Another one of those benefits threads

silvercar

lemonjelly wrote:

No it doesn't carolt. It pays at 70%. & you have to be working to qualify. A lone parent has to work 16+ hours per week to qualify. A couple has to have both working more than 16 hours a week to qualify.

Well obviously you have to be working to qualify, if you are not working you don't need the childcare as you can look after your children yourself. And if you are only working a few hours a week you should be working when your kids are in school not when they are at home.

If school holidays are a problem you mix and match with other working parents and swap kids on your non-working time and take some leave - that's what I and my friends did.

(Accepting Sue's point that if you have 3 children all needing extra care it becomes a bit of a nightmare to balance on your own - but I think we all accept that is the exception not the rule.)

carolt

And another one:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1282969/Housing-benefit-families-pocket-26-000-plus-excessive-claims-continue-rise.html

Note that:

"The study also shows that more than 750,000 families receive benefits and tax credits worth in excess of £20,000 a year.

In total, the Government will this year spend £200billion on social security and tax credits - the largest area of public spending.

This equates to more than 13 per cent of gross domestic product and is nearly double the amount spent a decade earlier.

The analysis also found that nearly 13 per cent of Britain's working age population are on out-of-work benefits and nearly two million children live in workless households - the highest of all industrialised nations."

silvercar

nearly two million children live in workless households - the highest of all industrialised nations

That is the scariest statistic, the example being set to the next generation.

silvercar

In the way that the private renters complain that they can't afford to buy a house like the previous generation; the benefit renters probably complain that they can't get a council home like the previous generation. In fact they probably blame the generation that bought their council home for not leaving enough for their generation to get a secure rental.

Fang_3

It's simple, if you're not working or have a 'faux disease' then you should have to spend every day, 9-5pm in a supervised environment making sure that you're applying for every job going and improving your reading and writing skills, or you would receive nothing. Absolutely nothing. Yes, it would cost a a fair wack in the short term, but I have a feeling that the entitlement culture would soon be smashed to pieces.

SingleSue

Actually, it is not that simple.

Some people are not working (in the official sense) and claiming benefits, as they are carers to someone who is disabled.

And how would you define 'faux disease'? How would you seperate those who are claiming genuinely for an illness or disability and those who are not as bad as they make out?

sjaypink

carolt wrote: »

If I can find work to fit in with my son's nursery hours, which are far less than 30 hours ... then so can they.

erm, carol, you're a teacher :cool: ? step outside the world of education and term time, part time, 9:30-2:30 work is VERY hard to come by

SingleSue

Very difficult Sjay....even after volunteering for 18 months, taking a counselling and listening skills course and completing an ECDL (a required element in this area) plus already having suitable standards of maths and English, the competition to obtain a job in this sector meant that I still wasn't good enough.

The funniest rejection was for a position helping an autistic child...apparently I didn't have the experience of working with autistic children despite my putting that I am well versed in the various strategies used when dealing with autistic children for emotional as well as educational difficulties as two of my children were autistic!

misskool

sjaypink wrote: »

erm, carol, you're a teacher :cool: ? step outside the world of education and term time, part time, 9:30-2:30 work is VERY hard to come by

in HE education, you'll be lucky if you work less than 10 hours a day. So, only certain sectors of education have those hours.

Shakethedisease

Ignoring your life story, which seems to have little bearing on the matter under discussion - though feel free to share it if you wish

Thank you ! And I did enjoy sharing it. Hopefully at least you'll know a bit about where I'm 'coming from' in future discussions.

As for actual childcare costs, I posted them earlier on in the thread. But just for clarification :-

Childcare costs in 2010





A summary of the findings of the Daycare Trust childcare costs and holiday childcare costs surveys is given here. You can purchase the full report from our online shop. Read about our Holiday Childcare Costs Survey 2009.

• Average childcare costs for 25 hours per week are £88 in England, which is more than half gross average part-time earnings of £153 per week.
• Parents in London are facing the highest reported costs, paying up to £11,050 per year for 25 hours childcare per week, or £22,100 for 50 hours.
• Average yearly expenditure on childcare is £4,576 for English parents, £4,368 for Scottish parents and £4,056 for Welsh parents for 25 hours of nursery care per week, for a child under 2.
• There has been a rise in costs above the rate of inflation for all types of childcare, despite the UK being in recession. In England the cost of a nursery place for children aged 2 and over has risen by 5.1 per cent - almost double inflation.
• There has been significant growth in all forms of childcare costs in England, but a fall in out-of-school care for Scotland and Wales.
• 58 per cent of Family Information Services across Britain -and 69% in Wales- revealed parents had reported a lack of childcare - with half of all local authorities reporting insufficient childcare for older children and disabled children.
• The typical cost of a place for a child in a local authority-run summer play scheme is £82.98 per week in England, £63.06 in Wales and £94.37 per week in Scotland. The typical cost for private, voluntary and independent-run provision is £98.73 per week in England, £102.25 in Wales and £96.46 in Scotland (Daycare Trust Holiday Childcare Costs Survey 2009).

(The average claimed for childcare element of Working Tax Credit is now £68.69)

Sufficient childcare?

Our survey shows that the availability of holiday childcare is improving slowly in England, but there are still serious concerns about sufficiency of holiday provision overall, with only one third of English Families Information Services at local authorities saying that there is enough holiday childcare for all children.

There continue to be particular gaps in sufficiency for disabled children and children aged 12 and over, in all three nations, which is of particular concern bearing in mind the government’s welfare program which encourages single parents with older children to make themselves available for work or face cuts to their benefits.

Hope this clarifies things a bit for you all re the costs of childcare in 2010 and the difficulties faced by single parents getting jobs that are not only available, but also suitable for their family needs. It's tough enough out there. Oh and I'm definately not mis-informed. I wouldn't post anything like this I couldn't back up with actual figures.

And when you've even got Alan Sugar being maligned a few 'Apprentice' series ago for his overt 'grilling' of the female contestants with children..?

The business tycoon has been criticised for questioning Apprentice contestant Katie Hopkins about her children and family arrangements ? a move some groups warn could be a violation of sex discrimination laws.

Apprentice contestant Kristina Grimes, who is now in the final, was also quizzed about her family commitments.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber told The Independent: "The Apprentice is just a show but had last night been a genuine interview, Kristina and Katie could have had real grounds for complaint against Sir Alan".

If one of the most prominent TV programs in the UK today, focusing on employing the 'right person' gets away with stuff like this, what chance do ordinary folks have when faced with this sort of thing every job interview ? I know I've faced it several times in my working life when I was a single parent of 2.