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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not understand why those with lower income get free childcare even if they don't work

446 replies

PrincessScrumpy · 03/09/2013 13:47

2 mums from a toddler group I go to are on income support and their DC start their free 2 days a week at nursery at the age of 2. I have dd1 age 5, and dtds 2. We couldn't afford childcare for 2 babies so I had to cut my hours by more than half and work from home around dc which is hard but we wouldn't cover the bills if I didn't. obviously twins was a surprise and a huge financial hit so savings are very low/almost non existent.

Anyway, I have another year until my dtds get free childcare while a lady with one dc gets it at age 2 despite having no intention to work. This feels really unfair and I just don't get the reasoning.
I'm not trying to benefit bash but it's hard not to feel angry. Willing to accept iabu, but can't help feeling this way.

OP posts:
LimitedEditionLady · 03/09/2013 21:46

It is so the child can go to nursery and be introduced to a early education setting and interact with others.Its nit available in every part of the country.These kids ate classed as disadvantaged due to the lower income so yes perhaos their parents dont work ir work very few hours but how can this not be a good thing for these children?Its not so the parents can have a free babysitter,its for the childs interest.I bet not every family does take this offer but i bet it has helped in a lot of situations.I work part time partly so my ds can go nursery because I think it is a really good thing for him so is it not a great thing to give kids who wouldnt have this chance the opportunity.Its not something to feel you have suffered misjusticed about.

LimitedEditionLady · 03/09/2013 21:46

Misjustice

MrsDeVere · 03/09/2013 21:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

expatinscotland · 03/09/2013 21:47

'Haha expat.....or have loads of kids and claim benefits and get free childcare. grin stepping away from thread.'

Sure! Definitely. And those baby singing and swimming lessons you were on about.

katese11 · 03/09/2013 21:47

I'm not angry at anyone, it just seemed a bit odd to me that I couldn't work when I wanted to because of childcare costs. Is that really something to be told off about? I certainly wasn't judging anyone's individual circumstances.

In my circumstances, I didn't have a 2yo, but I did have a 3yo who had his part-time place (2.5hrs every afternoon - not enough to work). To top him up to full-time would have cost me £100 p/week, plus childcare for my baby. Didn't earn enough to cover it so couldn't go back to work. I was just wondering if it'd make more sense to let people like me have the extra hours so we could earn enough to pay taxes? Isn't that hoe healthy economies work? As it is, I don't pay tax cause I don't earn enough....the whole system seems a bit backwards. Childcare for working mothers should be an investment into future economy building, no? I know I am way oversimplifying btw

MrsDeVere · 03/09/2013 21:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

hazeyjane · 03/09/2013 21:48

Yay me

I can't go back to work because my ds has such bad separation anxiety that I go to preschool with him. He is completely non verbal, has delayed understanding, has lots of sensory issues, has no real interest in other children, has low muscle tone, recurring pneumonia, aspirates food and reflux into his lungs, he has seizures......

He got 2 year funding.Yay.Me.

MrsDeVere · 03/09/2013 21:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Sirzy · 03/09/2013 21:49

But its not about allowing parents to work. It is about supporting children who are more 'at risk'. I don't understand why people struggle to understand that?

Charlottehere · 03/09/2013 21:51

Right can't stay away.Hmm mrsdevere so let's get this right, I should get a job even though dh works full time and I would no finically help with that but people on benefits should not get a job but free childcare. Hmm

Such an entitled view

Charlottehere · 03/09/2013 21:52

Sadly some scrounges people want it all ways. Over and out

BakeOLiteGirl · 03/09/2013 21:52

This is such a sad thread. I live in a fairly deprived area and the type of people who get these places really do need it. I think it's also really hard to imagine the isolation being at home alone 24 hours a day with a child if you have not experienced it. It's not all about having the children gone for some leisure time. It can be a lifeline in so many ways.

Sirzy · 03/09/2013 21:52

Charlotte, there it isn't MrsDeVere with the entitled view. That would actually be you!

MrsDeVere · 03/09/2013 21:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

expatinscotland · 03/09/2013 21:53

We didn't get 2-year-old funding because everything went tits up when DS was 3. Damn! So no one else should get it, either [stamps foot].

JoinYourPlayfellows · 03/09/2013 21:53

"It is about supporting children who are more 'at risk'. I don't understand why people struggle to understand that?"

People don't struggle to understand that.

Any more than they struggle to understand that school doesn't exist to provide free childcare.

And yet somehow when children start school childcare bills fall dramatically.

People can understand that the scheme is to provide early years education and still still think that their kid deserves the same access to early years education as the kid next door whose parents don't work.

If putting your child at greater risk (as perceived by the people who make these decisions) gets them extra education, then people at the margins are going to have opinions about that.

MrsDeVere · 03/09/2013 21:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ArbitraryUsername · 03/09/2013 21:55

Yes, it has absolutely nothing to do with childcare and supporting people in to work. That's a completely separate issue.

katese11 · 03/09/2013 21:56

It just seems a crazy system, that's all I'm saying. As it is I'm working from home every evening (and cough really should be working now, not on Mumsnet) because I didn't have childcare. That's just how it worked out - I look after my kids, during the day, work when they're asleep, get little free time or sleep.

I'm not complaining about anything or saying that I personally am owed anything - just saying that if more investment was put into childcare, more people would be able to work and there would be more taxes paid, which would create more money for things like childcare.

Am I really talking crazy talk?!

Theincidental · 03/09/2013 21:56

Charlotte,

I get the funding and I work in a shite low paid job because I want to keep a foothold on the career ladder and earn even though it only benefits me by £60 a month to do so. That £60 is my food shopping for the month and without the two hour funding I wouldn't even get that.

Before I had a child I had a shit hot job and then I lost it because it was impossible to do as a lone parent.

I honestly don't get why people begrudge others so much.

I am working to change my child's future and he is thriving in nursery. How, how is that a bad thing?

Sirzy · 03/09/2013 21:57

Join, the obviously do struggle to understand it. All peoples complaining screams of is "what about me" without giving thought to why people are getting that extra help.

candycoatedwaterdrops · 03/09/2013 21:57

I'm worried about some people's eye sight. Sad
Again, IT IS NOT FREE CHILDCARE!

LimitedEditionLady · 03/09/2013 21:58

The fact of the matter is this is how life works here,if you can afford to pay for it you have to pay for it.If everyone got free hours from two you would only end up paying for it through some other means,tax etc.I couldve been a SAHM with a bit of a struggle and ds wouldve not gone to nursery but I wanted to give him that time with children and following EYFS because I think it will give him a structure.Yes its hard paying fees out and not earning much of a wage but Im looking forward to when at three he will get the hours free and I will be very grateful for that because to me thats fabulous.I will also continue to be grateful for his free schooling and that he has that opportunity when thousands across the world get fuck all.Every kid deserves the best start.

WestieMamma · 03/09/2013 21:58

Sadly some scrounges people want it all ways.

I'm not a scrounger :(

^^

JoinYourPlayfellows · 03/09/2013 22:00

"The idea that these hours are only for feckless mothers who don't give a toss about their kids and want to shove them 'in care' may be an attractive one to many but it is rubbish."

Hmm

I certainly have never said anything of the kind, and that doesn't even come close to what I think about this.

I just don't think it's that hard to understand why the OP might be pissed off that she can't access free childcare that her neighbours can get, even though she needs childcare and they don't.

To the point where she has had to cut her work hours.

So her family is losing out financially, her kids are going without, because of a combination of high childcare costs and low wages.

It looks to her (with some justification) as though there is money there to help with childcare but that she can't access it because she has a job.

It's sort of weird that you are insisting that she have sympathy for other families in difficult situations while you appear to have none whatsoever for her.

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