A message from Harriet Harman - Minister for Women and Equality - how is the credit crunch/recession is affecting you and how do you think Government can help?

[JustineMumsnet]

Harriet Harman writes:
We want to protect families from the credit crunch with real help. And we want to hear what Mumsnet are concerned about during this recession; what you want us to be doing about it; and what you want to see changed for the future. Prime Minister Gordon Brown is hosting an international Economic Summit in London (which President Obama will be coming to) in April to agree with other countries how we work together to get the global economy back on its feet and growing again. I want to hear from you and feed your views in to this summit.

Opinion polls tell us that women are more concerned about the impact of the recession than men, is that your view?
Is the recession affecting your family life and if so how?
Are you getting the advice and information you need if you ask for help?
What do you want to see government doing to help with that?
What do you think about bonuses?
How can we help women who want to start their own businesses?

Thanks for asking

I agree that women are more concerned than men, particularly where it's the woman who manages the household finances as in our family. I'm much more aware of our 'burn rate' (ie the date when we completely run out of money) than my husband because I know what the absolute minimum I can feed us for is.

So far the recession is only affecting our family life in terms of being afraid and stressed. DH is self-employed so we won't qualify for benefits unless he winds up his company - we won't do that unless we absolutely have to. So it's just a matter of living on less... and less... and less. We never know from one day to the next whether he'll get work in. A contract is about to come to an end at the mo, and we've heard that there is precious little out there for him now, so we might have to live on our meagre SAVINGS, maybe even for the rest of the year. Those savings aren't earning interest thanks to the rate cuts, so that's making us spend even less money.

All the government action seems to be geared towards propping up the value of houses, not helping those who have been saving and couldn't afford to buy during the boom years.

The best advice & information I get is from Mumsnetters, not the government - ie cheap living threads

I think it's wrong for people to be rewarded for failure. So if senior executives high up at banks have been presiding over failure then they should not get any bonus or pay rise. I believe that the sack is customary in such cases, no? But for those in lower-paid roles in financial services where their 'bonus' just tops up their pay to a living wage without the company having to pay National Insurance for them, they should get their bonus. Really those people should be paid a wage not an incentive scheme where the incentives encourage reckless selling while the company avoids paying NI for them.

I have started my own business, but am not sure how much longer I can sustain it. Business Link are generally good - more business link events focussed on women entrepreneurs and adviser sessions would be useful. I'm on the waiting list for an adviser session, and have been for four months. I've seen women-only entrepreneur sessions at other business link regions, but not London where I'm based, and I was rejected from attending the other events because I wasn't local to their region.

I am going to attempt to answer the questions how is the credit crunch affecting me, and what I think about bonusses. I do not want to get into a political argument with any other m-netters, I want to be as factual as possible.

I am worried about redundancy as I work for a small luxury goods company. Regardless of how angry I am about the way the banking industry has behaved, bankers did make up a significant proportion of our client base and their bonusses did trickle down into the wider economy. Our industry is very quiet at the moment and I find this worrying. Staff have already been laid off where I work.

My husband's landscaping and gardening work has really been hit so we might be faced with no money coming in if I lose my job.

Furrycat: I'd like legislation put in place that companies are legally obliged to pay invoices within a certain time - eg 30 days. The late payment legislation at the moment is toothless and no-one I know dares use it for fear of never being offered work again.
There should be an advertisement campaign showing the effects of late payment on small businesses aimed at shaming big companies into paying on time.

That really is an excellent proposal. We all know it is the death of so many small businesses and big business use and abuse it to the detriment of so many people. If that could be stopped, then improvements for small businesses could be dramatic.

Opinion polls tell us that women are more concerned about the impact of the recession than men, is that your view?
No, We are both self employed, DH has been making redundancy's and we are seeing a lot of hard work go down the pan due to the utter ineptitude of this government

Is the recession affecting your family life and if so how?
Yes, my main client has gone bust leaving me with a bad debt, DH has taken a 30% pay cut. It's a pile of crap!

Are you getting the advice and information you need if you ask for help?
Tried asking Business Link for help... won't try that again! Have tried pitching for governement business on the dozens of sites that actively encourage SME's to pitch. My business, many others I also know, never get close, it is all tied down with the same select few.

What do you want to see government doing to help with that?
Opening their eyes, getting their noses out of the troughs and understanding what it is really like. Bring private sector staff in who don't work to rule, who understand what a deadline and accountability is rather than the current bunch of no-hopers (sorry this is a huge generalisation I know but I have spent so much time with local governement advisors of late who freak me out with their utter inability to get anything done either due to 'the system' or simply the lack of hours they work!

What do you think about bonuses?
If they are earned well and good, but not in any bank that has tax payers money in it

How can we help women who want to start their own businesses?
Not just woman, sort out the childcare REMOVE CORPORATION TAX FOR THOSE WHO ONLY MAKE A SMALL PROFIT EG £10,000 AND THEN LEAVE IT IN THE BUISNESS TO KEEP IT AFLOAT THEN GET SCREWED TWICE FOR TAX. Because quite honestly what is the point otherwise! And yes I am ranting.

And Ms Harman, tell your boss to sod off, we have had enough.

Regarding all the childcare issues below, I do think that maximising flexibility within the family in terms of working is a key to security. Therefore please could you make it compulsory for councils to provide childcare services for children who are disabled (and not just in special schools- the Sn child of mine in mainstream education is harder to place in childcare than the one witha special school place because of his needs). Available for any child in receipt of DLA or with a statement of special educational needs. I don't mind paying the going rate (can't see why I should be capped or surcharged), but until it becomes available I am unable to contribute at all, and this means we are vulnerable.

Pressure on universities to offer part time courses for people attempting to get back into work or career change out of a vulnerable field would also help- my DH knows his field is vulnerable but nowhere offers a corse in an alternative field of interest part time; I'd like to teach but again PGCE part time is ridiculously hard to find. Being able to work is immensely important in terms of security.

Please also look at energy costs; the amount we3 now have to pay is rapidly diminishing what we can save, and even if it's on a pitiful interest rate a reserve is important.

childcare - we fall into that 'middle-income' category which means we hardly get any tax credit, and end up having to spend a greater proportion of our income on childcare and after bills etc left with very litte. I would like to see more reasonable childcare costs.

high gas/electric/petrol prices - I don't mind paying fair price but the amount that we are charged only lines the pockets of 'fat-cats' even more.

Want the government to stop thinking in the interests of thier friends and who ever donates to their party, and put the people first - i.e especially the hard workind ones. Give us a share of the bank's CEO bonus - afterall it's our money being invested, so they can have it.

My husband was made redundant the week before our 12 week old was born. We subsequently found out it was the third redundancy within just our NCT group (of 12 adults) with another imminent. He's now got another job thank god (with a large pay cut and a longer commute) but when we initially tried to get advice from our local CAB we were told that they would only advise us if we qualified for legal aid. As my dh was still in the consultation period which comes with redundancy that ruled us out despite the fact that I was on maternity leave. With half the country facing redundancy advice must be made available for those of us who fall in between the haves who can afford lawyers and the have nots who qualify for legal aid (ie, I would guess, most of the country).

And because we lost our company car with the redundancy we're now train reliant (we both used to work at the same place so we car shared). Green yes - but a huge chunk out of our income. It's a situation that many will now be facing (especially as people will have to go farther afield to find work) - but the train companies will keep hiking the prices.

And I agree with all of those who have mentioned childcare - you want to get a population back to work - then let them! The journey to work takes an hour for my dh and an hour and a half for me, so when I go back to work (which I had hoped not to have to do) I'm going to have to either leave my baby at nursery for 11 hours a day which I can't afford to do (and frankly don't want to) or take her on a packed commuter train to a nursery near work. I'd like to go part time to help with the bills and bring up my child but the nursery fees would cancel out what I earned.

no biggitdad. I know exactly what the FSA is. when I said that it's the govt that's in charge of regulation it was short-hand. I realise the FSA is the body that carries it out, but ultimately the govt is responsible for the FSA and should be among those held accountable

Obviously a decent public inquiry would have to look at the role of all actors, which would include the FSA, but I very specifically meant the govt. Ultimately it is the govt which, if you like, regulates the regulators. and in order to truly establish what went wrong you need an independent inquiry that would look at the role of all. not a bunch of politicians cross-examining bankers.

Nothingyet then Fio? I am sorry , I hope something comes up soon

I imagine that might be psychologically challenging with DD as well.

Affordable and flexible childcare is a massive problem in London (and probably everywhere else in the country too).

I personally am having problems finding a part-time job that doesn't require me to find wrap-around care for my children on top of the normal nursery day.

I work part-timr on two seperate jobs. One during the day and another in teh evenings. I need to wrk this much to afford to pay bills, mortgage etc...... My husband works full-time. We have never claimed benefits and have worked since we left school. I spend nowhere near enough time with my children, neither does my Husband. The cost of childcare makes working pointless.

I would like more support for working Mothers with childcare costs and flexible working hours. I know something like this exists but most employers don't know how to or do not want to help.

I have 3 children ranging from 3mths to 6years.

I do agree with you Hatwoman, a public inquiry should be carried out.

make childcare tax deductible. Also if you were to make domestic help like cleaners and gardeners tax deductible as well, then you'd probably find more people willing and able to employ them.

Encourage companies looking to lay people off to consider offering reduced hours (ie 4 days a week) instead - allowing them to keep more people employed and making flexible working more culturally acceptable within the workplace. (ie not just for mothers)

Fio it's sensible; I've worked in several good and one awful care home and it's not the good ones that flas into my head every time I worry about ds3's future - I wouldn't recommend it

It would be pointless having a public inquiry as it will cost a lot and we will be told the usual crap "lessons have been learned". Nobody in power will resign or be sacked and they will keep milking the system for their own benefit.

Is the recession affecting your family life and if so how?
We are both worried about losing our jobs - if one of us does then life will need to change dramatically for us. We used to be fortunate enough to receive a place at a subsidised workplace nursery but needless to say the (public service) company could no longer afford to offer the benefit so that was withdrawn - my childcare costs have since doubled and furthermore I am being charged £200 per month for the parking space I previously had free of charge. I recongise I am lucky to have one but so many increased costs in such a short period of time are hard to budget for, especially in the face of enormous heating/food bills.

Are you getting the advice and information you need if you ask for help?
I'm not aware of any sources I can approach for advise and information and I'm too busy working to have time to address them. Certainly whenever I've contacted Citizen's Advice Bureau in the past they have not had the resources to service the number of people needing their advice.

What do you want to see government doing to help with that?
It would be good to see those services like Citizen's Advice better supported by the government and more focus on help with childcare - most of which is of a very poor standard. When my little one goes to school we still need to find a way of managing our working lives and making sure she's looked after - could there be more encouragement for schools to have high quality breakfast/after school clubs which would help to reduce childcare costs (as these are normally cheaper than childminders).

What do you think about bonuses?
The current issue of bonuses for bankers leaves me very angry. The banks and financial insitutions are responsible for the problems we're having in the economy and the ramifications that has for all of us. Why on earth should they be rewarded? They should be paying us bonuses as taxpayers for bailing them out when everything came crashing down. Surely a bonus is a recognition of a standard of work beyond what is normally required - the banks have done anything but that.

How can we help women who want to start their own businesses?
Grants, advice and teh ability to take out loans to get businesses off the ground - but the bankers who are getting the bonuses have put an end to that!

Opinion polls tell us that women are more concerned about the impact of the recession than men, is that your view?

No

Is the recession affecting your family life and if so how?

Yes, my husband (voluntarily) left his previous employer at the start of 2008. He has not worked since despite over 100 applications. In his mid-40s he is concerned he may never work again. My company has just started an employee consultation process and will make significant redundancies later this year. It is highly likely that we will have gone from a reasonable household income to zero in a little over 12 months. We are/were both in technical/managerial roles - we are not bankers or city high fliers, we can survive maybe 12 months on savings, after that who knows...

Are you getting the advice and information you need if you ask for help?

No. The Job Centre doesn't even have a category in it's database for us. Until we've spent our savings (our pension!) we expect to get nothing.

What do you want to see government doing to help with that?

Start considering private sector employees for public sector job vacancies. At the very least stop advertising public sector jobs that don't really exist - ie where the appointment has effectively been made to an internal candidate. It's a waste of my time and it's a waste of yours assuming you bother to read my application.

Also, do something serious about protecting peoples' homes and mortgages. 12 month mortgage holidays for people who find themselves out of work unexpectedly - don't wait until we qualify for income support.

A huge number of the people being made redundant in this recession are the middle income, middle management types. I don't see any government schemes that offer practical support. Provide some free impartial advice from experienced recruitment consultants used to dealing with this group - what are our options? what should we be retraining as?

What do you think about bonuses?

Not in any bank that would have gone bust without taxpayers' money.

How can we help women who want to start their own businesses?

Sort out childcare. It's been said before. At 50 quid a day minimum for full time childcare (where I live anyway) how can any woman expect to work yet alone start her own business?

yes agree that wrap around care at schools (breakfast and after school clubs) should be available: our school Head now retired (thanks be!) said 'We don't want those it would cater for those (working) women and that's not the type we want here'- with that attitude how is anyone going to get anywhere? It should be compulsory for a school to either provide wrap around care or hook up with an agency (my sister is a maanger for a nursery that offers this) that can sort it: flexible, large enough to cater for demand (so not saying yes well X have 4 places which is insignificant for 250 pupils), and bookable on the day or at most a week in advance so you don't get forced into paying for 52 weeks worth when you actually want alternate mondays.

I am so pleased to hear this from Harriet Harman. Both me and my DH have been made redundant (me twice!) in the past 18 months. He's now freelance and I'm trying to do the same. In this economic climate it seems like madness to set up on your own; however we've been through so many other stresses and tragedies during that 18 month period that we (well, I) feel very well-equipped to battle on. The credit crunch doesn't phase me; I know that hard work, resilience and creativity are all I need.

However, we are running out of money and I in particular am finding it very hard to earn whilst setting up my business. The one thing that would break the back of this would be help with childcare costs. This is effectively a second mortgage, and while we can hopefully get help with our mortgage there appears to be no help for childcare if your child is under 3. There was a fantastic scheme which I benefitted from last year, the Childcare Availability Programme (CAP). I believe it was funded by the London Development Agency. Sadly the scheme has now expired, but it basically paid for 100% of my childcare costs for up to 3 months while I was looking for work.

Another thing that would help is start-up funding. As a freelancer I wouldn't need all that much; I'd need to invest in software and perhaps a better laptop and mobile phone. I also see a business coach, who is utterly, utterly brilliant. She enables me to find solutions to my own problems and to see the silly side of some of my 'limiting beliefs' - making them appear silly is a great way of demolishing them. I am lucky to have found a coach affiliated to a local college so her fee is heavily subsidised. I estimate that the investment needed for all of this is £3k.

The most important personal qualities, which I have learned through my period of endurance, are:

• resilience (bouncing back after every single failure)
• creativity (including learning to turn your failures into lessons for success)
• networking (being yourself when you approach people; extending your network)
• fearlessness and taking risks (overcoming any anxieties and just going for it - on small and large scale)

I'm sure there are many more, but these stand out for me as the key qualities needed. I suspect that there are many of us who will need help to develop those characteristics in order to excel in their work.

I believe that anyone setting up their own business needs business coaching, at least for the first 6-12 months. I also suspect that some sort of peer support group (perhaps in conjunction with coaches?) would have a significant impact. By investing in coaches, the government could, of course, stimulate the coaching industry.

Another thing that's occurred to me is how difficult it is to get seen by the right people. Networking is obviously the main way to do this, but with companies tightening their belts often they turn down meetings with people new on the scene because their budgets are restricted and they cannot countenance taking risks. Might there be a way of supporting businesses to do this? I think that's quite a vague suggestion; maybe Harman's team can make more of it!

An addition: some years ago I did a brilliant course in Creative and Lateral Thinking. It was a brilliant way to learn techniques of thinking in new ways and coming up with new problem-solving ideas that would otherwise evade you.

It was a 1-day course at the CityLit in London, it cost no more than £50. I highly recommend something like this for anyone thinking of going it alone, and in fact to everyone.

How many times do we need to say that we need subsidised excellent before and after school care in ALL schools. This will free up mums with school aged kids to be able to apply for full time jobs if they need to in order to support their family. It gives us all flexibility and options, rather than the situation I'm in which is dh works his cotton socks off (and hates not having enough family time) and I do what I can around school hours, frustrated beyond belief because I want to do more, have the skills to do more and am being offered more work that I cannot fit in!