Unemployed girlfriend of 3 years pressing to have a baby

MissMoneypenny

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

Are the people who post about 'being heavily dependent on welfare' suggesting that people who fall into the above groups should not have children?

That wasn't what we were talking about. I said that it was not a good time to be planning a family and having to be heavily dependant on welfare with rising costs in heating, fuel etc. as welfare will not keep up with that. We then discussed the difference between being able to afford a child yourself; being able to afford a child by using income based welfare payments and what constituted "heavily dependant".

EDIT read from post 22.

VfM4meplse

Mupette wrote: »

I don't think we can be too fussy about work at this moment, i guess if you are good at something, you are less likely to loose your job, it pays the bills.

I strongly disagree - if you're just starting out and have parents who have supported you whilst you have studied, by all means take on a p/t job to keep things ticking over but concentrate your efforts on finding a blue-chip role that matches your highest skillsets - I can say with complete confidence that the shop floor in Sainsbury's won't even require 4 GCSE passes! If you undervalue yourself, you can expect prospective employers to undervalue you too. It's much harder to move once you become stuck in an employment rut.

zzzLazyDaisy

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

We then discussed the difference between being able to afford a child yourself and being able to afford a child by using income based welfare payments.

And that is my point!

Virtually everyone with children - apart from the highest paid - gets child tax credits. They are income cased. Very many people get working tax credits, which are also income based. If people wait until they earn enough to not be entitled to these benefits, then a huge proportion of the population will never have children unless the minimum wage is increased to a level sufficient to support families.

Mupette

VfM4meplse wrote: »

I strongly disagree - if you're just starting out and have parents who have supported you whilst you have studied, by all means take on a p/t job to keep things ticking over but concentrate your efforts on finding a blue-chip role that matches your highest skillsets - I can say with complete confidence that the shop floor in Sainsbury's won't even require 4 GCSE passes! If you undervalue yourself, you can expect prospective employers to undervalue you too. It's much harder to move once you become stuck in an employment rut.

well there is that, but will it pay the bills... if there are no blue chip jobs available but there are supermarket jobs.. i know which one i would choose, i'd do any job i can do just to make sure bills are paid and food is on the table, now is not the time to be too fussy and think what would future employers would think of me.. I'd be thinking that i am a willing worker for working... not sat at home waiting for the job i really want. I think that would look better on my cv that i actually did something whilst waiting

Marisco

TBH, it doesn't really matter if the op will get child related benefits or not. ATM he feels that they cannot afford a child, he might think his g/f won't pull her weight in the child rearing dept, with IMO, good cause!!! She's not done too well in the financial dept!! If he is worried about it, then to go ahead without any though could be disastrous!!

MissMoneypenny

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

And that is my point!

Virtually everyone with children - apart from the highest paid - gets child tax credits.

But are they heavily dependant on them? If they are only getting a tenner a week in tax credits, then they should be able to cope better with rising prices as I assume they are working and can nearly support their own family; can do a few extra hours to cover rising prices.

Welfare won't rise in line with all these rising prices. Those who get a lot in welfare will see their tax credits and Housing benefit drop if they work/extend their hours/take another job, to cope with their rising living costs.

Hence: it's not a good time to be planning to have a baby and be heavily dependant on welfare. OP earns 17k and his girlfriend doesn't work.

ads2312

I'd rather sweep the roads than sit at home not working but unfortunately the work shy !!!!!!!!!!s wont. As long as it pays to stay at home people wont budge. Why can't the government make people claiming work for their money. Make them volunteer for charity work, or clear up your local town. If you don’t help you get nout !
I have university graduates doing photo copying and filing where I work and I'm their boss with exactly 0 qualifications. And tbh most of them are so stupid I really wonder why they bothered going to University at all. Really don't know what they teach but common sense is deffo not one of the subjects !
Don't they have YTS type schemes anymore ? Sorry have been working here for the last 20+ years so have lost touch of what education is out there.

Sixer

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

And that is my point!

Virtually everyone with children - apart from the highest paid - gets child tax credits. They are income cased. Very many people get working tax credits, which are also income based. If people wait until they earn enough to not be entitled to these benefits, then a huge proportion of the population will never have children unless the minimum wage is increased to a level sufficient to support families.

Quite.

Frankly, I see tax credits as much as corporate welfare as I do welfare in the traditional sense (for individuals). At least half their effect is to support employers in paying starvation wages.

Oldernotwiser

Marisco wrote: »

TBH, it doesn't really matter if the op will get child related benefits or not. ATM he feels that they cannot afford a child, he might think his g/f won't pull her weight in the child rearing dept, with IMO, good cause!!! She's not done too well in the financial dept!! If he is worried about it, then to go ahead without any though could be disastrous!!

And the deafening silence from the OP on the subject of his GF's budgeting/cooking/gardening efforts rather suggest that she's not pulling her weight on the domestic front now, without a child to care for.

Oldernotwiser

ads2312 wrote: »

Don't they have YTS type schemes anymore ? Sorry have been working here for the last 20+ years so have lost touch of what education is out there.

They do; they're called Modern Apprenticeships.