National Living Wage - issues

[Mr D]

Not many rentals around for £500 a month in a lot of areas today. House shares in Bournmouth are about this now. Also house sharing is great when you are in your 20's and even early 30's but I think very few would want to do it for the rest of their lives. No room to support a family in that either.

True.
There are a lot of places where a £500 rent would be quite a bit bigger than what a single person or even a couple would choose to go for. Plenty are cheaper.

Now if you want to raise a family then perhaps we shouldn't have minimum wage. We should have wages based on individual needs - so a guy with wife and 3 kids would get more than double the wage for doing a job as a single woman living at home. That better for everyone?

 

[Newchodge]

You know anyone who doesn't live alone?

I live with my partner. That doesn't men we have 2 incomes.

 

[Mr D]

I live with my partner. That doesn't men we have 2 incomes.

No it doesn't mean you have 2 incomes. Its relatively common these days for people to work rather than be a housewife / househusband. For those of us who do have both members of a couple working then bills can be paid from combined income or split as the couple wish.

You could of course take on staff and pay them according to circumstances so a guy whose wife doesn't work for example you could choose to pay a higher wage than a woman whose husband also works.
Messes up idea of a national wage though and forget equality.

 

[serendipitybusiness]

2 incomes with kids means a hefty childcare bill (and issues when the child is sick or the nursery is closed) or issues with school holidays, sick days, teacher training days, before and after school care once they reach school age so it is very diifficult for both parents to get a decent job with responsibilities. Then the mother generally gets challenged on her parenting choices.

Housewife/husband however means they can't live on the one wage. If you want low rent then that is generally in areas without much work so a long and expensive commute is likely (as running a car is expensive too). So yes if you want to be single for the rest of your life, live with other people and do nothing but survive, minimum wage will just about do.

 

[godoit]

NMW means an 8% price increase for my customers childcare this year. Loaded straight on to customers, if it becomes too expensive customers wont work and then less tax revenue etc etc. I have a fear that staff will leave to a less stressful job or just not bother working.

I think that we will are coming to a line where the NMW means prices are going to rise to such an amount that we will be worse off. Corporate's will afford the tech investment to replace staff and smaller businesses will close, I'm thinking Tesco v's Nisa/Spar/local corner shop & Macdonalds v's the sandwich bar.

 

[godoit]

2 incomes with kids means a hefty childcare bill (and issues when the child is sick or the nursery is closed) or issues with school holidays, sick days, teacher training days, before and after school care once they reach school age so it is very diifficult for both parents to get a decent job with responsibilities. Then the mother generally gets challenged on her parenting choices.

This is a real killer. I generally lose 2 customers a year on price. It will be more this year with the price increase. At what point do you value your job - childcare wage and actually spending time with your kids.

 

[Newchodge]

This is a real killer. I generally lose 2 customers a year on price. It will be more this year with the price increase. At what point do you value your job - childcare wage and actually spending time with your kids.

Perhaps the proper answer to that is free nursery places, in the same way that children receive free schooling.

 

[serendipitybusiness]

Yes it is a difficult situation, if childcare was tax deductable and workplaces were more flexible then I think it would be easier. How many parents try sending a sick child to the nursery just because they can't take another day off work? We know they pick up everything as soon as they are put into nursery as well so it becomes very difficult for businesses to cover these kind of expenses for their employees and for the employees themselves to have a job that actually makes childcare costs make sense.

You as a nursery have a lot of expenses so you have to cover these and still make a profit as well. I had a friend that owned 2 nurseries and at one time she had 8 members of staff on maternity leave at the same time. That is a massive cost to try and cover.

 

[godoit]

Perhaps the proper answer to that is free nursery places, in the same way that children receive free schooling.

Free childcare exists, well up to 30 hours. The same as free education would be challenging and opens up to the why shouldn't everything be free, why should I pay for others choices - but that's another thread.

 

[Mr D]

2 incomes with kids means a hefty childcare bill (and issues when the child is sick or the nursery is closed) or issues with school holidays, sick days, teacher training days, before and after school care once they reach school age so it is very diifficult for both parents to get a decent job with responsibilities. Then the mother generally gets challenged on her parenting choices.

Housewife/husband however means they can't live on the one wage. If you want low rent then that is generally in areas without much work so a long and expensive commute is likely (as running a car is expensive too). So yes if you want to be single for the rest of your life, live with other people and do nothing but survive, minimum wage will just about do.

Cannot live on the one wage?
That is ignoring the ones who do.

Low rent is relative - a nice cottage near London I'd pay much higher rent than on a 2 bed house in Preston or Oldham.
Same wage wherever I live, very different rents possible.

You appear to be ignoring the people who have lived on minimum wage, who do live on minimum wage.
You are of course welcome as a business owner to employ people only on higher wages than minimum wage - your choice. Will you however base their wage on their circumstances rather than what the job entails or what you will pay other people doing the exact same job?

 

[Mr D]

NMW means an 8% price increase for my customers childcare this year. Loaded straight on to customers, if it becomes too expensive customers wont work and then less tax revenue etc etc. I have a fear that staff will leave to a less stressful job or just not bother working.

I think that we will are coming to a line where the NMW means prices are going to rise to such an amount that we will be worse off. Corporate's will afford the tech investment to replace staff and smaller businesses will close, I'm thinking Tesco v's Nisa/Spar/local corner shop & Macdonalds v's the sandwich bar.

Worse - those staff not receiving as much of a pay rise as minimum wage (or indeed any pay rise) have to pay your increased costs per child.