£37,000 Job and it's not worth it !

[Searcher]

We've been number crunching and decided that my wife shouldn't take a new job she's been offered. This is madness and sums up the problem with UK PLC. It can't just be us, have you also found the same problem ?

What's happened is after having two children she decided to look for work again, they are both under 5 years. Everything has happened very quickly in the last 10 days. After putting out her CV she was called immediately, ended up having two interviews with a company in a week and they offered her the job at £37,000. In our excitement she immediately accepted for a 3rd Jan start.

We should have done our numbers first though. On £37k she'll roughly take home £2100/mth but child costs are going to be £1200, so the net benefit to us will only be £900/mth. That's £10,800/year which is 29% of the gross salary.

But of course she's going to lose her WTC and all the other bits and pieces the Govt pays, I'll never really understand their calculations but it comes to £500/mth. So in fact the net benefit to us of taking this job is £100 a week. Factor in all the hassle for all of us in the family and it's just not worthwhile.

This is madness. I've always thought that if the Govt helped with childcare costs then loads more people would go back to work and contribute to UK productivity. Take our example. If the Govt paid the £1200 childcare then wifey would earn £2100 nett and of course it's worth working. From the Govt point of view they're already paying us £500 for this and that, the extra £700 might hurt them. But they get back from wifey 35% of £37,000 in taxes which is £1080/mth. Everyone wins including the economy.

 

[RadiusBPO]

Why should I pay for your children to be looked after?

 

[Searcher]

Do the sums. I just said the Govt are happy to hand out WTC etc to non-working mums. Well, make it an incentive to go back to work. Re-read my post.

 

[RadiusBPO]

If someone is earning enough money to afford childcare why should I a tax payer pay? Non working mums shouldn't receive WTC either imo.

 

[BizGurl]

Sorry but I think thats a poor excuse to not take a job, especially one that pays that much. Many people live on much less then £900 a month, and yes they may get help with childcare et al, but it only goes up to 70% max, so they stil have to contribute out of the meagre salary. Many people work to only be £10 a week better off, so in reality, you wife isn't doing to badly. I'm assuming this wouldn't be the only household income?

 

[BizGurl]

If someone is earning enough money to afford childcare why should I a tax payer pay? Non working mums shouldn't receive WTC either imo.

:|...Didn't realise non working mums could claim WORKING Tax Credit.

 

[chalkie99]

All part of the "world owes me a living" culture someone needs to get a grip of.

 

[RadiusBPO]

:|...Didn't realise non working mums could claim WORKING Tax Credit.

I have no idea tbh. I think it might be a way for the gov to take money from the man via tax and give it to the woman somehow because the gov doesn't think families can take care of their own affairs.

 

[RevaxMedia]

If someone is earning enough money to afford childcare why should I a tax payer pay? Non working mums shouldn't receive WTC either imo.

totally agree with you here. Why should we pay?

 

[tomdickandharry]

What happens when the kids grow up and the pay stops? will this job be available....probably not?

look at the bigger picture and stop milking the tax payer and have some self pride and WORK!

 

[BizGurl]

totally agree with you here. Why should we pay?

Because the Guv tells you to.

 

[Banned]

Strange place to start a thread on being work shy.

 

[Richie N]

Welcome to the real world.
You should be grateful that she has been offered £37k, it's way above the average salary and surely it's better for her to work than not, it's not always about money.
This is what is wrong with the government, sorry but really these benefits should be withdrawn if she doesn't take the job. This is why the country is in such a mess because of situations like this, choosing the easy option.

 

[DuckingandDiving]

Well, make it an incentive to go back to work.

I think most people would find a salary of £37,000 per year, with paid holidays of four or five weeks, bank holidays, training, and paid sick leave, a wonderful incentive to go back to work.

 

Are you all round the twist?

The figures speak for themselves.

There is only disadvantages ,especially to the kids.

Of you want to find fault its the system not the individual.

Earl

 

[GraemeL]

Well, make it an incentive to go back to work.

Reduce benefits.

G

 

[pvcprinting]

Did you factor in the Childcare Vouchers you can both claim
It means you can each pay £234 tax free directly to the child care provider

Not a great help, but it does save you a little bit on tax as you are then only taxed on the net following your childcare contribution

At the end of the day having children is NOT an easy decision.....
If I were in your wifes shoes, I would be taking the job for my own sanity

 

[Siralex]

Why should I pay for your children to be looked after?

You've been paying for billionaires bankers, for war in Iraq, for MP's luxurious living. Don't you think it would much more beneficial for the country to pay for universal child care?

 

[UKSBD]

The figures speak for themselves.

Earl

That depends on the figures, would love to know what the £500 a month is?

 

[Banned]

Some people contribute to society, others are happy to just sponge off society.

Pride and dignity only come with one. What value do you put on that?

 

[leemason]

Don't the Government already pay something towards child care if you're going to work (I may be wrong as I don't have any children of that age any more)?

 

Some people contribute to society, others are happy to just sponge off society.

Treading on dangerous waters saying that on a business forum.

Well my self esteem comes from myself.

Where do you get yours from?:|

Earl

 

[captaincloser]

Yep...Just sit around eating takpayer funded chocolates and watch Jeremy Kyle..there is no option is there ?

But when she comes to look back on her life...there will be some significant gaps in having lived a fruitful existance.

Hundreds of thousands in this boat. Bloated and devoid of any real purpose in life except havig kids, shopping at Tesco, talking about Uni for the kids to follow the same useless example and claiming money.

Having the talent and experience to get a job worth 37k is not much in comparison is it...?

Fab

 

[Prestige-SEO]

If the kids are below 5 isn't one of them or even possibly 2 of them be in public school now? Surely you shouldn't be paying those fees for maybe a few hours in the morning and a few hours after school!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Banned]

Treading on dangerous waters saying that on a business forum.

Well my self esteem comes from myself.

Where do you get yours from?:|

Earl

Where else could self esteem come from but yourself :|

 

[JamieM]

Are you all round the twist?

The figures speak for themselves.

There is only disadvantages ,especially to the kids.

Of you want to find fault its the system not the individual.

Earl

HELP! I agree with Earl!

 

[Searcher]

WHOA : STOP NOW PEOPLE

Let's start again, and don't any of you dare accuse us of anything underhand. I'm trying to discuss here a massive problem in the UK which prevents people going to work, call it the "Childcare Trap".

My wife is an expert in her field and until two years ago managed 150 people. And it was our decision that she should get back out to use her brains again. But we're facing a real dilemna here which we only realised this morning and I was hoping there might be some constructive comments.

There are two issues here, one is our own problem and the other was to try and start a debate on whether other business owners also had this problem, and is there a solution.

1) Our Problem. Despite our best intentions we're head-scratching now. It's all well and good being mildly better off by £100/week if she works. But my business is the main generator and if my wife works it'll have to be me running the kids around, plus looking after them when they're ill, plus look after them full time during holidays when the there is no child care available. What's that - about 15-ish weeks a year ? We haven't got family close to us to help with the kids, we have to pay for it.

I've already got several meetings for January dotted around the country and I'm thinking how the hell am I supposed to make these now. And if I don't the business will really suffer. In fact, I'm struggling to see how I'll manage day-to-day without a big impact on the business. And all this for an extra £100 ?

So stop patronising me with stupid sarcastic comments and help me find a way around this.

2) Is there a solution ? If any of you think our situation is uniques then you're an idiot. There are tens of thousands of people who have this problem and a lot of parents (women mostly I think) who just can't go back to work because of child care costs.

So, I thought I'd start discussing options and maybe some of you have something constructive to contribute. I'm not saying this is the answer but I chucked it out on the forum that IF the Government followed one or two other Governments eg Sweden and Switzerland (???) there is a way around it.

These countries provide excellent childcare provision which allows the parents to be able to go back to work instead of sitting on their arses. My argument was that instead of paying non-working parents various benefits it was paid as childcare then in fact the Government would be better off. Why ?

Pay someone £500/mth benefits and it's money down the drain. Pay them this in childcare and they get this back in income tax and NI from that adult who's got off their backside and got a job (depends on salary level of course) : so it becomes COST NEUTRAL plus that person is now being productive for some company. It has to make sense.

The alternative is to accept the status quo where we as a country shell out billions to people not working. I don't accept this > so it's even more insulting to read what some of you have written - bit p##ed off to be honest.

 

[Banned]

Simple, if you can't afford to have kids don't have them.

A bit difficult for some to understand, but that's the long and short of it.

 

[Searcher]

OK, useful BBC article here. Our problem is not unique.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-14806886

Nearly two-thirds said they could not afford not to work, but struggled to pay for childcare. Four out of 10 families surveyed said the cost of childcare was on a par with their mortgage or rent

More than half (58%) of these families said they were no better off working and paying for childcare. This compared to just 19% of those with household incomes of more than £30,000

Research by the Daycare Trust earlier this year found that 25 hours of nursery care a week in England for a child under the age of two would cost, on average, more than £5,000 a year

There's something on here called Universal Credit, no idea what this is but the Govt seems to recognise the problem, so maybe they're doing positive.

 

[Zara Accountancy]

In this country we pay too much in benefits and althought it is tempting to have a go at someone who is taking them when they could avoid doing so, it is a sad fact that there are millions of others doing the same.

As we all seem to be in agreement that this is not an ideal situation, I believe we should be trying to help this guy who seems to have come here for advice to how his family can get out of this situation.

My two pennies worth is that sure it will be very difficult for your family in the immediate future but you will benefit as your wife will regain a lot of confidence and will benefit from the social, intellectual, and business elements to being in work.

Furthermore, as she has years of valuable experience, her salary should soon go up further as her abilities become more apparent. A couple of years and she could be contributing a significant amount more.

Best wishes
Zara Accountancy

 

[Cromulent]

Some people contribute to society, others are happy to just sponge off society.

Not everyone on benefits is sponging off society.

 

Where else could self esteem come from but yourself :|

Don't sound like you advocate that.

"Some people contribute to society, others are happy to just sponge off society.

Pride and dignity only come with one. What value do you put on that?"

Earl

 

HELP! I agree with Earl!

It comes to most once they realise the error of there ways.

Earl

 

[arcon5]

£1200 for childcare per month ?

Surely you can get this for much less! Send them to a nursery or something.

 

[Searcher]

Thanks Zara. I don't need the lectures from others on here. I've always had my own business and I'm fairly Conservative.

I only started this thread because I was so angry this morning when I realised that having my wife going back to work might not be good for us financially. And that just can't be right.

 

[Banned]

Don't sound like you advocate that.

"Some people contribute to society, others are happy to just sponge off society.

Pride and dignity only come with one. What value do you put on that?"

Earl

You've lost me Earl could you explain, I must be having a think day

 

[Searcher]

£1200 for childcare per month ?

Surely you can get this for much less! Send them to a nursery or something.

£3.75 an hour. Not an expert but I think that sounds reasonable. The overall monthly amount will depend on hours used, which effectively means me not working ! So that won't work.

 

[MOIC]

Hi All

I hate to disagree with the majority of posters so far......

But, I agree with Searcher that this is a problem which needs a solution.

There are many in the same situation, and as long as the government thinks its better to throw good money after bad, then the problem will always exist.

They should be encouraging people to go to work, not have easy handouts to everybody, thus discouraging them to find work.

The government have created the problem, they should solve it.

Whats more important, earning an extra £100 a week and farming your children out, and as searcher says, handicapping his business as he will have to do the 'mothering role' in case of emergency, or having a mother bring up the children ?

That's the real argument.

Let mother look after the kids !

Happy Xmas all !

Ron
MYOFFICEINCHINA

 

[Searcher]

What concerns me Ron is that we have had a shock that at £37k we're even debating whether it's worth while doing. Most people will average £25k and so childcare completely kills any opportunity for them to work.

I can't see why there couldn't be more done to help if someone wants to return to work.

 

[Banned]

Hi All



But, I agree with Searcher that this is a problem which needs a solution.

As I said the solution is simple, and not so long ago the way we did things in this country. If you can't afford kids don't have them, if you do have them one of the parents stays at home to look after them without state hand outs. Lets go back to that.