This may be unpopular - but what about the squeezed middle?

[AndroidUsername]

They are talking about raising taxes on the average person now. Which will really effect lower middle class families who are already feeling the pinch due to increases in cost of food, gas and electic, increasing childcare costs and rent or morgage increases. They are going to increase pensions and benefits with inflation but lots of middle class earners are not having their wages increased with inflation but will now have their taxes increased. What about help for the middle class, especially lower middle class and working class who earn slightly to much to qualify for any help but will now stuggle with all these increases.

I think some of the hardest hit families are going to be those with two working parents who are not eligible for any help.

As with childcare, if you sit above the threshold for support then it actually works out better for one parent to quit their job. Sad reality of the times we live in where you're encouraged to give up work to get any help.

I'm a ftm to a 4 month old baby, currently on mat leave, my husband is self employed and earns fairly well (although his work isn't guaranteed) based on affordability we aren't entitled to anything other than child benefit which is fair enough as we work to cover our lifestyle choices. But as it currently as it stands I would benefit from not returning to work at all... I love my job and want to go back but cost of childcare would mean I'm literally just working to pay someone else to look after my child as majority of my salary would go on childcare costs. It's bonkers.

Like you say cost of everything is going up, but salaries aren't so it actually means lots of people especially working mums, cannot afford to work! Sounds ridiculous but it's true, they'd be better off not to. System is broken.

Here's a calculator that tells you where you are vs the middle income in the UK

ifs.org.uk/tools_and_resources/where_do_you_fit_in

Like you say cost of everything is going up, but salaries aren't so it actually means lots of people especially working mums, cannot afford to work! Sounds ridiculous but it's true, they'd be better off not to. System is broken.

Yes, I think we're going to see more people essentially priced out of working/having to work less as costs of childcare and commuting increase.

No, because wealth taxes don’t work. As Macron clearly stated in 2017 when reversing Hollande’s tax rises, calling France ‘Cuba without the sun’.

Not all nhs workers are nurses. All those healthcare assistants must really be struggling.

Different place now, we have huge national debt across the entire developed world now, we did not in 2017.

We've handed out trillions in furlough for all... regardless of wealth, people like the Beckhams and the Sunaks claimed it, support loans for the super wealthy too... we are making the same mistake with energy support....

Sunak (i use him as an example because he is charged with changing this) will be getting help to heat his new swimming pool.

Is this right? are we all happy with the super rich.. individuals and companies.. getting help whilst a working family on UC will see energy bills double and a below inflation UC increase, just as their foodbank run out of donations.

Extra taxes on the super wealthy are inevitable or you take it off the poor.. Your choice.

think some of the hardest hit families are going to be those with two working parents who are not eligible for any help

You should try being a single parent who is not eligible for help and for whom there is no political will to close loopholes when it comes to child maintenance.

There's two of you. And whilst I understand the cost of childcare is prohibitive, you can still look at ways of working around each other for a second wage. That is a luxury from where I am standing.

cost of childcare would mean I'm literally just working to pay someone else to look after my child as majority of my salary would go on childcare costs. It's bonkers.

It’s bonkers to pay someone else properly to look after the most important person in your life? Is what you do at work more worthwhile and valuable than that?

That is a luxury from where I am standing. But someone else with less than you could say that to you.

Sorry I didn't realise I had to mention every single representation in my comment. Why is there always someone come forward to argue that they have it harder than somebody else!

Yes single parents are hit hard and have in my eyes always had it hard (I have many single parent friends and family member), however I'm simply mentioning the families with two working parents which often get overlooked as everyone assumes they are fine just because they have two working parents.

No it's bonkers that if someone wants to work (as I do and full time) and are above the threshold for help with childcare costs... they end up uses majority if not all of their salary to cover the cost of someone else to look after their child.

For example if you earn £1200 a month...nursery costs £60 a day let's say and that's being kind...so if you work full time 5 days a week...you are essentially working just to cover the cost of someone else to look after your child. No money left for bills and other outgoings...it makes it impossible for mums to go back to work full time as there is no benefit to doing so in fact they are penalised for doing so.

Sorry I didn't realise I had to mention every single representation in my comment. Why is there always someone come forward to argue that they have it harder than somebody else!

then don’t say the hardest hit families are those with two working parents when quite clearly, in very general terms, that isn’t the case?

But on that salary 85% of their CC costs would be covered.
Plus they would likely be receiving UC to top up their salary.

It's based on joint income, so if both parents worked and were above the threshold they would be deemed to be able to afford childcare...when actually they realistically can't.

If it's based on joint income - which is right - you can't automatically say they haven't got enough

Yes in the early years it's often the case that one person's salary goes mostly in childcare - what you are doing is protecting your long term income

Instead of thinking it as all my income on childcare it's really half my income and half my husbands on childcare

( clearly single parent family have different problems )

Please re read my comment, and you will see I said SOME of the hardest hit not THE hardest hit.

You are taking my comment personally and insinuating it means I think single parents won't be hit hard. Which I have not said.

I just haven't specifically mentioned single parent's in my initial post, is that the issue? This isn't a competition, everyone will be affected.

I still stand by my opinion which is SOME of the hardest hit families will be those with two working parents who are not entitled to any financial help because they do not meet the criteria/ earn above the threshold for any help.

It doesn't change the fact that one parent is realistically working wholly just to pay childcare costs...

No incentive for mums to go back to work when there is no benefit of them doing so, they don't come out with any income of their own and they don't get to spend time with their child. So working mums are penalised.

Single parent's rightly so, get help with childcare costs, Universal credit, housing. I'm not arguing their case.

What I'm saying is on paper me and my husband aren't entitled to any help, we live within our means but we will struggle if I go back full time, no salary increase, cost of living increase, petrol costs plus now childcare costs.

Realistically I might as well give up work, then we're under the threshold to get help and I can spend time raising my child instead of paying all my salary out to someone else to! I'm not saying it's right or what I'd want to do but it's a broken system and as per my original post, two working parents will be some of the hardest hit as they are often overlooked on paper.

No short term incentive
Keeping a job for when childcare costs ease and hopefully advancing over time is a long term incentive

( but at the same time there should be some investigation into what percentage of parents are caught in this trap - it should t be the norm in a functioning society)

So as a family you have more than the single parent after they get support but you want more ?

It's a safety net for when you can't cope

Realistically I might as well give up work, then we're under the threshold to get help and I can spend time raising my child instead of paying all my salary out to someone else to!

You could, that’s your choice. It will affect future earnings once your children are older, and your pension.

I consider myself to be in this category and also worried.

DH and I were on tax credits until recently, we ran a business that we loved but made very little profit and in the end had to concede it wasn't enough long term. We made about 15k. DH has now retrained and had a job with a 40k salary. I work school hours and earn about 9k a year as we now have to pay all our childcare. That is nearly £50k! I thought we'd feel so much better off but little seems to have changed in terms of disposable income.

Previously we had around 10k a year in tax credits to top us up, mist of the childcare was covered.

We also had free travel to college for our eldest, this is now £700 a year. She also used to get a free breakfast and lunch, and a bursary for books. Books have cost me over £100 this year.

The loss of free dental treatment, prescriptions, the money off school trips.

But the biggest ones is going to be uni, she don't get the full loan anymore and we need to top her up by thousands. And there's two more who also might want to go.

Obviously we won't get the targeted help with bills either.

I know how sneery people are on here about "high earners" moaning about money and I would have been the same before but all I can say is we don't seem to have any more money in our pockets and taking even more tax is going to make me wish we'd never made that lifestyle change in the first place!

I still stand by my opinion which is SOME of the hardest hit families will be those with two working parents who are not entitled to any financial help because they do not meet the criteria/ earn above the threshold for any help

and that’s full circle to my previous comment you objected to which is, as a two adult household, your ability to earn a second income is greatly improved on that of a single parent. It frustrates me no end to read posts like yours, arguing that being a SAHM is the only sensible option. I have been single for the last 13 years and have managed to teach full time, exam mark twice a year, tutor in the evenings and run holiday clubs in the summer. All without family support, I might add, and a fairly lacking in responsibility ex. As two people, you (that’s a general ‘you’) have endless possibilities to increase your household’s income to help weather this current storm. And yes, of course, I recognise there are situations that make it difficult when there is a travelling partner, caring responsibilities, ill health etc. Those are not the households I’m referring to.

the current situation is dire for everyone. But unfortunately, to get through this, there is a need for some people to recognise that the government can’t do it all for us. We’re going to have to maximise our income and spend it on boring stuff like electric. That’s all the much more difficult when, like me, you’ve been at maximum capacity for years already.

Paying everyone properly would be a good start. Then more would be paying taxes. Personally I'd rip up all existing tax laws and rewrite them from a fair perspective to stop loopholes that can be used to evade tax or avoid it. Current ones seem to be written by and for the richest individuals and companies.

@chaosmaker for PM!

Paying everyone properly would be a good start.

Yes I said it earlier. Never mind ridiculously high taxes for them, many multi millionaires & billionaires etc are owners of businesses that pay poor wages. We must campaign to keep pushing up minimum wages, Labour aren’t even making it a priority