To disagree with 3/4 year old children having more childcare paid for

[ReallyTired]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24199711

I feel the goverment should pay for education rather than childcare. 15 hours a week is enough to meet a child's educational needs for pre school. At a time of austerity, I feel there are bigger spending priorities. (Providing enough school places for children who are of complusory school age!)

If you choose to have chidlren then you should pay to look after them. I feel that labour's set of proposals are totally unaffordable and making the "banks" pay will damage the UK financial sector long term.

All these election bribes do not help the UK in the long term.

Hopefully initiatives like this can mean that women will be able to make more flexible choices which suit themselves and their families better .... and as a bonus we can begin to get away from this SAHM/WOHM polarisation - which is so artificial anyway as nearly every mother does both at some point !

Exactly Candy facilitating both parents to do some WOTH benefits everyone. Why the angst ?

Because Candy the last I heard MN was for mums not just working mums.

Do you have that kind of attitude re offensive comments/ attitudes towards other groups of people online or is it just sahp that have to take that kind of shit?

Wish I appreciate the gesture..The problem is we aren't all like you and why should we be?People,children and circumstances differ.

Wish, many of the women I know who are married to high earner husbands do very part-time low paid work. Many of them don't earn above the threshold to pay income tax. They don't need to, their husband's are high earners. As I said, some of them just need to make up the shortfall in CB. They don't need or want the stress of a high powered job. I do know women in this situation. I will do the same when I go back to work. I will earn less than 10k a year, take advantage of all the free child care and regain my CB for myself.

The only unfortunate thing about it is that it demonstrates that the Labour Party is back to it's old tricks of spend spend spend without any thought as to how all this should be afforded.

Balls reckons he's going to bin HS2. That should free up a certain amount of money

I wonder whether the SAHP who seem to want to be taxed as a joint entity (eg as if they and their partner were each earning 30k, rather than their partner being taxed as an individual earning 60k) took the same view in their pre- children work life? I suspect they rather being taxed as an individual back then! Funny how some people want the rules re-written to suit whatever they're doing at a particular point in life...

Wish because working parents are already going to be getting help,I don't think they should be getting more.I think instead govs should first sort out the CB unfairness and give couples with a sahp the extra tax allowance.

Then both groups are on a level playing field and being onside red.

Rather liked

Wondered when Janey(who only ever posts anti sahp comments) would show up.

Instead of thinking about this terms of being an incentive to work, why not think about it as support for those already doing so?

I can't understand why it's being taken as a personal attack on a lifestyle choice, rather than support for those who require it. This is not conscription. It's a helpful policy which will enable people to live more comfortably.

When have I said everyone must work ft ? (I don't and neither does DH) What I am saying is that it's good for everyone in most cases for both parents to do some paid work. Because it generally protects the mother's mental health, it gives both adult financial autonomy. The dcs do not become totally dependant upon one caregiver and therefore utterly distraught when left with the parent who WOTH to give the SAP a break or in an emergency. It gives both partners an insight into each other's lives. It gives the family more financial security. I could go on.

Personally, I'd have preferred CB to have remained a universal benefit, maybe being limited to two children only.

But as that hasn't happened and they have decided on a threshold, I think it's reasonable to give the benefit to parents who have to pay for childcare rather than parents who have the luxury of one parent staying at home.

I've had a few years as a SAHM, I'm not knocking it. Lets not pretend its an awful sacrifice to make though, it isn't. But at the time I claimed it, I did find it odd that I was being given free money that I didn't need for the choice I made and was happy to take full responsibility for.

Our CB has gone straight into savings accounts for the dc. If the government are going to give out money to people that don't need it, I may as well make the most of it.

Of course, MN is for mums but this policy is for working parents. That's all I was saying! I have never criticised SAHPs but I have criticised some of the attitudes displayed on this thread, so I find your comments ridiculous and untrue. On MN, I have seen equal bashing of both SAHMs and WOHMs. You have no idea of where I stand on SAHM vs. WOHM, so do stop with the generalising because of your perceived unfairness.

Regardless of SAHP or not, I find it quite galling that people on an income of £50,000 would complain that a benefit has been removed but that's just me!

Well didn't want to disappoint you retropear

Shame you always use your tired old fall back of trying to pretend i am anti SAHP. I'm not. I just don't agree with your eternal whinging about the hardship of being a SAHP with a higher rate tax paying partner

to retropear^

janey68, before I had children, I didn't give income tax a second thought to be honest. I never thought about how I was taxed or where it was going really. It's just something we all do.

Considering pre dc I wanted to spend some time at home with any future dc during my 7 year battle to get them Janey no it wouldn't bother me any more than paying for families in the shit and in need of basic benefits.

wish

I'm sorry but your post is bollocks and a truly sweeping generalisation there.

Candy well I find it galling that families on £100k get CB,those on £300k think they need help with childcare and millionaires think they need free school dinners(looking at you Mrs Clegg).

Where is the sweeping generalisation ?

I agree the CB policy is ridiculous but I have no sympathy for people claiming they need CB if they have at least one £50K salary. It's just insane.

Morethan I am talking about the majority here. I know your position is quite unique and I understand and respect your decision to SAH (also I think you do some work for your DH or have I got that wrong?)

High quality early childhood education has several economic benefits- not only for working parents, but in terms of raising outcomes for the children that attend.

For those referencing last weeks discussion about children needing to start school later, this policy still matches that research. Because Labour is supporting age appropriate early childhood education, NOT formal learning younger. That is the distinction.

If parents knew they had a safe, high quality affordable place to send their child, it would make many people's lives much easier. The benefits- both economically & wider benefits to society (more literate, lower crime rates, high academic attainment- have all been linked to high quality ECE)

I think millionaires would probably go private, and not be recipients of the free school dinner, don't you.

Think about the logistics of means testing school dinners by parental earnings - it makes much more sense and would be cheaper to make it universal. I think it's all getting a bit shrill.

Great idea, if it extends to all childcare settings and not just nurseries. But how will they pay for it? And will it go hand in hand with yet more Ofsted box-ticking and a greater administrative burden for childcarers? And will childminders be able to charge the difference between the govt paid rate and their own rate? Because if not then I don't see many childminders signing up, at least not in my neck of the woods.

Rather than yet another pie in the sky idea which will probably flop, I'd like to see an extension of the existing childcare voucher scheme, a rise in the basic rate tax threshold so work pays more in lower income brackets, and incentives for businesses to offer part time/flexible hours.