Why are the government BOTHERING to push single parents back into paid work?

[Coldtits]

If you have two children, pay for £35 a week childcare and work 16 hours at the minimum wage you get

£70 a week working tax credit
£117 a week child tax credit
£30 a week child benefit
any maintenance your ex partner/s give you
And some of your rent paid if you are renting

That's a total of £217 of government money PLUS whatever they pay towards your rent.

Without working you get
£60 income support - with whatever maintenance your ex gives you being knocked (less £20) off this sum
£90 child tax credit
£30 child benefit.

SO, this is £180.

It costs the government LESS for me to stay at home and not work, they way the current set up is.

Why, when they are screaming from the rooftops about single parents going back to work, would they make it financially advantagious to THE GOVERNMENT for them not to? Why have they done this?

sorry where did I say I looked down on those jobs, or that I wouldn't do them?

I simply pointing out that jobs such as that have no real long term propsects, the pay is unlikely to improve and the chances are because the wages are so poor they're still going to be getting a lot of tax payers money to support them.

I cleaned shitty OAP arses, in a crap, low paid night shift for 1 1/2yrs (up unti i was 6 months pg) because I had to work. But had I stayed there (or rather gone back) the chances of me moving up the ladder where about 0.

"It creates a job - someone else has to look after your dc "

Yes but if you are on a low wage then the government is paying that someone, and subsidising your wage!

and of course they're honest jobs. But as for creating self esteem? Err - well it did sod all for my self esteem (made it worse actually) and when exH was cleaning toilets for the DVLA he didn't exactly go and pick up his pay packet with a bouncy smile on his face at how wonderful he was and how great his job was.

Yes, there is support for training. Lots of training is free for people on low incomes or benefits or heavily discounted and many FE college and unis have creches plus there's free childcare places for 3+

oh right - so my friend should sit on her arse until her DS is 3 then?? No actually that's what she doesn't want to do. She's on benefits, she's been to the job centre to ask, there's sod all they can do, and the creche at the college is generally full, doesn't run at the time her course is on (early evening) and she would still have to pay for it (all be it very cheap) - with money from where???

If you think the opportunities are that widely available I'd like you to come and point them all out to me. As it took me months of searching to find something that wasn't going to cost me and arm and a leg, or create major childcare issues in my local area (and it's not actually local in the end - it's the OU!)

I did cleaning last year (only 4 hrs a week though) and it did not give me pride.

It gave me a little extra cash, in fact it made up exactly for the maintainance I am entitled to but don't get

But pride? Nope. Hope it would lead to bigger and better things? Nope. Prospects? Nope again.

gold, as I've said there are a lot of opportunities for training and gaining qualifications (increasingly with distance learning and the Internet etc or as you have found with OU) and there is financial support for parents who want to work and don't want to work. I'm sure we'd all like it to be more but then who doesn't want more money and more opportunities? In this world you do have to work hard for success.

www.learndirect.co.uk/

at the maintanance money.

Actually I'm having Perfect Pizza tonight as exH gave me the December money he owed me. Well actually it's about a 1/4 of what the CSA say he should pay me. But I have a heart (and a head [frgin]) a know that right now the amount they've said would totally crippe him. I'd been coping fine before they gave him a figure to pay (he'd been paying the mortgage before that - which was as far as I was concerned his maintance) so for know I'm just not budgetting the money into my monthly figures - so nice ilttle bonus tonight

I'm sorry but I don't really get the complaints. There have never been more opportunities for tranining and learning than there are today for parents and non parents. And never more support for parents (single or none). Free places for 3 and 4 year olds, better maternity pay and conditions, child tax credits, working tax credits, rights for flexible working for parents.

Being a parent is hard. Being a single parent is harder. But at least before the credit crunch there have never been more opportunities or support.

And it's sort of odd that this started off bemoaning the fact that parents are given more Govt financial assistance for working than staying at home and now is ended up ranting that it's really hard to get a part-time job if you're a parent.

sorry not directed at you gold.

Maintanance is my personal aaarrrrrgggghhhh subject.

In nearly four years we have recieved about, um, £50? In fact I have had more in compensation from the CSA - they sent me an ex-gratia payment of £115 this year to apologise Seems that even with address, phone number, details of cash-in-hand employer etc, they cannot get money out of ex as they cannot find him!!!

We are meant to get the grand sum of £1.67 a week. It comes and goes...

yes of course there's learndirect - if they offer a course that's something you're vaguely interested in (or even need!).

Online courses

"Basic English and Maths; as well as a range of courses in IT and Business and Management, "

well my basic English is fine (ok I can't spell - but I've forgotten how to spell the spellcheck on firefox on [frgrin]), my maths is fine, IT and Business and Management would bore me senseless.

You seem to be deluding yourself if you think these things are so easy.

I am by no means thick (well some may disagree) and pretty good at hunting down things on the intenet/local college/library etc but opportunities and help for studying something that would actually lead me to a job that I would be even vaguely interested in doing, and that would pay enough for me at least be a settled "working poor" were extrenely limited.

The course i really wanted to do - I can't because I need a job for it (in that line of work) , oh but wait, I can't get a job right now because it would leave me worse off

So yes - plenty of opportunities for learning if you need to brush up your English, Maths or basic computer skills but beyond that very little. And very difficult to get the support for it too.

I've done loads of jobs in my time. To get me through university I chambermaided, stacked shelves in a library and waitressed. After uni I did loads of temping. Actually preferred chambermaiding to temping where I was patronised and bored out of my mind for most of the time. I'm now a teacher. Went back to work PT 6 months after each child and will go FT at some point perhaps when they're both in secondary school. When I went back to work PT and was paying for 2 in childcare my salary didn't leave me much at all after the nursery costs but I was thinking about the long-term - moving up the scale, pension contributions and I really, really wanted to keep my job. Might have taken more time out if I hadn't really liked the job I was in when I worked out that I could have earned as much on one or two days a week stacking shelves at ASDA with dp looking after the children but looking back I'm glad I did what I did. Personally I have always had to work (even when it was chambermaiding) for my self-esteem. Love the idea of having time at home with the dcs but actually I've ended up getting quite depressed when I've done this for long. That's just me.

Anarchy - that's crap. Does he see your DC?? While i'm not getting much money from exH (atm) he sees the boys regularly and hasn't let them down (yet) with regards to arrangements to see them.

fivecandles - you see that bemuses me slightly, as a look at my local job centre website, or the loca job paper reveals - yes a large number of part time jobs. Many of them under 16hrs a week (not enough to qualify for WTC), a number that require specific qualifications, and a very large proportion that involve working unsocial hours,

hence the reason that when I HAD to return to work 3yrs ago while exH and I were still together I ended up with a part-time night shift job.

At end oflast year, and beginning of this year, before I knew exH and I were splittng up I was looking for work again. I wasn't limiting my search at all (I've also done "search all options" on the job centre websites) and the only jobs i found to apply for were unsocial hours (very early morning,night shift, split shifts, late night etc).

Part-time jobs which co-incide with hours that childcare is available (and that's even harder to find in this town for my DS1's age and over) are extremely few and far between.

five candles - I understand that not having much left for the short term, in favour of the long-term is ok..............but only if you actually have anything left at the end of each month, or indeed aren't going to be severely short (despite buying value brands, cooking from scratch and eating little meat)

gold I don't think things are easy. I never said that. But there ARE opportunities. Hundreds. There have never been more. Courses at every level from basic skills to phD with discounts or free for low incomes. And, lots and lots of work based courses. I've done 2 Diplomas and an MA whilst working paid for my workplace.

oh yes the worked based courses where to get your qualification you're going to be bring less home than you need to survive on .

I wish you could live where I do, as you'll find there are NOT "hundreds" of opportunities, unless you want to brush up basic skills or learn about computing or business management (urghh no thanks - nearly went to University to study that for 4yrs - but saw sense at the last minute )

What's the course you wanted to do Gold?

But then again, this thread started with parents wanting to spend more time at home with children and complaining there was more incentive to work than to stay at home??

Can't have it both ways surely.

oh yes - i suppose after 12 months of asking about it my workplace did finally start doing something about getting me started on my NVQ.........never actually really got started though, and they only did it because they realised they didn't have enough people with NVQ as the care standards said they should.

Had I stayed and got that one, they wouldn't have paid for me to do the NVQ3 - the would never had given me a senior position so in their eyes there would have been no point. (fucking wankers)

Well some people are never pleased - it's pretty difficult if you're just going to scorn all of the support and opportuntieis avilabel (which has helped a lot of people).

Benefits for taying at home? That's no good because you get more benefits for going to work.

Go to work? That's no good because I don't want to do any of the jobs I can get.

Go to university? 'urghh no thanks'

Do some training - there's nothing I want to do.

I actually live in one of the most deprived areas in the country. But there are lots of opportunities. In fact, I teach at 6th form level where students with families on low income get money to come to college.

FAQ - ex sees DD a couple of times a year when his mother organises it and comes to fetch her/drop her off. I have not seen or spoken to him in nearly two years - he will not give me a phone number. He has 3 DC by 3 women now and does not see any of then regularly or pay maintanance for any of them.

Anyway thats all irrelevant it seems as I should just get on with working for a pittance rather than giving my DD the attention, security, and stability she so desparately needs after being abandoned by her father, whom she adores and tells me she is worried has 'forgotten about' her.

Whilst he is left to carry on knocking up young women (his last three GFs have been at leat 10 yrs younger than him) with gay abandon and never being forced to face the reality of what he is doing.

Maybe 'gay' was the wrong word there

wanted to do the Foundation Degree in Health and Social care (requires less points ) but doing the normal one intead, Course options aren't quite the route I'm sort of looking to take career wise, but it's close enough (and by far the closest thing I've found - absolutely NOTHING at the local college in that field at all).

'I should just get on with working for a pittance rather than giving my DD the attention, security, and stability she so desparately needs '

But who is saying this? If you want to stay at home while your dd is at home then stay at home.

The Govt does support those parents who choose to stay at home. Don't get why some people seem to be against the Govt supporting parents who CHOOSE to go to work though.