To ask a question about conservative policy

[Moremoneynow]

Okay. Here goes - this is not a bunfight.

I earn just above minimum wage at present. This, as you all know, will go up to £7.20 in April. This will make a significant difference to my weekly pay packet. I will also be much better off because of the 30 hours childcare and there's a law come in relating to travel which means I will be on more money still.

AIBU to think maybe the conservatives do value low paid people?

I'm not a politician, I just know I'm going to be better off. And that's not a bad thing ...

I don't have a problem with carers earning more money. In OP's position I'd be worried about being undercut by under-25s who may have experience but won't qualify for the 'living' wage.

jonesthegirl I remember my late father, a life-long Labour supporter, predicting that for many low-paid workers the minimum wage would in effect become the maximum wage. I don't think he was far wrong about that.

We are all on the same pay in our company.

Brecon in many circumstances I think that's a good point about the undercutting.

The minimum wage won't make much difference unless there is real sharing of wealth and opportunities. Wages are only worth more money if they can keep pace with the cost of living.

Well said merrymouse

Maybe it won't make much difference to you, merry mouse, I don't know, I don't know what your job is or how much you earn. It's easy to say it won't make a difference unless you're earning it. It will make a difference to me.

It might also make a difference to you if job cuts take place in order to balance the books, unfortunately.

It is good your pay is going up and your better off, it really is. But your in the minority.

services are being cut.
Council tax is going up as a result of the cuts.
The NHS is being privatised - apart from the private company that rejected it and handed it back as they couldn't run it.
Mental health services are cut
Social care budgets are cut which is blocking the NHS as people can't be cared for at home.
Disability benefits have been and will be further cut.

These aren't maybe's these are happening or have happened.

The problem is that while some policies make a small positive difference they are bringing through larger policies that are devastating to society as a whole but they get away with it because they are more complicated and harder to understand.
So yes increases to LW are good, changes to benifit system far more complex and in many cases not so good. Free childcare good (although the implementation is a bit of a dogs dinner) changes to health and education funding not so good and leaving a two tier system. The housing and planning bill complex but disasterous implications for housing in the UK especially for those on lower incomes. Immediately right to buy looks like a good policy for low income households but the long term impact as explored on Dispatches last night is that actually it generally benefits private landlords.
Cuts to local government funding will disproportionately affect areas with low wage workers who in turn disproportionately rely on those services. For example if the local leisure centre and library have to close those who can afford it will just pay for gym membership and buy books, but those on low wages aren't those people. Social care cuts massively affect the lower income brackets whereas those on higher income brackets have options ( they might not like those options but they have options). Cuts to public transport make it harder for lower income brackets to get to work, school etc
I think it's harder to see the impact of this kind of legislation because it's delayed and by the time you realise what's happening it's too late. Whereas the small changes like LW are more immediate so are accepted as being more positive.

So never mind that it's having a positive effect on your life, it's actually all just an illusion, is that what you're all saying to me?

do you not think my pay should have gone up?
No. More effective to use the tax system to place the burden of the cost onto the government, not onto companies (and their users).

If you get tax credits you'll probably find they will go down.

You are being goady and ignoring the posts you dont like, so I am hiding this thread.
If you believe that the tories care about poor people, you go right ahead and tell people that.

Moremoneynow - for some people, in the short term, yes these policies are going to benefit them.

However that is because up until this point the majority of the cuts have directly effected a small group of people. For example the reduction in help available (and the blind belief that mainstream inclusion is better) means my daughter receives very little schooling, as we cannot get her moved to an appropriate school which can meet her needs (by DD is disabled). Most weeks she is only actually in school for around 1 day and to make up for the others she receives 2 one hour tutoring sessions a week. She is 13 years old. This means that my DH cannot work as we never know when DD will be at home and there is no assistance available at all for us for childcare.

I work full time, but we are still a whole wage down.

That is before you consider the other help and services that have completely disappeared.

This is just one example, but I hope you can see how cuts are genuinely effecting and this government is not making it easy for my family to earn more money and improve our lives ourselves, and are actually really damaging the chances of my DD being able to support herself when she is older.

However a tipping point is fast approaching, in my opinion, where the majority ff the public are going to notice the effects, as they are running out of things to cut for the minority! The cuts are going to mean:

An increase in council tax, as the freeze comes to an end
A decrease in public services, or being charged for them, as local councils need to make up the difference (remember councils fund a huge amount of things from greenspaces to collected your rubbish and lighting the streets).
More privatisation of the NHS which has a great danger of ending the free at the point of use service we have now.
Less and less "state" schools, as the government wants more free schools and academies. Again slow privitisation creeping in.
Cuts to the police force are leading to communities clubbing together to hire private security, creating a two tier system.

If you consider what the above and all the other things mentioned on this thread, will cost you, do you really think you will be better off?

You are misunderstanding OP.

£7.20 has no intrinsic value. It is only worth what it can buy and that changes from day to day.

A loaf of bread could cost 2p or £1 million. It doesn't make much difference. What matters is that whatever wages you earn you can afford a loaf of bread. That depends on the wider economy and your other other costs.

Rita, I don't understand at all, I've asked some questions, sorry if you feel that's goady, it's not.

I don't get tax credits, if I did, as I've said I'd rather earn the money myself than have the complicated tax credit system.

I still seem to be reading that I shouldn't earn more money, that it's better i am kept in my place, and libraries and police stay the same.

No. It is better if your standard of living rises. An increase in wages will not make any difference to your standard of living if the increase in wages doesn't represent a real transfer of wealth.

On paper you will be paid more for the same work. That's good.
Your tax credits may go down meaning your overall position is largely unchanged. That's not a problem.
Council Tax will be going up.
Other costs will increase.
Many nurseries are struggling to survive because the LA doesn't cover the cost of free hours completely. They rely on paid hours so if they have a lot of 30 hour places they may close.

Will £7.50 in a year be worth more than £5 today? Nobody knows.

You are doing well on minimum wage if you don't qualify for any tax credits at all.

That's not what people are saying - the vast majority are pointing out that whilst you will be earning more money under this particular policy, the effects of other policies (and the knock on effect of the LW policy on other things) will negate the positive effect on your family in the long term. So although it looks good at first, delving a little deeper into conservative policy shows its not all so rosy.

I'd rather earn the money myself than have the complicated tax credit system
Sure, which is why a minimum wage policy is so popular - it makes people feel good to earn more money.

The problem is, on a population level, it's an illusion (as you put it earlier). It is not the most effective way to make all poor people richer, because it comes at significant cost to the enterprises that are there making those poor people ANY money at all.

I still seem to be reading that I shouldn't earn more money
If you are subsisting on minimum wage, I think you should HAVE more money (or resources in kind). I don't think you should necessarily EARN that money (as a concept).

that it's better i am kept in my place
Complete projection.

An increase in wages will not make any difference to your standard of living if the increase in wages doesn't represent a real transfer of wealth
This.

"I care for the elderly and the ill and the disabled"
well disabled people are being targeted by the cuts....but they will have to fund your pay rise. adult social care is in free fall so most like your elderly clients hours will be cut.
so if you work in the care industry....you won't be better off for long.