Angry another attack on sahm mum!

[mam29]

I was worried about new childcare arrangements and its got high limit earn up to 150k but both parents have to be working.

Im guessing from this article the current childcare voucher scheme being phased out

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21833929

where exactly are these term time jobs and cheap flexible childcare.

where are all these jobs that dont seem to require person to be fully flexible.

had 1st in 2006 went back full time when she was one in 2007.
fulltime place 52weeks nursery was 9000 a year you can claim relief up to 6k.

used vouchers

quit work after no 2 used vouchers for preschool education who had reduced to 1day a week doing nursery.

child no 2 started 1day a week from 18months and nursery been really good for her development. its £40 a day so 160 on 4week month.

husband used couchers as he works fulltime saves us a little.

child 2 now gets 15hour funding which helps.

was hoping to start child no 3 and use childcare vouchers now looks like cant do that and might have to wait until fnding term after 3rd birthday which think is bit late.

To make matters worse child no 2 has september birthday so missed this sept school year by 16days so have year extra paying childcare.

we lucky we dident lose child benefit as at moment we below 50k
we lost £10 a week childcare tax credits last april.

feel sorry for sahm mum whos husnand earns over 50k loses cb and now childcare vouchers yet they say preschool education is important and good for educational outcomes.

we very much feeling squeezed middle tonight as we just about get by each month as we privatly rent too.

How can SAHPs prepare to get back to work, which is what the Govt plainly wants, if they cannot afford the childcare to allow for retraining, pounding the streets job hunting and attending interviews?

Furthermore, we use a childminder for a couple of days a week because DH is in ill health. Without him getting that break I would need to take regular unpaid time off work to take care of the kids when he has a bad spell.

Don't disagree that sahp don't need childcare. Neither do wealthy parents need financial assistance towards providing it. And at some financial level, working is as much a lifestyle choice as staying at home. I suppose someone with the same or similar income and outgoings to us might be argued to have made lifestyle choices as much as us. Unless their work is valued considerably above my contribution to our family dynamic. But largely speaking, people on this thread are trying hard not to say that.

How can SAHPs prepare to get back to work, which is what the Govt plainly wants, if they cannot afford the childcare to allow for retraining, pounding the streets job hunting and attending interviews?

But what would you propose, a Job Seeker's allowance of childcare? How much would it be capped? How would it work for ad hoc childcare which is what people tend to need for job interviews? Tricky.

I've missed loads of overseas family weddings (I am foreign born) not least because I couldn't get ad hoc childcare for a week at a time, so what? I'm not expecting the govt. to pay for that.

Ah I missed the bit about both parents have to be earning at least 10K each to get the new childcare allowance of whatever they are calling it. A lot of people cannot earn 10K due to childcare commitments but still need childcare IYSWIM. But I suppose you only get it if you pay tax but at say £10,500 your not paying a lot of tax are you? Just my musings.

Not proposing anything, just responding to the assertion that SAHPs de facto do not need subsidised childcare.

I think there's a case for saying that if subsidised childcare is going to be restricted at all, that the most needy group would be lower rate taxpayers working FT. And SAHPs one of the lower priority groups.

Maybe if I were designing a subsidy scheme that would be my starting point.

Which is fine unless they are also being hassled back to work by draconian policies.

No one is being 'hassled' back to work if they can afford to be at home and prefer that choice. If i decided i didnt want to work, and my dh agreed to fund it, then I can stay at home forever! On the other hand, when people are relying on govt money, it's absolutely right and proper that that comes with certain conditions attached. The way some people talk, youd think people who can afford to not work are being chased into jobs- which is categorically not the case.

Its an interesting point about wealth. The average house price in London is £450k for a semi. To enable you to get a mortage you would have to be earning - what £150k? Thats for a semi. Of course you dont need to live in London, however its where the high earning roles tend to be.

What about tax relief for people working in London because their costs are SO much higher than other parts of the country. And it goes on and on.

Of course being a parent is the most important job in the world. Its a shame not every one thinks this including the young female thug I saw last week slapping her toddler around the face and told to shut the fxxk up.

Whose being hassled to go back to work....

My SIL is a SAHM. Moans continually about her life and has help coming out of her ears. Her DH is a very high earner so they can afford it but I get bored hearing about day to day problems being esclated to mass disasters!

You know about the UC conditions presumably? A SAHP claiming UC at a certain level is required to seek work. Fine. In that case it would be reasonable to say that subsidised childcare should be applicable to SAHPs who are trying to do just that but struggling to combine it with 24/7 parenting.

no - WOHP parents don't get extra help when they are job hunting.

Grown ups with school age children expected to look for working fitting in with school hours IS REALLY NOT A BIG ASK

WOHPs will get subsidised childcare! I can't bothered to argue on yet another don't bother me, I'm alright Jack thread.

Where does everyone think paying for SAHP's is going to come from.....

WOHPs will get subsidised childcare!

yes - for when they are at work

Its getting a bit silly, someone makes a lifestyle choice to stay at home (and have no childcare costs) and then whines that they need to be paid for childcare...

"All those who say lazy sahm such easy life its hectic always figured would have more time but 4school runs today,parenjts evening, gym, foodshopping, dcoctor surgery , preschool admin, housework and cooking. Its a shift that never seems to end."

But, OP, these are things that all parents do, some in addition to a full time job. WOHP rarely get "time off" for themselves when children are young because they are either working outside the home, or being a parent at home.

I can't read your posts very well but this really rankled with me. And, no, you are not being attacked. You are lucky you can afford to run a family on one income. Many low waged families have to work full time, just to survive and they will be better off if childcare costs are reduced.

Both my DH and myself share the school runs and of course attend parents evenings (they are not that often!). Honestly, housework, cooking, food shopping - these are just normal tasks. They are not exclusive to SAHP's

Gym is attractive though....

I honestly know my life would be much easier if I didnt work and stayed at home. But we made a choice and have stuck by it.

Its funny. I hope to do 40 years service eventually and it staggers me how many SAHM's say how lucky I am to have a pension like this - err - no I am not lucky - I have worked for hopefully 40 years.... You dont get it if you dont do the years! Or maybe some are thinking that you do.....

So SAHPs trying to retrain or looking for work should just take their children along to the library for studying, and take them along to job interviews. Rather than be able to make use of the childcare voucher scheme via their taxpaying partner. Yes when you put it like that it really does make sense to take yet another allowance away from families who already pay comparably more tax.

Childcare for training or interview time is an investment, like any other training or commuting costs, there are already limited subsidies on those, too. I said (somewhere, one of these threads) that maybe JSA claimants should be allowed some childcare subsidy, but would need to be pretty strictly limited.

Under the old scheme, SAHPs who were merely bored of raising little Tarquin could send him to nursery on the taxpayer, that wasn't very fair, either.

If kid over 3yo use the 15hr a week to attend library and study
For interview,important appt etc do what the rest of us do,get someone/dp watch kids
Presumably if study/interview lead to employment the housewife would need childcare anyway

Tbh these days it's fairly straightforward to do a lot of the research, and application for work on the Internet, so anyone posting on here has access to that, and a lot of it can be done from home, in the evening if necessary while the children are in bed. Yes, going along for an actual interview will require childcare- and yes, it's not easy when it's a one off situation and you have no family nearby. Been there, done that, many of us have. But honestly, it never occurred to me to expect the govt to provide on tap childcare for the occasions I might have an I interview. And you know what?- if the govt did provide a network of childminders prepared to do this on a flexible basis, we'd see loads of mums suddenly complain that they couldn't possibly leave little johnny when he's not used to it. I expect 'dumping them with strangers' might feature too...

Really, if people could look at the bigger picture they'd see how far childcare has come... It's not that long since there were
NO tax credits, NO free hours for 3 yr olds and 3 months maternity leave - parents would pay the full rate for childcare from
The moment their baby was 12 weeks old until they started school.
It just beggars belief to some of us that people are seriously suggesting SAHP should have free childcare .....