To think this misses the point about costs of childcare?

[adsy]

"Critics have complained that homes where one parent stays at home to look after children will not benefit."

This is in response to the new scheme where parents will get 20% of childcare costs paid for by the government.
I'm a CM and all for subsidies of any sort to help out parents, but other than the odd day when you might need to go for an interview etc. I can't see why a stay at home parent needs to get childcare subsidies or am I missing a major point here?!

One of my points is that there will be families with 2 working parents earning up to 98k will benefit from keeping their CB AND benefitting from the 20% childcare costs. Conversely, there will be families with one HRT payer and one SAHP who have already taken a financial hit with the loss of the 2nd income and who won't get CB. Not everyone who works has high commuting costs and lots of families get help with childcare from their extended family.

Everyone's circumstance are different, we are much worse off in day to day terms than a friend with 4DC on benefits. I am SAHP, we have 4DC, DH is (only just) a HRT payer. We live in an expensive area, have a high mortgage etc. My friend has much more disposable income than we do. I'm not complaining - we chose this lifestyle, I'm just suggesting that bringing up children is not a level playing field, there are so many variables.

We have that here in Australia. Both parents have to satisfy a work/study test. It hasn't made a jot of difference to affordability, just pushed prices providers charge up massively. At first the rebate was 30%, now it's 50% to a max of $7500. Most childcentres in the inner city area now charge $160 a day - $38, 500 a year based on full-time and 48 weeks - about $5000 a year more than you would pay for the most expensive private days schools for students in their senior years.

But making it about SAHMs is irrelevant.

ANYONE can take advantage of the 20% and it offers more choices.

You can be a SAHM if you want. Or if you feel bitter about not getting a 20% refund of a huge bill, you're more than welcome to get a job and claim it too.

I don't moan that I can't claim the uniform subsidy that I believe can be claimed for the likes of nurses, policemen etc. Because I don't wear a uniform - it's not relevant to me.

This isn't free money in your pocket. It's a small reduction to a bill that you only have to pay if you use childcare. If you choose not to use childcare, fine.

Having a sahp can benefit society as in many cases it is better for the children and families involved for all sorts of reasons.Miserable mothers,children and families aren't exactly helpful longterm to the economy.The educational benefits to my dc have been huge as has the benefits to the family well being as a whole.

It's still a personal choice that many people don't have the luxury of being able to make. And you are agreeing that the benefits of having a SAHP are there for you and your children, which is great, but it's of no more benefit to society than having two working parents.

I was pretty much a SAHP for a few years, but I'm not going to kid myself that I was doing society a favour, it was for the benefit of my own family and no one else.

Some families with a SAHP will in the long run pay more tax than if they'd had two parents working, and for other families it will be the other way around. Either are valid choices to make, we just shouldn't pretend that parents who don't get help with childcare because they have a SAHP are being hard done by.

But they are because they get no help and are penalised.

Having children,wages topped up by TC and getting help with childcare doesn't help society.It helps you on an individual level but not society as a whole.

I would also like to point out that the state topping up and forcing mothers out into low paid work they hate,kids into low quality childcare they hate all the while loading shedloads of stress onto families as a whole is not exactly a utopia I aspire to.

I'm also a bit about this argument, if you're a SAHP who wants to access to more money whilst you taking advantage of a tax rebate on childcare then you could always to the same thing as the other people who take advantage of this and get a job.

This change is a very positive move in my opinion, the current childcare voucher system is incredibly unfair, as to take advantage of it you have to have an employer willing to sign up to the scheme and if you're self-employed then you have no way of claiming.

Is this effectively tax relief on child care costs? About time too - my DC are grown up now, but it irked me massively that I had to pay child care out of taxed income, as if it wasn't a necessity for my work.

It's not true that they get no help, if they qualify they get child tax credits and child benefit.

Same as other parents who qualify will get help with childcare.

I'd much rather see a system that encourages people to fund their own children, and if that means help during the expensive years of childcare, then so be it. Paying child care costs has got to be better for society as a whole than paying child tax credits and income support for people to SAH.

I really don't understand how SAHPs are penalised Seagulls.

"Im not complaining i chose this lifestyle"
Well said! Any of us who truly have a choice are lucky.

Seagullsas to whether only SAHP benefit society you are infering that DC of WOHP are miserable,neglected,poorly educated etc.
Im afraid its a very poor argument to need to back up your choice by making out that any other choice is invalid.
For every happy SAHP there is a miserable one and vice versa with WOHP.
I would be depressed if id given up WOH and need to maintain my MH carefully.
It might be different for you and others .

I love my job and DC and was lucky to combine both as DH could pitch in and share CC.

YANBU. A SAHP would receive 20% back of £0. Because they don't have childcare costs. WOHP will receive a tax rebate. They won't have someone write them a cheque.

Isn't this an extension on the childcare element of WTC? Is everyone eligible to get this.

It's a replacement for childcare vouchers I think. Only people whose employers were enrolled could get vouchers. This will be open to all employees.

Seagulls
You are contradicting yourself !

If families want a SAHP and are on a low wage then TC enable them to do this
Likewise 2 WOHP on a low wage also get TC.

Also WOHP should plan their DC and "stop whining about nursey costs" yet you are here moaning about not getting paid for looking after your own DC -so which is it ???

Nope just pointing out that both are equally valid.You help one,you help the other and answering the op(which has been done to death).

I think the SAHP not being able to claim it is a red herring. As a SAHP I absolutely agree that childcare ought to be tax deductable.

The problem with this initiative is that it comes close on the heels of the removal of CB for families with a HRT payer, which undoubtedly does penalise SAHP's and lone parents.

It's another stick for the government to beat SAHP's with; with the insinuation that the role is not valued and they should get off their arses and go out to work, whatever the consequences.

I'd really like to know where all these jobs for lazy SAHP's who have been out of the workplace for a few years, with family friendly policies, and good rates of pay, are??

Does anyone have a link to the details about these changes? Thanks

April anne - your bring very single minded, we earn over 80k between us, but 20k of that is gone in childcare, the same in mortgage and then living costs, the taxman takes the rest, London is not cheap and we are not flash at all - on paper high earners are the scum of the earth to some mumsnetters, but I can assure you I would rather be a sahm on a lower salary than have to juggle all I do, walking away from it just isn't an option for us, and seen as I pay in yes I will have done of my taxes back thanks

Oh and I have said repeatedly that many mothers want and should go out to work. There are other parents who want and should have a parent to do the childcare.

I think you'll find the belittling and running down of sahp kind of outweighs any criticism of wp. We're either rich,a drain on society,don't contribute,bored,only a mummy,nothing to contribute,lazy,bored...........

But that's ok.

It's never ok to point out the positives of having a sahp only 2x wp.It's only ok to point out the neg of having a sahp and never the neg of 2x wp. Same as dishing out help.It's only ok to help 2x wp and never families with a sahp.

Sorry I changed my search terms and found what I was looking for, this is the link if anyone else is interested.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/family/2014/03/new-tax-free-childcare-scheme-boosted-to-2000-per-child

But SAHP dont incur childcare costs unless you are linking loss of earnings as a CC cost but surely that would have been planned for

As little pointed out is a rebate on CC not a freebie.
I didnt use CC so i wouldnt be eligible either even though im a WOHP.
I would get a rebate of £0 -quite rightly !

If people want help with their childcare costs then they can go to work in order to require childcare.

£38 a week in their pocket towards childcare may then not be worth it if theyd rather stay home with their dcs.

38 a week doesn't even touch the sides and is no incentive at all!!

But if that's all there is, I'll take it

As people say, it's effectively a tax break, not cash in the hand