To ask about child tax credit cuts.

[yellowbird11]

Is it inevitable and if so will it affect everyone? what a massive worry to all of you who are going to be affected.My DD works 16 hours a week and has 1 child. She'd love to do more hours as her child is at school but isn't able to. Can anyone give me any idea how much she'll lose, and when? I'm so worried for her because I know without these tax credits they'll be barely able to eat and keep warm. How can these Tory bs sleep at night?

I know many able bodied people who abuse blue disability badges. Therefore should they all be scrapped to stop people taking the piss?

You actually receive more tax credits of you work 30 hours or more.

Hi. Just thought I'd chime in from the U.S. Loves me some mumsnet.

Here, "welfare" (something like tax credits) is severely curtailed. Economically disadvantaged new mums work 40 hours per week, leaving their kids in dodgy daycare.

Except for a few ... exceptional children, this usually results in educational disadvantages that accumulate as the child enters the school system.

Mums (and/ or Dads) play a key role in informal education of youngsters. I think they need time to do that. I appreciated having time to do that, and my son benefited. But, I am economically advantaged. When I try to picture single mums working 40 hours per week, how little in the way of education they can do for their children at the end of a long workday (plus commute) - I see perfectly why many of those children are failing in school, and it is sobering. There, but for the luck of the draw go I. And, my son.

I did have to return to work when my DS was 4, but that was OK. After all, I'd like to stay in the economically advantaged realm.

Loves me some trifle, Doctor Who, Downton Abbey, etc! Go GB. That's all. Over and out.

That's fine as an argument except plenty of parents, both single ones and ones in couples, work a 40 hour week, put their children in childcare and all are fine and happy - and not failing in school

Many people are fixating on their own personal issues which is understandable but isn't actually getting the discussion very far.

Motisen - do you consider nursery and preschool provision to be substandard in the US generally then? I personally know people with high flying careers where both parents are lawyers at an advanced stage of their career and their children often go into nursery provision at 3 months. I doubt they would agree with you that children in daycare will do badly at school.

FFS! I've highlighted the important words in the sentence that the hard of understanding are finding difficulty with:

' Economically disadvantaged new mums work 40 hours per week, leaving their kids in dodgy daycare.'

For the terminally stupid, poor people in the US can only afford poor childcare.

HTH.

Why such a rude post? Sorry I'm confused KatharineClifton are you the same person as above?

Your post did imply that children do better if they are educated at home by a parent before they enter school...because you yourself are 'economically advantaged' presumably you could afford better than 'dodgy daycare'

I guess I am asking for clarification about what dodgy daycare actually is. In the uk the standard is reasonably good across the board, in my experience only.

Motisen said that except for exceptional children daycare is dodgy, I can see what she means.
I should imagine the high flying career parents probably have the best.

Here, we have a mix of good and bad and inbetween. All our childcare provision isn't the same.
I think it definitely adds to the discussion to hear a wide variety of personal experience.

It does, I agree but the USA is a very right wing country where there are people on every street corner with their hands out. Luckily things are different here. But if the Tories got their way not for much longer!

All my children attended very good nurseries and I am not well off...

Long jumping

Your friend working in the care home. Unless she was worming in a unusual one that paid staff high wages then she would have got tax credits working full time

The U.S. doesn't have the same ratio rules that we have for childcare - some American states are better than others, but in many places you don't even have to register as a CM. You just say you are one and you can start taking money for it.

(That's my understanding anyway, based on conversations with Americans elsewhere)

I do agree about limiting tax credits to 2 children.

Like longjumping I too know one or two people who refuse to work more than the 16 hours because they can 'earn' the same by claiming tax credits as someone working longer hours. On top of those tax credits come free prescriptions, and yes, free school meals, full bursaries for private school fees, subsidised music lessons for dc. There is abuse of the system, absolutely, but I suppose people will find a way around most systems if they want to.

You do not get FSM on WTC, that's a myth.

If you even get 1 penny of WtC, you don't get free school meals.
For free school meals (in our area anyway) you need to be in receipt of CTC, and your salary must not exceed 16,000

No you do not get free school meals or prescription if you receive wtc.

Please tell them. i'm a single parent, and i pay 800 pounds. yes, 800 pounds on childcare every month and it varies because some months have 5 weeks. i work 42.5 hours a month and get less than 5 pounds a week in tax credits. you read that right. less than 5 pounds a week.

if i can work, every mother out there should be able to work too. working never killed anyone.

of course there are exceptions. and please don't cyber yell anything at me. this is an open forum and i'm expressing my personal opinion.

I guess you mean 42 hours a week?
Just because you can work full time doesn't mean everyone can.
For me to work 42 hours I would have to be out of the house nearly 70 hours a week because of split shift patterns. I couldn't do that as a single parent, I worked all hours available childcare would allow. thankfully now my dh earns well I don't need to work all hours.

Childcare is a problem. Like someone up thread I was paying for a full day nursery when some days I only needed 4 hours care for my son because I work morning into afternoon. You don't just pay for the hours you work even with a childminder there's the time to get to work and back.

Childcare and working is easier when they're in private nursery. It gets hard once they start school.

Nurseries take dc that aren't very well. They're allowed to give them calpol and they can curl up and go to sleep. Schools however will ring you to collect if dc fall asleep, have a cold, headache ect where as nursery it's only stomach bugs and chicken pox that they can't go in with.

It may be easier, I agree the holidays have been hard to adjust to (ds started full time school last year) but it's certainly not cheaper. Most childminders round here finish work at 5 sometimes earlier depending which kids they have on the day.
Not everyone works 9-5 style jobs so if your a single parent getting enough hours when childcare is available is hard and expensive.

yes indeed not everyone can work full time. i mentioned that in my post.

my point is that instead of living off what would not even be enough for me and my child in the first place, i CHOOSE to WORK.

i am not a single parent by choice. i have been through bereavement, came through it and went back to WORK. because i want to have my OWN MONEY.

Do you have any idea what the horrors of dropping off/picking up a child from nursery are? do you think all employers are empathetic when your child is poorly and you have to stay home with them? i still choose to WORK.

my choice. no offense or slight to anyone intended.

Yes I know what it's like because I've done it, granted not full time but as much as I could. I worked and dropped my baby at nursery and realised that some weeks I would have been better off financially by not going to work.

As a single parent by the way, I'm married now so life is much nicer easier and more comfortable.