Taking a brief look through the mornings news and really wishing I hadn’t because as usual there is nothing good, but what really really struck me was the pressure that modern families in the UK are under, and the sheer stupidity of sucesive governments in driving people and families over the edge and then wondering how to fix it
There were two stories that really caught my eye, the first was the headline that “Parents face 28% nursery fee hikes next year“ now taking on it’s own this is bad news for families with young children, but as well all know if the government puts up the minimum wage and raises taxes like National Insurance on the employer side then your cost of business goes up and at the end of the day Nurseries are businesses, but what you really need to look at are the top line figures that will effect families, this update sees the cost of childcare for a child under two years old going up by £1,642 to £10,516 per annum, so lets assume we have a single mum with a two year old who works on minimum wage so earning a total of £23,795 per annum so take out the childcare and your down to £13,276 thats before rent, food, heat and light and everything else you need to pay for and lets be honest in alot of places in UK that will barely cover the rent let along heating, lighting and feeding yourselves.
In fact childcare in the UK is now so expensive that if you have two or three children needing care you are probably better off employing somebody directly rather than using a nursery, or of course doing exactly what the government are trying to stop you doing, by staying home and looking after your family.
Yes there are government funding options for upto 30 hours of childcare for all children under five but these are subject to a number of restrictions on the child’s age and circumstances and even your immigration status.
In total contrast the second article that grabbed my attention was an article on the BBC entitled “Government Departments Spend £1,200 on Two Folders” in which a government department in fact multiple government departments try of defend paying £594 pounds each for leather bound folders from luxury leather goods manufacturer Barrow Hepburn & Gale rather than buying 10 for £11.99 from Amazon, and this claim is made on the back of it “being good for government image” so just think when your paying next paying your childcare bills and wondering if you can eat this week, that at lest the governments image is being looked after and that 28% rise in child care costs were worth it, and we really needed to raise national insurance costs on businesses to pay for it.
Personally having worked in Government departments and seen the wholesale waste that goes on, I find it utterly disgraceful that end user services are cut back to pay for “Government Image”.
