Have you been worse off since the tories came into power?

[samram]

Just wondered if anybody else is worse off since they came into power?
i work 16 hours a week as single parent
Child care is £88 a week term time and £120 half term.
In april i had my tax credits cut by £65 a week!
I am really really struggling at the moment.
Just wondered if anyone else is the same ?
I dont just mean single parents and mean families too !

Dh has had no pay rise for 3 years, so yes.

In terms of since the Tories - no, not yet. But when we are (due to child benefit stopping) it will be because they're trying to repair all the damage done by Labour. I think it's mostly madness to give higher tax payers child benefit..

Nope. Nothing to do with party politics since (again) the Tories were and are totally on board with the non-regulation of the banks. And it is that and that alone that got us into this mess.

I agree that someone would have to pay for the mess we are in, but why is it the poorest?

I am personally worse off (public sector, so pay is frozen) and of course inflation and the VAT hike mean that spending power is reduced. But as a family we're better off as dp has a v well paid new job. I agree with an earlier poster who said that people like us are the ones who should be worse off, not those earning less.

Who to blame? Well the Tories, of course, and the banks. Labour should have regulated the banks more but the Tories urged even less regulation. And remember that George Osborne supported all of Labour's spending plans until 2008 so it's not credible to blame all the current mess on labour. In fact it's not only wrong it's also very boring.

Because they think they can get away with it desperately. And it seems they can.

Some adjustments needed to be made. However that doesn't have to equal major cuts, there are other ways of saving/making money.

If it did came down to cuts it should absulotely not be: The young, the poor and the disabled who get it in the neck.

And yet, look what's happened. All the policies bar the libdem one to raise personal tax allowances penalise either the young, the poor or the disabled.

I'm better off, and happier since the Tories and Liberals got into power.

I was made redundant in the recessionary dying days of the Labour government, set up my own business after a difficult month or two on the dole queue. It's doing really well, despite the "doom and gloom" about the economy.

Most of the wailing "now", as opposed to the move into recession 2007-10 is coming from the public sector. The private sector (which funds the entire public sector) had its recession 2007/8-2009/10, big pay cuts and redundancies. things are now recovering in the private sector, though it's been a longer process than anyone anticipated.

The public sector now needs to cut its cloth accordingly and restructure and reform too, in light of the massive difference between government expenditure (which is totally unsustainable) and tax revenues.

Things will recover, but slowly. You have a combination of Mr Brown's enormous splurge, and City Gamblers to blame for our woes - i would suggest in equal measure. Remember Brown opening Lehman Bros massive new HQ in Canary Wharf in 2007 - saying it was a shining example of dynamism that we should all be following?

The Tories and Liberals are merely picking up the devastating wreckage i am afraid.

And if you look at the cuts in their entirety (i.e how much the state will really cut overall in £ expenditure over the next few years) it's a pittance - we don't even balance the books for years .

What we spend will still be more than we take in tax for the next 3 years - but i guess it is better than nothing. Every mum that runs a household budget should be able to see this was never going to end well & there was never an alternative to what's happening now.

Those with conveniently short memories moaning now about evil tory cuts should remember what was happening in the early 2000s', and how so many bought into the boom when it was making money for them, when it was so obviously unsustainable.

I'm afraid there's a lot of mock outrage at the cuts and a lot of goldfish memory type behaviour from people who are intelligent enough to know better.

IMO public services can't (and shouldn't attempt to) run like private companies.
The NHS, childrens services, old peoples services, are not profit making enterprises, and when a government begins to try and model public services on private industry, quite simply, people die.
But Hell, only non-proft making people, so who cares?

I'm moaning now, and I most certainly wasn't buying a house in 2000. I was only 13years old!

I have had no benefit from any of this. I haven't had a free degree, or holidays on credit, I don't have a house. I will pay through the nose renting for at least a decade, probably more, squeezing every penny to make up a deposit and get a mortgage. I will have no pension. There is no point in having two parents working, because we lose more money in childcare than we'd earn extra (TC have no influence on that) so I have a growing hole in my CV which damages my future earnings. My children may not be able to afford to go to University at all.

What exactly am I supposed to be excited about?

It's all a fucking lie this thing about " well, you had it so good, now it's time to start paying"
Who exactly is paying? The poorest, the weakest, the most vulnerable.
Not the bankers, lawyers, big business.

Well, diesel, fuel and food have gone up, but we don't have to use the car too much, and we'd already started cutting back significantly on our energy use at home for more 'eco' reasons.

Meanwhile, DH's business is doing very well, they're hiring new people, and I've had a couple of rises at work.

So no, we're not worse off.

I've become desperately dependent on public services that are now being cut - the NHS and education.

Unless my lad can access full time state education I can't return to work - it's that simple. Sadly universal education and health care is no longer a political priority so from being totally independent of tax credits etc a mere year ago; I now find myself joining the depressing queue of those with their hands held out to charities - hoping desperately that a charity can provide the therapy my son needs that the state is not interested in providing.

It's so frustrating when you aren't used to the jobcentre, cab, council offices etc, so demoralising and soul destroying. It's a real catch 22 and really annoying when I know I could find work but for this hurdle as I've always been pretty nonfussy and adaptable.

Northernrock.

The better off ARE paying. We will lose £250 ish a month in CB from next year.

Worse off, as in huge fuel bills, utilities gone up, insurance gone up, food bill up dramatically. Most meat we buy is from the 'reduced' cabinet at Tesco, Waitrose etc. Menu plans are increasingly vegetarian, no bad thing though. We stopped doing school meals when dd2 started school, can't afford them. I think twice about going to the doctor's as prescription charges are so high. Clothes for myself and dh need replacing but making do. We are due to lose child benefit and I am now looking at going back to work after 7 years SAHM to replace what we'll lose. So yes, worse off, but coping and learning to cut back.

I returned from maternity leave to work full-time a month ago and will be made redundant from my third sector job in six weeks. The reason I returned full-time instead of the three days planned was because DP was made redundant from his job in December and has only been able to find temporary work at approx £5k pa less than he was on. I am now the main breadwinner and I have no idea how we will survive when my salary goes in July if I don't manage to find work straight away. Any work I do find will probably be temporary and for much lower pay. I'm lucky in that DS is cared for by a family member so my childcare is very cheap, we would be much worse off if we had to pay for a childminder or nursery.

My work experience over the last ten years has been in Sure Start, Connexions, local government and the third sector. All of these are facing significant cuts so I'm not very hopeful for my future job prospects. My current role is working for a charity who help people get back to work - our project has not been extended so the people who previously helped people off benefits and into work will be joining their former clients on their job search. The changes to my project are, as far as I am aware, a direct result of Conservative cuts.

Slightly worse off, but only due to prices for everything going up. I knew there was a recession coming (laugh if you like) and consolidated our business before it started ie not buying new properties at over-inflated prices and renting rather than selling. My hours teaching at the university have been cut due to cuts in their funding. But in the east of Scotland the recession hasn't been too bad, outwith the financial sector. DP has kept his job, but there are actually a lot of jobs here and not enough people to fill them (anyone know of a C++ programmer with hardware experience too?). OTOH one thing which has financially eased is that the horrendously high Council Tax in Scotland is no longer rising at around 6% per year.

If you can organise your life to maximise damage during such times, obviousy its much easier. Some people can't and are simply running to keep standing still (or paying the bills). I actually think it would be a good time to work abroad in a country which is doing better than the UK just now, such as Germany. I wish I could persuade DP to go back. Life is much sweeter there.

The weekly shop has gone up, but you can manage on less, buy basic range, go without treats......we have had to do it before.

Fuel price inflation is more of a problem. In rural areas people need cars they cannot rely on public transport. Even DS journey to school is now £3.90 per day.......lots of his friends use EMA to pay for this. Also free school meal should really be renamed a free school snack, because prices have gone up.

Our school as had to close it's swimming pool. It is the only local pool so little DC are nolonger able to have lessons. OAPs still have free bus passes but now have to pay full fare on the train. They used to pay half fare. We still have a library.

Not worse off at all, though obviously petrol and food has gone up. I'm self employed and am having a brilliant year so far. Business slowed slightly last year but still was good. I put up my prices to cover the increase in petrol and business hasn't suffered at all. My DH is in sales and business is good for him too. My dc's live at home and are both working full time so they pay keep.

It's not all doom and gloom out there but appreciate it is for some people. As it always will be, whoever's in charge.

The less that we rely on the state, the less likely we are to be affected by any changes to govt and policy changes. Self employment has its risks but at least I feel in charge of my own destiny.

We are worse off. My husband lost his job directly as a result of the new government tightening up contracts.

He does not blame them; he blames Labour. All that wasted money had to come from somewhere.

Another post and run OP?

I'm worse off but always knew I would be, we couldn't carry on like we had done for the previous years with the Government spending more than it got in tax.

Not directly as we dont claim anything but my business sells service/product that it is not essential and as many of my clients are struggling they have to stop using it. But while my earnings have droped my childcare cost hasn't so yes it is worrying. And everything seems to go up

Cyclops how can you be 'in charge of your own destiny'? Don't you rely on clients as SE?

Yes dh's salary is now capped.

No chance of a wage increase.

We are just thankful he kept his position.

Well, as I'm officially registered homeless and living in b n b, our housing costs have really gone up.
Ok, so I dont pay gas, elec or water as is included in service charge but my housing benefit has gone down by tenner a week...also with rising food costs, it costs a bloody fortune to feed the kids as we dont have a freezer so have to buy fresh more regularly.
I can work and I will find a job soon, but with lack of clothes (in storage) and having to declare homelessness on job apps....its bloody hard going sometimes.
Even my child benefit is going down once DD1 starts college, god knows why.
Most single unemployed mums I speak to, never pay top up rent, but I have to and have always had to. £193 for a bed and sodding breakfast a week now.