Single parenet benefits proposed to end when youngest child is 11 rahter than 16

[uwila]

Oh this will be popular round here.

here

i have a friend who is on benefit and is a single mum, she has no intention of going back to work as she will only be a bit better off by working and still have to pay for school dinners and childcare in school holidays and things like that, she gets everything free at the moment, including college too

Nobody's assuming anything FFF.

Wondered where you were Cal.
(As you were ladies)

when will we ever get some positive news saying that we do a great job and all deserve a medal!! well just a break would do...

On the contrary, that is a separate issue. When the balance is right working parents are very important and beneficial. Let's not open that old chestnut. It's pointless to pick holes in posts which are just expressing my own experience. It is detrimental for me to work at this present time, as it is for many lone parents with special needs children. Already my son has improved from having me at home with him, so yes, me working was detrimental. Time to leave this alone though and look at the bigger picture.

when will we ever get some positive news saying that we do a great job and all deserve a medal!! well just a break would do...

Well nutty's ex-p managed to go onto incapacity benefit when she chucked him out so it must be possible. But I agree it does seem an odd statement from the govt. TBH I don't know enough about the benefits single parents get to really make an informed decision but cannot really agree with caligula that purely because you are a single parent you need to stay at home until the youngest child is 16.

It's also wrong to assume that working mother = only type of beneficial mother for a family. Depending on the lifestage and emotional state of the family, one might be better at one stage, and another at another.

For example, I worked full time when my kids were very young. There's no doubt whatsoever that that had a detrimental effect on my family. Whereas if I was unemployed now, that might have a detrimental effect.

Families need different things at different lifestages. This is why I find this idea that kid is now 11 = mum ready to be a WOHM bizarre. It might be much better for the family if she's a WOHM when the kid is 8, but detrimental if she's a WOHM when the kid is 14, depending on the family, what the circumstances of becoming a lone parent were, etc. And I do believe that on the whole, parents themselves, are the best judge of what work and parenting arrangements are best for their families, not the state.

isolde I think most posters have differentiated between the needs of children with special needs and those who are NT.

I know I usually sound like a scratched record on these issues, but I wonder how we ended up in a situation where people are better off on benefits than in work? The 'safety net' has become a set of reins.

Housing costs and childcare need to be addressed systemically and for everyone rather than means testing everything and offering tax credits/subsidised housing.

If people were better off in work, then they would take that option. If they are better off on benefits, they will take that one. Anyone would do exactly the same, making economic decisions for the well-being of their families.

There used to be council housing for low income families that they could access with relative ease. Now the housing crunch is arriving due to a constriction of social housing availability, it is forcing a generation into dependency.

As to "choosing" to be a single parent, it's about the same as "deciding not to have more children than you can afford" - sounds like it's all up to the individual when circumstances can change through no fault of that parent.
I chose to be a single parent in that I chose not to have an abortion, nor to try to emotionally blackmail or coerce DS dad into setting up home with me and becoming my "partner". When I found out I was PG I had a flexible job and freelance work and thought I would probably be able to manage - then the company that provided me with my main income closed down the division I worked in. Anyone like to calculate the odds on getting a secure, well paid job when you're 6 months pregnant?
I currently get WTC/FTC/some housing benefit and am self-employed doing a variety of things. DS dad does contribute some £ and some babysitting, but he's not earning huge amounts himself. As DS gets older and goes to pre-school school I can take on more work and probably reduce the amount of dependence on the state, but we are never, for instance, going to buy a home and holidays are not going to be very frequent.
Those who take the attitude that "I work, why can't you" should bear in mind that they are lucky. It doesn't take much to get into a financial hole: your employer might decide to outsource your job and all similar ones to the Third World, you or a family member might get ill or injured to the extent of needing a full-time carer for months or years, the property market might just crash again...
It's one of those problems that just won't go away: children need care from an adult and every adult needs some sort of income. How to fix that?

Bozza I've never said that you need to stay at home till your youngest child is 16 purely because you're a single parent.

I believe that some single parents may need to and that their children may need them to. Just as some married parents may need to.

And as mentioned previously, that sometimes you may need to be at home at different stages of your life/ your family's life.

oh i thought the incapacity thing was the old chestnut-can't be arsed to work? ah don't worry, pop down to your gp and get a sick note thing

so no you're not entitled but people think incapacity benefit is easy to get. until they have to apply for it...

i think that the whole issue rises from people like my sister in law, who has never worked never intends working keeps having more kids and gets everything paid for her! She has been claiming benefits (lots of) for 7 years now and has made no attempt to try and get a job, shes never paid rent or council tax and doesnt intend to, it makes me soooo angry she got herself pregnant a second time to avoid working.

me and my dp decided that when we had children i would give up work to look after them, i will get no help finding a job or going back to college after not working for years yet people like my SiL get help thrown at them, if she doesnt take the help she gets threatend with benefit cuts, this has been going on for 2 years and she still hasn't got a job or went back to college and she admits that she can't be bothered, what are the government going to do about people like that?

Oh and she thinks she's pregnant with no.3

I'm always amazed by how many women can get themselves pregnant.

Jolly talented, that. And really it's amazing that men haven't died out, considering.

But to answer your point clayre, the government will never do anything about people like that. Even in really repressive regimes, ne'er do wells manage to ... well... ne'er do well. They've always existed and they always will. A tiny minority of people are sheer freeloaders and any rules you bring in to stop them freeloading, will always make genuine people suffer.

Luckily, imo, these real freeloaders are quite rare. I do agree that the benefit system should not encourage normal people to join them though.

bloody hell, if a woman is willing to get herself pg (agree, rather clever) not once but 3 times to get a manky council flat and £117.20 (or whatever) a week then jolly good luck to her.

There are worse things you can do for money...

It just says they "may" do something so who knows whether they will or not.

We certainly need to reform the tax and benefits system in the UK. A universal benefit whether you work or not would be cheaper.

I am a single parent supporting 5 and work full time but it's certainly not easy even for me and with 3 at university to be supported.

"He said up to a third of lone parents move on to incapacity benefit once their child benefit ends as their youngest reaches 16. Mr Hutton has already unveiled plans to get one million incapacity benefit claimants back into work over the next 10 years, saving £7bn a year. "

How come they all suddenly develop incapacities when their children reach 16 then? Children worn them out over the years? Incapacity benefit is one of the worst exploited benefits I think. If you didn't have this system of having to prove things you could get rid of so much wasted effort and lies.

but this is bllx

they don't all develop incapacities when the kids are 16. they just don't.

the DWP doesn't just stick anyone who walks a bit funny or who looks a bit sad on incapacity benefit

this is actually a politically motivated thing, you know, and politicians don't always tell the truth

Of course, employers are just gagging to take on people who have been out of the workplace environment for 10 years or more, aren't they? Ok, so there's all this stuff about how "older people" are better at shelf-stacking, checkout-manning and all the other shit minimum wage jobs there are out there, but the companies that go on about that tend to mean pensioners - who they can justfiy paying f* all because they've probably got their savings and it's just a way of getting them out of the house, etc.

Frankly the only way to have any hope of coping financially is to work for yourself. Look around for anything you can do, any skill you have, that people might want to pay you for, start touting yoru product/service around and remember that you can get FTC/WTC as a self-employed person...

I really am mystified about this incapacity thing and would like to know what on earth all that is about.

I might ring One Parent Families tomorrow and ask them.

I'm starting to come round to your way of thinking, madamez.

It's making more and more sense every day, in fact.

Expat: not quite following you there? Which of my ways of thinking?

The working for yourself bit!

It's starting to make a lot more sense!

well i would love to be able to work but i am not ABLE to work i am on incap, cos my back is knackered and after 3 ops it is no better, course child care for 3 kids with autism would be a bit of a problem, then there is my DH who has MS & a brain tumour, yes we live on benefits, and as far as i see it we both worked before full time in very good jobs and paid lots into the system and i think its fair that the system now helps us out, as for the kids growing up thinking they won't have to work cos benefits are the way to go, frankly i would be delighted if they ever had the ability to understand all that.