Child maintenance/ childcare

[Sofiegiraffe]

Why is the cost of childcare not included in a CM calculation? Surely it should be taken into account and half of it taken from the NRP's wage? Why is it that I would be entitled to the same amount from my DD's dad in maintenance whether I was a SAHM with no childcare costs, or if I went to work FT and paid £600 a month for nursery? Surely that's a bit unfair 🤔

Most of his wages taken by CMS? Does he he have 15 children?

"Most of his wages"? What like 14% or whatever the pathetic amount is?

@Sweetchocolatecandy

Intelligent response.

Anyway, back to the thread ....

@Sweetchocolatecandy

I imagine your most recent outburst will be deleted along with the previous one...

@MrsRobbieHart

Most of his wages taken by CMS? Does he he have 15 children?

Even then he wouldn’t lose most of his wages.

My friend’s ex husband has had four children since they split up. Her amount has gone down and down as it’s split between them all. He doesn’t pay after the third.

The only time someone loses more than the basic amounts is if they have arrears…

I am simply amazed at MN these days.

A recent thread about the skyrocketing childcare costs in the UK. 80% of people insist that the father, not the "taxpayer", should be picking the astronomical childcare bill.

Now the thread about making the father contribute. How entitled these single mothers can be! Their childcare is already subsidised by the taxpayer on top of £4K/month maintenance and benefits .

@forinborin

I am simply amazed at MN these days.

A recent thread about the skyrocketing childcare costs in the UK. 80% of people insist that the father, not the "taxpayer", should be picking the astronomical childcare bill.

Now the thread about making the father contribute. How entitled these single mothers can be! Their childcare is already subsidised by the taxpayer on top of £4K/month maintenance and benefits .

The number of people getting 4K a month maintenance is miniscule.

[quote MrzClaus]@Sofiegiraffe in that case then it makes sense to split 50/50! If it was jointly agreed upon then it's a joint cost![/quote]
As much as I love my daughter I would like to do 50/50 one week on one week off.

It's the only fair way although you miss them.

Her dad parents her fairly well but it's fitting HER in around HIS plans and commitments not the other way round.

I don't have that luxury

I get bare minimum money around 52 overnights a year.

No extra for school uniforms, clubs, childcare anything

Can't force them to have them more or pay more 🤷‍♀️

@forinborin

I am simply amazed at MN these days.

A recent thread about the skyrocketing childcare costs in the UK. 80% of people insist that the father, not the "taxpayer", should be picking the astronomical childcare bill.

Now the thread about making the father contribute. How entitled these single mothers can be! Their childcare is already subsidised by the taxpayer on top of £4K/month maintenance and benefits .

To make it "fair" then half whst universal credit pays should be taken off dad and paid back to the government that way no child goes without and no-one gets a double payout of course that does still leave the main carer paying more than the father

My ex pays £6.93 a week for two children

How entitled these single mothers can be! Their childcare is already subsidised by the taxpayer on top of £4K/month maintenance and benefits

49% of children in lone parent households in the UK are living in poverty. It isn't entitlement to want your children to have a decent standard of living (supported by both parents).

I find it incredibly depressing that there are still people out there who assume all single parents are feckless, workshy, scrounging benefit and maintenance grabbing. All the single parents I know are like me, professionals with degrees in careers with promotion prospects (that they can't take due to feckless lazy cheating exs doing fuck all parenting). The only benefit we're entitled to is CB. The issue is that if you earn x amount, you don't get help with childcare but x amount isnt enough to cover what is often more than the mortgage. So some do choose to only work pt in order to make the books balance. The ink one I know wjonduesnt work at all has a DS with SEN and she needs to be on hand all the time. Her ex pissed off years ago, needless to say 🙄 but yes, the system is SOOOOOO unfair to the poor men, and tiny minority of women nrps.

Surely they should be paying half what is not paid by benefits.

Or both pay half and there is no element of UC for childcare claimed.

It isn't fair that the rp gets to claim say 80% of childcare costs but expect the nrp to pay 50% of the full bill.

I paid full childcare, got £45 from benefits, no maintenance from ex.

All I can say is how amazing it felt when they both started secondary school and all I'd paid for years became monthly disposable income!

It’s not right that many fathers pay either what the CMS state or more when there’s single mothers raking in all the benefits then whinging about how hard their lives are. If they want more money they should go out and get a (better paid) job instead of using their exes as bank accounts

Really?! Many fathers do, do they? Can you explain the 4 BILLION owed in unpaid child maintenance then, and why 2 billion of it was recently written off?

Just to play Devils advocate for a second ...

In a very very simple scenario. Let's say you need 4 full days of childcare. You give XH a bill for 2 days. He says no but I'll have little Keith overnight for two extra nights per week as my mum has offered 2 days childcare. Would that be an acceptable solution?

( Just asking as a similar but much more convoluted situation was talked about at work, family member of a colleague and I struggled with it. I personally thought the Mum was being unreasonable in the situation but obviously don't know all the ins and outs )

It isn't fair that the rp gets to claim say 80% of childcare costs but expect the nrp to pay 50% of the full bill.

I don’t think anyone said they expected this?

I don’t think anyone said they expected this?
But that's the most common scenario. You have to be on good money if you don't meet the threshold for any help with childcare.

It then depends indeed on how much maintenance is. If after UC childcare element, the rp oy has to pay £100 a month, but gets £1000 in maintenance then it's fair to consider that it's already covered in the maintenance.

In the scenario where the rp earns just above it, has a bill of £1k a month for childcare and oy gets £300 a month maintenance, then yes, it's not fair.

The problem is the system can't operate a flexible rule depending on each individual cases, especially when circumstances can change at any time, so some win and some lose from the current system (I was a big loser!).

In a very very simple scenario. Let's say you need 4 full days of childcare. You give XH a bill for 2 days. He says no but I'll have little Keith overnight for two extra nights per week as my mum has offered 2 days childcare. Would that be an acceptable solution?

For me, no it wouldn't because his mother is not to be trusted with children. She neglected her own. If she was someone who could be trusted then yes, this would work for me.

@MrsRobbieHart

It isn't fair that the rp gets to claim say 80% of childcare costs but expect the nrp to pay 50% of the full bill.

I don’t think anyone said they expected this?

Haha! 80% of the costs is most definitely NOT the figure that showed up when I did my own UC entitlement calculations based on my salary. Not even close ....it was well below 50% in fact

I find it incredibly depressing that there are still people out there who assume all single parents are feckless, workshy, scrounging benefit and maintenance grabbing. All the single parents I know are like me, professionals with degrees in careers with promotion prospects

Yep. I fit into this category. Several professional degrees and a well paid job.

But that's the most common scenario.

Where have you read this? Or is that just what you think happens?

You have to be on good money if you don't meet the threshold for any help with childcare.

Doesn't matter if you're on "good money" or not. I don't care if the RP earns 15k a year or 50k a year in a professional career they've busted their area for. Their father is still liable for childcare because he partly created them.

The problem is the system can't operate a flexible rule depending on each individual cases

But it does operate on each individual case. Maintenance is based on each individual NRPs salary.

If 80% of childcare is covered by UC then each parent should be paying the remaining 10%. It doesn’t matter if NRP is already paying a grand in child support, if childcare is then required, it’s an additional cost so it should be added on to the child maintenance.