The median household income in Tower Hamlets is £30,760

Gilead · 15/03/2023 20:38

I note the disabled have been fucked over again.

crisscross101 · 15/03/2023 20:39

FlyOnAWing · 15/03/2023 20:34

The median household income in Tower Hamlets is £30,760

I don't live in Tower Hamlets and it's not a race to the bottom.

nopuppiesallowed · 15/03/2023 20:46

We all want to benefit from the budget, but the truth is that the money comes from you and me - the tax payers. All any chancellor does is to share out the money that we, the tax payers, put in to the coffers. Right now any government is facing the tail end of the Covid effect (including the problem of financial support for the two million people who have Long Covid), the money going to support Ukraine and approximately £5.6 million A DAY currently being spent on providing hotel accommodation for asylum seekers. A further £1.2 million a day is spent on providing bridging accommodation for Afghan refugees. There is no magic money tree. I'm not expecting to benefit from the budget at all.

pinkpantherpink · 15/03/2023 20:46

Bless you 😅

Bebs13 · 15/03/2023 20:48

Yes they've done really well to steal Labour's crowd pleasing policy and make it look like their own!

www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/nov/05/labour-plans-expansion-of-state-nursery-sector-in-england-to-ease-pressure-on-parents

A shame there's nothing to help all the small businesses who will go under this spring with the needless energy price hike.

GoodChat · 15/03/2023 20:51

@crisscross101 you're talking about taking a £30k pay cut to claim child benefit. It kind of does feel like a race to the bottom.

Shamdyhandy · 15/03/2023 21:05

I’m a single parent earning £85k and I feel like the squeezed middle. I don’t struggle day to day but I mean I can’t afford to buy a 2 bed flat where I live so hardly rolling in it. Isn’t that the definition of squeezed middle?

HannibalHeyes · 15/03/2023 21:05

Haven't RTFT, given that it's presumably been started by a Tory stool. But thought that some of you might find this amusing, from Matt Green...

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 15/03/2023 21:07

BernadetteIsMySister · 15/03/2023 13:40

Certainly a vote winner isn't it!

I wouldn’t vote for that smug, arrogant, racist, crap uncaring government for a million quid.

Useless bunch of rich gits.

Perimeni · 15/03/2023 21:09

They know they’re going to lose the next election and that Labour will either have to ditch or fund the initiative, both of which will screw them over 😂

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