to be incensed by this

[TheStripyGruffalo]

The government is right to press ahead with cuts to tax credits - despite claims millions will be worse off - because the UK must become as hard working as China, Jeremy Hunt has said. The health secretary said the cuts - combined with a higher minimum wage - would send out the right "cultural signal" to low paid workers. And he said he did not "buy" claims people would be left out of pocket.

(source BBC politics website)

I am furious about this, I work for the government and don't earn enough to pay income tax so will not be better off by the tax allowance rises. My employer can't afford to increase my hours and I am paid the same hourly rate (give or take a few pence) that I was when I started the job 10 years ago but my working hours are less as there have been major cut backs. I earn over the living wage but only just so won't benefit from the increase. I will lose over £1500 a year when the tax credits cuts come in.

Jeremy Hunt is being so offensive and downright unpleasant.

Draylon, brilliant post. That, exactly.

I've read numerous articles about DC making sure he only works 9 to 5 and that he gets his regular "chillaxing" breaks. Maybe his pay should be sanctioned until he works harder.

AllThe now come on. You know that rich people (sorry important people) need incentivising. Ordinary people need whipping like donkeys. There's a huge difference between plebs and DC. He believes in the value of hard work. Hence his wealth is inherited. Go figure. Still, everyone knows that everyday folk need to be kept poor and with their noses to the grindstone. DC needs down time to get his snout in the trough. And other places.

YANBU

dh and I work 3 jobs between us. we already work fucking hard!! I fail to see how we could work much harder? and what makes me laugh is that if we weren't working or on a much lower income we would not be affected, or very little

we honestly feel like stopping work or going part time, as we would be better off, but we have some pride !!

Just this

The idea that we should be more like China does not fill me with any optimism.

I support the idea that cuts need to come. Although I feel very lucky to have the income of working full time only working 21 hours a week and lucky that my being a single parent does not mean that we have to go without - that also means that we often have more spare cash than a family with two working parents.

Thankfully we are not in the situation, but I don't know how people do it.

A 9-5 job on minimum wage would get you £235 a week. A full time holiday club round here costs £100 a week. With two children and a lone parent, that would mean for 13 weeks of a year all you could earn would be £35 a week. That is less than a weekly shop will cost, what happens about all the other bills (electricity, gas, housing etc). Situation slightly better during term time, because at least school is free (ish), but you still be paying out for breakfast and after school club every single day. I don't have the costs of these to hand, but if I did I could work out the earnings less childcare of a lone parent on the NMW with two school children and it wouldn't be pretty.

PlayingSolitaire - but if NMW was £9 per hour like the budget suggested it will be by 2020 (when pigs fly too) the weekly income would be £315.

And childcare costs will increase to pay their NMW ....

Playing solitaire - A lone parent on minimum wage would still receive the majority of their childcare costs paid through tax creditsso they wouldn't be working for £35 a week . Also people even in minimum wage jobs do get annual leave / holidays and many have ex partners/ relatives helping out with childcare. Most lone parents I know have ex's who have the kids a good portion of the holidays and weekendsand pay decent amounts of mantainence. Yes I know there are some that won't have any help and any child maintainence but many do.

Everything Draylon said. Perfectly put!

Babyroobs I am surprised. I know lots of single parents. Only one has an ex who takes the children in holidays and only two receive maintenance of more than £5 a week or nothing. Gingerbread statistics back that up.

Sleep - I am not denying there are many nrp that don't pay for their kids or see them regularly but most that I know do, and are very involved in their kids lives.The only nrp whom I know who doesn't pay is my cousins ex and that is because she chooses not to take anythng from him. I don't like these dramatic posts suggesting lone parents will be living on £35 a week - even with some tax credits cuts they will still (if on a min wage) get the majority of their childcare paid. In my area in the school hols there are many very reasonably priced holiday clubs run by the council for school aged kids. I know in some areas childcare options will be less but certainly not here where I live.

Also I think the government could be doing far more to make nrp pay for their kids, there must surely be a better way than the current system.

Boris is joining in the Osborne bashing now.

No agenda there at all, oh no, not not at all

I find it hard to imagine any other scenario under which Boris getting into bed with Rupert would make me smile.

Baby roots- how do you know exactly how much ( and what % ) a nrp contributes towards their children?

I'll say it again.

The OFFICIAL statistics quoted by Gingerbread state that 62% of nrp pay absolutely nothing towards the upkeep of their children.

I include my own ex h in these statistics.

Of the minority who do pay maintenance of good proportion of these pay the minimum legal amount.

Having a child over for a weekend does not permit the rp to work full time and engage in high performance targets/ long weekday hours.

You must mix with extremely pleasant people if you are saying that they do as much and contribute as much as the rp parent does.

If I paid merely the legal minimum in maintenance I would be loaded and laughing all the way to the bank I can assure you of that.

I don't know any lone parents with pr who get to keep 80 plus percent of their income to spend on themselves.

X posts with your last post baby roots.

This government don't give a flying fuck about nrp.

It's easier to stigmatise the rp and make them the target.

Agree with OneDirection and Draylon.

Tax credits have encouraged low wages. I'm glad they are being cut. And it's not only poor people who get them. People on quite reasonable salaries getare entitled to them as well. And making up part-time wages so people don't need to bother working more hours is simply not on. If a full time wage isn't enough to live on something is far wrong. And taxing other people to make up Tesco's wage bill infuriates me.

I liked Frankie Boyles take on this -

Jeremy Hunt said that he wants Britain’s workers to work harder, like the Chinese. Hunt’s wife is Chinese, and is often heard muttering, “Christ, this is hard work.”

Viviennemary So people on low incomes losing 1k or more a year with no means to make it up should just shut up because it's a good thing, is that what you're saying?

I don't consider everyone getting tax credits to be on a low income. And lots of people agree with tax credits shouldn't be used to subsidise part-time wages. If you work part-time you get part-time wages. Honestly, no wonder theTories got in. what makes people imagine that everyone is queuing up to pay more taxes to fund all this.

vivienne a reasonable salary depends entirely on where you are in the country, and your outgoings. my mum for example is on about 34k which I daresay most people would think is either perfectly reasonable and/or a lot of money. However she is a single mother to my 3 younger siblings, in London, paying an extortionate mortgage which my father left her with, and the tax credits cut will affect her massively.

You really can't determine whether someone's salary is reasonable or not. Some of my relatives from outside London think that 50k practically makes you a millionaire. In London, that doesn't go very far.

Oh, and the tories got in because of a bunch of people who have the attitude that as long as they're doing ok, everyone else can go and fuck themselves.

What makes people imagine that everyone is queuing up to pay more taxes to fund all this.

Nothing. That option wasn't being offered by any party at the election (except possibly the Greens). Also these tax credit cuts weren't in the Tory (or anyone else's) manifesto.