Not paying for childcare this autumn as bills go up

[Essenceandvibes]

I've just had an epiphany.....I absolutely won't be paying a penny for childcare this autumn as bills increase and I won't be made to feel guilty about it either. I can work from home and watch my baby and pick up my 10 year old from school without the assistance of anyone else and if my employer has an issue with it, he can pay an extra £2000 per month post tax to cover the cost of full time help.

Our bills are going to be about £800 a month just electricity and gas alone for our detached 4 bed house, this isn't even thinking about the increase of petrol or groceries.

The mortgage has also gone up a few hundred quid too....childcare and commuting is now a luxury not necessity and I really hope every parent joins me in asking for employers like it or lump it

Shameful the government have let everything get this far, the knock on effects will be huge

I do think there's a thing about 'hours worked' vs 'deliverables'. I think / hope long term companies will move more to deliverables.

In a lot of roles as long as you deliver the results it shouldn't matter if you do 20, 40 or 60 hours a week.

But these changes take time and in the short term employers will need to be consistent and in line with their own contracts and policies. That means they would very likely fire the OP for misconduct or performance manage her out.

I recently dismissed two people for the same reason. It was very easy.

Well no, becayse your op is all singular and realistically if he’s staying home then you don’t need to too. So you can split it and obviously 2k is not just your half.

so no, not obvious and quite frankly I don’t believe you for one moment your husband and you are both refusing to go to work and staying home together, becayse if that was the case you’d have said so in your op.

so meh, nice try,😂

Your employer has no obligation to subsidise your lifestyle choices. You chose to have children. You also chose to live in a large detached house. Might be time to consider your options - sell your home, downsize which will reduce your bills/cheaper area. Stop trying to find someone to blame for the situation you’re in. It’s a ridiculous campaign you’re on.

Your opinion is definitely sensible and was also mine just before the epiphany 🤷🏽‍♀️

I don't know, the straw broke the camel's back this morning and I've chosen violence

Enjoy the tribunal

@Essenceandvibes

you sound a bit unhinged

If you do as you propose, your employers will just sack you if you aren’t productive enough. There will be no leverage or even anyone giving a shit you’re a parent, you’ll just be waved goodbye and then what? What you gonna do for money

just pay out for child care and do your job like everyone else has to

I've chosen violence

In what way?

YABU

Your living costs are your problem not your employers

Most employment contracts state WFH can't be used in place of childcare. It isn't safe or fair on your baby

A detached 4 bed is a luxury for some 4 person families - I'd think about downsizing before I risked my job

All your "little" protest will achieve is that employers will think women with kids/likely to have kids are even more of a PITA to employ and won't touch us with a barge pole 👏 👏 👏

I personally suspect thats the case, they took on debt (either mortgage or otherwise) during the low interest years and now inflation and interest rates are both kicking upwards they are struggling to meet the debt without cutting down quite drastically.

You've got to wonder how much cutting can be done to all the bills/lifestyle choices that are made mind you. A very large percentage of the population will have to suffer a downgrade on living standards, the very upper 1% maybe relatively ok but the rest need to accept a cut in living standards for a 1-2 year period and wait for pay to eventually re catch up.

Lolling at you thinking an employee would have grounds at tribunal to argue against getting sacked for this .

Oh for gods sakes. You know that you’re not owed a salary from a random employer just for having kids, when you can’t actually do a job for that employer, right? You know that’s not a legal right?

Wow, so money is infinite in your imagination and £10000 a year is just pocket money? 🙃

If you're not worried about an extra £300 a month (on top of what you already pay now for basic essentials) going out of your account come October, you live on a different planet

Some countries have introduced/are introducing non means tested tax credits which many would argue amount to the same thing.

I imagine we will too soon enough.

The issue here is that you are operating under the assumption that government spending is moral.

It's not.

It was beneficial for a long time to run with the narrative that having children is an individual indulgence, bordering on frivolous. People having children, much like people buying a horse, shouldn't expect society to pay for their needless indulgence. Of course this has always been bollocks as very few people could afford children without access to the welfare state (which includes education and health). Still it's a narrative that justifies punative measures on the poor and makes society at large tolerate child poverty.

But oops! It worked a bit to well. People actually stooped having as many babies and that's no good either. They just wanted people to not expect handouts to feed, clothes and shelter the future workforce... not to end the supply altogether! There is a rapid course correction incoming on this, its too late of course, our aging population is a timebomb that's already exploding, but they will try.

You know kids are infrastructure too right and parenting is a protected characteristic under the 2010 Equality Act?

Enjoy the tribunal I'm sure you've already cause your employer Rainbow 😂

Thank you for getting it 🙌🏾

If we ever stood a chance of making life easier for parents it's now, it's literally the time to be as audacious in our demands as we can be

Do people not understand sarcasm any more? 🤣

I don’t think employers give a shit about how many babies are born now relative to 20 years ago or whatever

@Miffee Tax credits given to people to encourage them to have kids is not remotely the same thing as taxing the childless as a specific group.

This. You're beginning to sound a bit unhinged, OP.

@Essenceandvibes

You ok Hun?

There won’t be a tribunal. We followed the disciplinary process to the letter. I know that you don’t want to hear that the same thing could happen to you.

Let’s hear about your planned violence, then. I’m curious. And the non-loud protests you are planning, to thwart Priti Patel. I think you should do a live blog.

I totally get your point. But I’m not sure many employers would be ok with it.

my employer put up with it to some extent during the first lockdown. Because childcare was closed. But it wasn’t easy. I ended up starting early, working until lunchtime. Then taking over childcare from DH. Then logging back in once bedtime was done.

now they’ve put a rule in place that we can’t do both childcare and working from home on a regular basis. As a one off of kids are sick or whatever if I can wfh I do. Depending on a) which kid is sick and b) how sick they are. The 5 year old is happy to be left with the tv whilst I work from the same room yet the 3 year old is still a bit needy.

wfh full time and child care as well. Nope. Neither would get my full attention so I’d be doing a bad job as an employee and also as a mum.