Budget 2010: Budget 2010: Child tax credits up for one and two-year-olds

emweaver

krisskross wrote: »

Most of these items are the parent's wants rather than the child's needs.

Mine were breast fed until old enough to be weaned onto mashed up real food (I realise not everyone will be able to breast feed). So food cost absolutely nothing. Used terry nappies. Bum cream I made by mixing cheap zinc and castor oil cream with a few drops of friars balsam. Better than Sudocreme.

2nd hand pram and used it for 2 babies. All 4 used the same Moses basket....it got a fresh coat of paint each time. Same big cot for all 4.Made a lot of their clothes, and they only ever had 3 outfits at a time, charity shops now have some beautiful baby clothes for pennies.

Plus remember new parents get about £40 a week for the 1st year plus maternity pay, seems like a lot of money to me.

What? A baby DOES need feeding, not everyone can breastfeed! A baby does need nappies and cream unless you feel its fair to leave them in agony from nappy rash! A baby does need clothes every few months as they grow quickly and even 2nd hand clothes costs money LOOK ON EBAY not many bargans to be had.

Also they need a pram and somewhere to sleep, fair enough reusing from your 1st child if its still useable but what if this is your first child and your not lucky enough to have hand me downs?

As for car seats they are a legal requirement and are not cheap! they too need replacing as the child grows! not to mention safety gates etc to protect the child as social services are hotter than what they used to be

Maternity pay is in place of your wages you work hard your entitled to it and most people wouldnt afford their rent / mortage and bills without it. Isnt it more important mums can have quality bonding time with their children instead of having to go back to work straight away?

maternity pay was £106 when I had my daughter 4 years ago, so with the tax credits, family allowance etc it made it £166 which is less than I got at work! Yet we had a extra person to clothe, feed, more water / elec etc being use and clothes to buy etc

I dont give a . . . what it was like back in your day as were not living back in your day EVERYTHING has evolved since then

seven-day-weekend

emweaver wrote: »

and times have changed in 30 years, children are better educated these days. debatablethey even have to stay in education until 18. doesn't necessarily mean they are better educated what is wrong with the government helping educate children after all they are our future ...... except they don't get better education.

child poverty has decreased to in 30 years

were not living 30 years ago we are here now so stop comparing it to the olden days

All we were saying is that parents have never had it so good with Government subsidies for their children but why you need extra for two-year-olds I have no idea. Nor why the Government give them savings.

I personally get a bit narked by attitudes like that of the poster above who seems to think it is the Government's responsibility to subsidise her lifestyle if she choses to have children. ONLY £106 a week Maternity pay??? I get less than that for a State Pension I have paid into forr forty years.

I'm not saying that poor people should not be helped out. But just expecting the Government to pay for your children is not right at all.

krisskross

emweaver wrote: »

and times have changed in 30 years, children are better educated these days. they even have to stay in education until 18. what is wrong with the government helping educate children after all they are our future

I would dispute this totally. My state education 50 years ago was far superior to that of todays young people. I never knew a single contemporary who left school at 15 unable to read or write.

When I studied, at age 50, for a higher diploma I was the only one in my group some of whom had degrees, that didn't need essay writing lessons.

You will almost always be able to guess the age of posters on these boards by the grammar and spelling displayed.

krisskross

emweaver wrote: »

maternity pay was £106 when I had my daughter 4 years ago, so with the tax credits, family allowance etc it made it £166 which is less than I got at work! Yet we had a extra person to clothe, feed, more water / elec etc being use and clothes to buy etc

So whose child is is? Yours or the taxpayers? As you apparently think you should be reimbursed for every penny this child that YOU decided to bring into the word costs. Did it not occur to you that the luxury that is a child was going to have an effect on household income? I wouldn't get a dog without researching whether I could afford to meet all it's needs myself. Why should having a child be seen differently?

Have to say that I hope your grabby attitude towards taxpayers money is not widespread although I fear it is.

Hopefully the benefit train will soon hit the buffers and people have to take responsibility for providing for themselves and their families again.

talulah25

krisskross wrote: »

Most of these items are the parent's wants rather than the child's needs.

Mine were breast fed until old enough to be weaned onto mashed up real food (I realise not everyone will be able to breast feed). So food cost absolutely nothing. Used terry nappies. Bum cream I made by mixing cheap zinc and castor oil cream with a few drops of friars balsam. Better than Sudocreme.

2nd hand pram and used it for 2 babies. All 4 used the same Moses basket....it got a fresh coat of paint each time. Same big cot for all 4.Made a lot of their clothes, and they only ever had 3 outfits at a time, charity shops now have some beautiful baby clothes for pennies.

Plus remember new parents get about £40 a week for the 1st year plus maternity pay, seems like a lot of money to me.

A parents WANTS???? How d'you figure that?

I breastfed my son as long as I physically could, then, on the advice of health professionals switched him to formula. Whether I feed him on jars or 'proper' food, it still costs something! Its not FREE as you said to feed them on normal food, unless you steal it from the supermarket!

If you use terry nappies and muslins instead of wipes you have the added costs of extra washing; detergent and electricity to run the washing machine.

It is NOT reccommended to use second-hand car seats and at around £100 a time this can be pretty expensive, also, if you use a second-hand cot/crib/moses basket you should ALWAYS buy a brand-new mattress as a used one increases the risk of cot-death.

I did get alot of my sons clothes second-hand but, especially when they are small, vests etc can get very stained and sometimes you have to throw them away and buy new. How on earth you can manage on 3 outfits I dont know as my son at 10 months old can still go through 3 outfits in ONE DAY!

I have never and would never expect the tax-payer to provide for my child(ren), I am simply saying that Tax Credits are already in existence and should go to those most deserving, which in my opinion is parents of babies/toddlers with lower-end household income.

As for the comment about £40 plus maternity pay being alot of money, for me this was about half of my normal wage, I still had to pay my normal household bills out of this. Coupled with the fact that my partner lost his job and we were entititled to no benefits as my mat pay was more than the £105/week the government say we can live on!

krisskross

talulah25 wrote: »

As for the comment about £40 plus maternity pay being alot of money, for me this was about half of my normal wage, I still had to pay my normal household bills out of this. Coupled with the fact that my partner lost his job and we were entititled to no benefits as my mat pay was more than the £105/week the government say we can live on!

What you received is still a lot of money and no doubt you factored in the lower income when you were deciding to have a child. And decided you could afford it.

I expect you got benefit help with rent and council tax in addition to the maternity pay, child benefit and tax credits.

Heaven help you all if tax credits are stopped as quickly as they started and you all have to rely on your own earning power.

seven-day-weekend

talulah25 wrote: »

A parents WANTS???? How d'you figure that?

I breastfed my son as long as I physically could, then, on the advice of health professionals switched him to formula. Whether I feed him on jars or 'proper' food, it still costs something! Its not FREE as you said to feed them on normal food, unless you steal it from the supermarket!

If you use terry nappies and muslins instead of wipes you have the added costs of extra washing; detergent and electricity to run the washing machine.

It is NOT reccommended to use second-hand car seats and at around £100 a time this can be pretty expensive, also, if you use a second-hand cot/crib/moses basket you should ALWAYS buy a brand-new mattress as a used one increases the risk of cot-death.

I did get alot of my sons clothes second-hand but, especially when they are small, vests etc can get very stained and sometimes you have to throw them away and buy new. How on earth you can manage on 3 outfits I dont know as my son at 10 months old can still go through 3 outfits in ONE DAY!

I have never and would never expect the tax-payer to provide for my child(ren), I am simply saying that Tax Credits are already in existence and should go to those most deserving, which in my opinion is parents of babies/toddlers with lower-end household income.

As for the comment about £40 plus maternity pay being alot of money, for me this was about half of my normal wage, I still had to pay my normal household bills out of this. Coupled with the fact that my partner lost his job and we were entititled to no benefits as my mat pay was more than the £105/week the government say we can live on!

But so does everyone, and did so even when there was no extra money from the Government. Surely you should factor the cost of this before having a baby? And make arrangements if necessary? As I said earlier, we took in a lodger for extra income. We also got rid of our car as we could not afford to keep it on the road. You don't have to do that, you have tax credits. But there are still going to be extra costs and I see no reason why the Government should pay them.

sunnyone

My daughter is 21 and I have never had a penny for her apart from child benefit, my sons 14 and the same applies, they are our kids and we have paid for them both.

Tax credits are wrong and some of you are going to have a huge shock when the rugs pulled out from under you, you had the kids, you keep them.

The same group thats going to get burned in a big way when the tax credits go are the same ones up to the eyes with debts, you cant take responsibility for your own lives.

emweaver

krisskross wrote: »

So whose child is is? Yours or the taxpayers? As you apparently think you should be reimbursed for every penny this child that YOU decided to bring into the word costs. Did it not occur to you that the luxury that is a child was going to have an effect on household income? I wouldn't get a dog without researching whether I could afford to meet all it's needs myself. Why should having a child be seen differently?

Have to say that I hope your grabby attitude towards taxpayers money is not widespread although I fear it is.

Hopefully the benefit train will soon hit the buffers and people have to take responsibility for providing for themselves and their families again.

I am a taxpayer so dont try to patrnoise me! The money I get a week hardly covers all the costs so taxpayers arent fully financially supporting my child and even if they were me and my husband are tax payers we pay out a lot more than we get each week from the government

emweaver

krisskross wrote: »

So whose child is is? Yours or the taxpayers? As you apparently think you should be reimbursed for every penny this child that YOU decided to bring into the word costs. Did it not occur to you that the luxury that is a child was going to have an effect on household income? I wouldn't get a dog without researching whether I could afford to meet all it's needs myself. Why should having a child be seen differently?

Have to say that I hope your grabby attitude towards taxpayers money is not widespread although I fear it is.

Hopefully the benefit train will soon hit the buffers and people have to take responsibility for providing for themselves and their families again.

I assume you cant have kids