MSE News: Single mothers 'worst hit by cuts'

SingleSue

princessdreamer wrote: »

Sorry still laughing at the single parents have nice nails. Looked at mine and yes I do, use the same nail file kit I had when I was married, found a shop that does varnish at 99p good quality varnish which i was pleased with and a French manicure kit for £7 all very MSE. My hair is coloured again by myself and I have full make-up. I may look like I spend a fortune, savvy shopping means i don't need to.
My ex husband pays next to nothing as he sits on benefits, yet here we go again with the single parents are rubbish. Damned if you try to look nice scummy if you don't.

Nails? What nails, mine have been bitten to the quick through stress!

I'm not actually going to join in this thread properly, it will only increase my blood pressure.

gadgetmind

CFC wrote: »

I'm not surprised you find it 'hard, very hard' to recruit.

We find it hard to recruit because we went the very best. They are few and far between.

I also shouldn't be surprised if your attrition was high.

Prepare to be surprised. Our attrition rate is very, very low, close to zero. That's because we treat people right, but in return, we demand that they are ultra-professional and treat us right.

Just as a matter of interest, do you work in the recruitment business, which is notorious for this kind of attitude?

No, not even close, and what kind of attitude?

gadgetmind

ILW wrote: »

You get few people like that on £7.00 per hour. Cannot fill the job half the time.

I used to have part time jobs on minimum wage(1) when I was at school and university. I generally did 32 hours a week during term time (from age 13!) and 48 hours a week during holidays.

I took the job seriously. Most of the full timers cruised through it putting in as little as they could. I moved onto better things whereas one suspects they are still there, still doing as little as possible, and still earning minimum wage.

(1) - there was no such thing back then, but the catering industry had complex calculations to work out the minimum for various roles. I was a waiter, which was about at the bottom.

Marisco

gillypkk wrote: »

my ex-hubby is a squaddie too. army is all about family when you are in there but dare to leave and you and the kids are dropped like hot coals!! not their problems anymore yet we gave up out families, friends and careers to do our bit for the country and "follow the flag" yet where are we when it goes tits up? lumbered with the "teen mums" who have kids for houses.

This is why we need possibly another term for "single mums"!! Most people, if they are honest, have a preconceived idea when they hear that phrase i.e chavvy teens, with 2 or 3 kids, by 2 or 3 different fathers, walking down the road with a fag in one hand, and pushing the pram with the other. The child in the pram is stuffing him/herself with a Greggs pastie, and the other 1/2 are trailing behind, getting effed and blinded at!!!

They are sometimes in convoys of 3 or 4, with occasionally a tracksuited, baseball hatted lad trailing around with them!! This was a common sight in the town where I used to work in!!! Maybe we need a different name for these ones, to differentiate between single mothers who are there through no fault of their own, i.e relationship breakdown, death etc. It is unfair on those single mums doing their best, to lump them all together, and guaranteed to get backs up!!!!

dugdale_2

Just to redress the balance - I'm a single father working full time, my salary has been frozen this year (as it was last year) however my child care costs have risen from £220 to £250 per month whilst the child care elements of my tax credits have fallen from £1435 per year to £145 per year. In other words my childcare has gone up by £360 per year whilst my income (from tax credits) has gone down by £1290 per year. That's a difference of £1650 that I have to find over the next twelve months.

gadgetmind

I've never really got tax credits. If tax is too high, then tax is too high, so get it lowered rather than making people apply to get some of it back.

Also, these systems always seem to penalise households where one person brings in all the money, while favouring those were the income is split between two.

Zebra

dugdale wrote: »

Just to redress the balance - I'm a single father working full time, my salary has been frozen this year (as it was last year) however my child care costs have risen from £220 to £250 per month whilst the child care elements of my tax credits have fallen from £1435 per year to £145 per year. In other words my childcare has gone up by £360 per year whilst my income (from tax credits) has gone down by £1290 per year. That's a difference of £1650 that I have to find over the next twelve months.

So what? This thread isn't about single fathers.

izzybusy23

Marisco wrote: »

This is why we need possibly another term for "single mums"!! Most people, if they are honest, have a preconceived idea when they hear that phrase i.e chavvy teens, with 2 or 3 kids, by 2 or 3 different fathers, walking down the road with a fag in one hand, and pushing the pram with the other. The child in the pram is stuffing him/herself with a Greggs pastie, and the other 1/2 are trailing behind, getting effed and blinded at!!!

They are sometimes in convoys of 3 or 4, with occasionally a tracksuited, baseball hatted lad trailing around with them!! This was a common sight in the town where I used to work in!!! Maybe we need a different name for these ones, to differentiate between single mothers who are there through no fault of their own, i.e relationship breakdown, death etc. It is unfair on those single mums doing their best, to lump them all together, and guaranteed to get backs up!!!!

I think you've just described most of the mum's at my DD's school... one has just acquired a dog (guess which breed) that she regularly brings on school premises despite being told numerous times not to and a new boyfriend who wears trackie bottoms and a baseball cap when he is not wearing his hoodie... they already have a name don't they.. chavs

I am a single parent (not by choice) but I do work 30 hours a week and get a little HB and Tax credits and have only just started to get maintenance off DD's dad as he has been non compliant so far. I am definatley not a sterotypical single mum.

EclipsedMind

Zebra wrote: »

So what? This thread isn't about single fathers.

Indeed this thread is about a politically motivated message put out by a group with an agenda and using questionable statistics (like there are any other kind).

As for differentiating those who are single by lack of choice then surely divorcee is the correct term?

Regarding the stereotypes I know people who fit it completely and others who blow it out of the water. Best to judge each on their own merits if you feel you must judge them.



EM

Marisco

EclipsedMind wrote: »

As for differentiating those who are single by lack of choice then surely divorcee is the correct term?
EM

Not really, because all divorcees don't have children, some are not married but have been in long term relationships, some might have grown up children, but are on their own. Single mums come in all sorts of situations, but it's the term "single mum" that conjours up the "stereotype", which is not fair on the others.