To reduce hours when labour win election

[Parttimeplay]

I fall into the “60%” tax bracket. With the upcoming elections and knowing the government always hammer the middle ground….woudlnt it make more sense for me to cut my hours for a more relaxed life, eligibility for childcare, reduced tax?

Why haven't you already reduced hours? I would if I was in that marginal band.

I very much hope that Labour will look at removing some of the silly marginal rates (that the blue lot introduced, remember) because they are a drag on productivity with unintended consequences such as people reducing hours.

Because it probably wouldn’t go down well with my employer. But now looking long term and seeing opportunities for private school etc reducing it doesn’t seem worth it

You can’t buy time as it’s not for sale

@MikeRafone agreed, I suppose it just seems annoying all these years striving to achieve now seem wasted. So yes, sod it.

Did you not set out with a goal? Did you fail to achieve your goal?

@MikeRafone yes my goal 20 years ago was to achieve a decent career, have a wonderful family home and a happy family.
20 years later, pay has stalemated, house prices have rocketed. I hadn’t planned on living in a 3 bed semi in a grimy area of London working long hours and paying £2k a month for nursery fees

This is partly why the country is in such a mess and also why there may well be a huge brain drain out of it. Constantly hammering people for doing well is just not conducive for a well functioning economy. I totally get it OP - why bother I’d do the same. All the people crowing about Labour winning who do they think will fund all this amazing change that is set to come?

nurserys costs have increased at extreme rates since 2016, not sure that has been a fault of Labour Party, nor house pricing as social housing would decrease rental prices but not enough social housing has been built. Social housing is hat is built is sold under Right to buy ( a Tory policy that labour refuse to stop)

Well to be fair everything the OP is complaining about has happened under the tories watch so the whataboutery is a bit hard to swallow.

I’m not saying the tories haven’t made a mess. I’m just saying in my situation, when labour get it, it’s just going to become pointless for me. Increased taxes, vat on schooling etc etc

I don't really get your reasoning. Your life isn't what you wanted, clearly partly because of the current government, and yet suddenly a change in that government has you blaming an imaginary future government for raising taxes when the current lot have done that all on their own.

Make changes, live life differently but I think you have to take some responsibility and put a big chunk on the party who screwed the country for the last 14 years.

I totally agree the Tories have caused this as well and why I personally cannot support either party because neither offers an improvement as far as I can see - it just seems a race to the bottom. High tax goes against the true conservative vision, my point about labour is that they want to increase tax so an incoming labour government will see the middle even more squeezed.

@Zonder happy to put blame on the current government. I don’t think it’s too unrealistic to assume labour will be not be imaginary. Both parties have caused this.
Im just saying some of the policies being discussed aren’t particularly motivational for my current situation. There’s no reason for me to strive to achieve further….in fact the opposite, it makes more sense for me to cut back and claim from the state

Sounds like you've already read the labour manifesto @Lifesd please do post a link as the rest of us don't have access to it yet.

I can't actually find any facts about labour and tax yet. Most of the ideas about what they will do seem to come from Tory sources.

I would.

Not a fan of the Tories either, but how bad they have become has sort of crept up on my awareness, like being a frog in a pot slowly coming to the boil.
Now I've realised I should already have left this shithole long ago.

The election just finally gave me the wake up call I needed.

The Conservatives have been accused of failing parents after figures showed the cost of childcare has risen a third faster than inflation since the party came to power in 2010.

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/house-prices-rise-astronomically-over-10-year-period-is-your-house-now-worth-dou/

house prices and nursery costs are your grip, which under Tory’s have been out of control and you’re worried about a labour government.

My gripe is hammering the middle ground paye workers from either party.
I can’t control the past, but I can control my reaction to the future. I’m worried about a Labour government taking something like private education out of my reach.

Not to sound rude, but you don’t remotely sound like someone who is in the position to pay for private school in the UK (fair enough, I wouldn’t be able to afford UK private school either), so saying “Labour is taking away my future private school options!!”sounds a bit weird.

No it didn’t. Labour brought in the removal of the personal allowance for people earning over 100k in 2009.

It was introduced by Alistair Days long under Gordon Brown’s government as a parting shot just before they lost the GE.

Ot effectively adds a £5k bill on top of normal tax rates for higher earners.

Labour has also stated they want to add VAT to school fees which the OP states will then become unaffordable for her.

So that’s 2 key policies, both of which will badly impact her, both instigated by Labour.

That’s without them being in power for 14 years as well so you can imagine the concern higher earners have with maybe a decade of Labour government ahead.

Pensions will be next. They already have previous for that. We’ll end up as one huge dependent state but with fewer and fewer people at the top willing to continue funding it.

@GreenTeaLikesMe haha ok. Unusual judgement to make over a few chat board posts

@Charlie2121 thank you for your clarity and understanding.

Op is complaining about nursery fees and the total cost, paying public or private school fees doesn’t sound tenable even without the 20% VAT

Well, you did say “grimy area of London.” The only people I know who can afford London private schools are noticeably wealthy people and/or get a lot of help from grandparents. ETA: They don’t like the VAT thing, but will probably just reduce their (quite high) outgoings on other things - one fancy holiday a year instead of two, that kind of thing. If you are finding nursery fees a struggle, I doubt private school is a viable long-term choice even without VAT.

@MikeRafone yes I am complaining about nursery fees, what annoys me most is they create a huge barrier for an enormous women to return to work.
I can complain about something yet still be able to afford it surely?

Nonsense. If you are paying 2k per month nursery fees you can afford PS for one child.

My nursery bill is way higher than the fees for the pre-prep PS I have enrolled my DS in. In fact FT nursery fees are about the same as private senior school fees.

It all depends what your priorities are. Most people I know who use PS have good jobs but aren’t staggeringly wealthy.