To think that the Spring Budget could have included childcare/support for women?

[ViolaDaviesFanClub]

I've spent way too much of my day following coverage of the Spring budget announcements (The women's budget group was live tweeting: twitter.com/WomensBudgetGrp/status/1367091451667107843?s=20)

Can't believe that childcare wasn't even mentioned in the budget. Or the totally massive disproportionate impact of covid on women/mums. I was blown away by this ONS stat: redundancies of women increased by 79% for may-june 2020 compared year on year, compared to 23% for men. If men were being impacted so much worse than women the government would have declared a bloody state of emergency!

Also it feels like the small matter of our life-support system the planet slowly dying has definitively been dropped?

I thought that they were listening a little bit on all this. So AIBU to have thought the govt might mention childcare or women in the budget?

Longtime lurker but first OP so pls be gentle

What were you hoping for? There's already 30 funded hours, tax free childcare, plus up to 80% of childcare can be funded via UC for low earners.

Women have been disproportionately hit but that's cultural really, its due to other factors rather than a lack of financial help with childcare - employers not accepting male employees having to pitch in etc.

As above, the scheme is already very generous.

There’s already a huge amount of money spent in that area.

I’d rather the focus was on shared responsibility and moving away from the old fashioned model.

Icecream

Yes. Obviously shared parental leave is intended to do this, and I do think its helping (I know a lot of men taking it up) but it's a long game to shift this sort of cultural norm.

What exactly were you hoping for? I cant click the link as dont want twitter....

I agree op. It maybe a cultural issue that women are disproportionately affected but the responsibility sits with our leaders and people in power to shift that balance. Lack of representation in stem, more women and children being in poverty, disproportionate numbers of men in higher positions. The government has a moral responsibility to do something but it feels as though we are going backwards. That’s not the fault of the gov of course but they should act to mitigate it.

There is a one off £500 for people on wftc.

I saw though that last year they got:

This is what happened last year, when working credit claimants received a one-off lump sum of £1,040.

We didn't! Did anybody ? First I've heard of it.

There was also a £19M fund announced to support victims of DV...

What exactly did you want or expect?

I listened to Rishi Sunak on Sunday with Sophy Ridge. He claims one of the reasons they are spending so much money on furlough and support for the hospitality sector in particular is that 2 million women, usually younger women, work in the industry.

I think that overall the support for individuals and business has been fair and the biggest criticism was those who has fallen through the cracks of the seiss, which he has apparently rectified with the 4th grant.

I don't know how women in particular could be targeted? Families have all struggled, everyone has struggled this year, some more than others. But if you chose to have children then things sometimes go wrong. Obviously a pandemic is unprecedented but still, you can't offer government support for every single situation.