Are we morally obliged to work ?

[Justthisonce12]

630,000 economically inactive people in the UK not claiming benefits. Early retiree’s I guess.

Hunt plans to tackle this and encourage work force participation to allow businesses to grow. ie cheap labour I presume ? But also preventing a brain drain.

Will be interesting to see how he plans to address this.

The decision shouldn’t be taken away from us via lack of affordable childcare and spaces, lack of breakfast or after school clubs etc.
No after school clubs at my kids school for KS1 pupils. There are KS2 clubs but not five days a week, so no use to working parents.

There is actually a breakfast club at my kids school but it’s full! So if I get a job tomorrow the childcare simply isn’t available. I asked if they intend to expand their capacity and they said no, I’ll have to wait till next September when the older children leave school. It’s just not helpful.

Jeeze.

That sounds like you're saying men just want an air head and women a meal ticket.

How depressing

@Schlaar

Why do almost adults need childcare?

I wonder what proportion of women do as it’s not what I see around me, tg

LoL!! Absolute Mystery. I cannot imagine what could have happened 😁But you'll not get any Tory Minister admitting what happened to them!!

I’m sure that figure is hidden away in some figure somewhere

It does say 18% on average so that isn’t mothers alone

The WEF state that the motherhood penalty makes up 80% of the gender pay gap.

I def agree with that, if you can contribute to making them, you can also have a hand in raising them. And maybe stand up for the women in their lives when it does come to the workplace/government/MIL or whoever else doesn’t value or is threatened by female input in society

Do you live in a rural area by any chance? I’m becoming convinced that schools in these areas thinks that most mums are SAHMs by choice and have enough money in the bank to not be bothered by any of it.

And those who didn't use much in the way of serviced, no family using services, and certainly won't have decades of pension?

Services, not serviced.

Not exactly rural but it’s a village school. Nearly all the kids get picked up by grandparents. I don’t have that luxury unfortunately. I’ve been looking out for childminders at the gate (so I can ask them to take my child too) but there are none who pick up from there. It’s 98% grandparents and a few SAHMs.

All the PP saying they don't work, don't want to ever get back into work, don't use taxpayer funded services () - let's hope that enough of us carry on to keep the country going, eh? Keep contributing so that there's money for those who need benefits and the essential services.

Dh is still working , but after 44 years plus his fed up with the grind
All I hear at work are people planning their escapes!
When employers treat you as a number, no wonder people just want out

Very familiar, I also don’t have that luxury but WFH now, the school run easily takes 2 hrs out of my day.

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

A lot of the SAHMs mum I know have husbands who pay more in income tax than a lot of 2 parent working families earn in a year. So yeah, should be covered.

This is an interesting post as it’s a conversation we’ve been having.

I'm self-employed and I work F/T. Our circumstances are about to change where our outgoings will shrink considerably.

DP is currently off work sick - probably won’t be well enough to return til January. Currently the financial burden on me is significant but when we move and it changes, life will be easier financially.

I enjoy working. I enjoy what I do and as I’m self employed I have both flexibility and the ability to earn more if needed.

dP hates working. He’s never found a job that he loves. He regularly gets ill and struggles with chronic, low-grade symptoms that make his life miserable. He’s grumpy, snappy and constantly tired, plus he’s uninterested/unengaged in household stuff that needs sorting. I literally do everything.

When he’s off sick, even though he’s unwell he’s so much nicer to be around! And he takes a proper interest in the house/things that need to be done.

By his own admission he’s a bit of a lazy git, and I’m the opposite (I have adhd so I don’t stop!). But as a package, our lives are just more enjoyable when he’s not at work.

We are considering if he could work part-time, maybe 2-3 days a week. It would be a radical change but he’s not a piss-taker - he’s always worked and paid more than his share financially.

We both just think life is too short to spend it being miserable if you don’t have to be.

I am an ex 'work coach'. Thankfully. Never had such a depressing job in my life. Work coaches are not given the time to give claimants the help they need and deserve. Many appointment slots are for just 5 minutes.
I left 4 years ago so appreciate my knowledge may be somewhat out of date. Our 'targets' included placing into work single parents -always seemed to be the mothers- or those with mental health issues.
Very basic training was provided about health conditions but certainly not sufficient to be of much assistance. Skills and experience are required to fully assess the employment potential of the mentally ill. And indeed to assess those who in my experience do exploit the mental health card.
Much was made of the support available to aid lone parents into work. In reality a 'better off in work' calculation is done by a work coach but does not take into account any extra costs working involves. Financial help with childcare is available but not the full cost and normally the lone parent has to pay the first fees upfront which can be unaffordable.
Most current job vacancies require flexibility with shifts. Nurseries and childminders are usually open 7am till 6pm Monday to Friday.
So many job opportunities effectively closed to lone parents.
I could go on but don't want to bore anyone anymore. BTW I'm one of the 600,000 early retirees who doesn't claim any benefits

Jeez with your foul language I so hope you are not a parent.

Haven’t you heard of ‘Tory Tourettes’. Those who are outraged at the corruption and gross lack of compassion at this shower of bastards, have acquired it. If you are offended by colourful language, Mumsnet may not be the place for you!

This definitely.

I didnt say the answer is to only increase taxation of wealth and high net worth of individuals and companies, though.

I'll add to it further though by saying stronger systems to provide care and support to those who need it (living with disabilities and carers) would also make a big difference.

It's not rocket science to recognise that you need to address the problems which prevent people within this demographic from working in order to get them working more. Most people I know who don't work full time would love to, but it's just not possible.

And a larger cultural shift within businesses re flexibility in employment contracts needs to happen as well.

"men need to step and do more and stop falling back on the rubbish excuse they earn more"

Eh? But what if they genuinely do earn a lot more? It happens you know. Quite a lot.

You’ve hit the nail on it’s head!
The childcare system encourages the lower earner to give up work, miss out on career progression, pension and security in case of divorce. Here is your once in a lifetime opportunity Mr Hunt!! And while you are at it £20 something a week should become about £50 to make it comparable to other developed nations and SMP should be 90% of the salary.

Not all retires or carers, some are young people (16-24).
The number of young people in employment fell by 13,000 in the quarter to July-September 2022 but increased by 81,000 from the previous year to 3.69 million.
The number who are economically inactive (not in or looking for work) increased by 59,000 from the previous quarter and increased by 22,000 from the year before to 2.75 million. 77% of the young people who are economically inactive are in full-time education.
The inactivity rate for young people is 40.2%, up from 39.4% in the previous quarter.
commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn05871/

Yeah, so, like, a tax then, right? Kinda like a thing you own into for the communal good.