In light of the recent budget announcements I felt like I had to say my piece. Whilst I agree with parts of the budget, I was made to feel annoyed and if I'm honest slightly angry at others.
As a family of 6 I hate what's been said re child tax credits. I didn't choose to have children in order to get benefits, I chose to have them because I love being a mum and I knew regardless of money my kids would be loved and well cared for.
However over the years I can't deny that tax credits have helped us pay the bills but my husband and I have always paid our taxes etc so really why shouldn't we be entitled to get something back?
But now the government are making those of us with larger families feel like we are scroungers, as though it as a bad thing to have more than two children. Are we forgetting that back in the day it was normal to have lots of children and back then it definitely wasn't done in order to get benefits.
I'm lucky in the sense that my husband has a job, he has always worked hard to provide for his family but circumstances change, bills rise when wages don't, is that our fault too? How is it fair that larger families are now set to be penalised and left to struggle because of our so called lifestyle choice..
I am a stay at home mum, this for now is what I do, I look after my children and get the chance to watch them grow, something I am truly grateful for. This is seen by some as lazy, an unwillingness to go out and get a job. But those thinking that are wrong. I would have quite happily gone back to work if it were financially possible. The cost of childcare against anything I could have earnt would have left us worse off.
The trouble with all things is that you can't please everyone, there is always going to be someone with their nose out of joint but it is made worse when people wrongly assume things about you.
A post written by Janette over at Life with Six Kids shared her feelings on the matter and she worded it perfectly.
The government nor anyone else knows anything about each individuals personal circumstance and has no right to judge and accuse. Yes there are people out there who try and cheat the system, who might be willingly sitting at home when they could be getting a job but it isn't right that others should suffer because of their ignorance.
At this precise moment I no longer claim tax credits, infact I am being made to pay back money because apparently earnt too much last year, showing yet again that you just can't win when it comes to money.
Lets hope for everyones sake that these changes end up being positive and not in the direction of more child poverty!!
xxxx
linking with #effitfriday
I am so concerned about the cuts and changes the current government are making. Why is being a stay at home mum so undervalued in modern society and once you have more than one child under 5 the childcare care costs are just insane. You're right this is only going to make child poverty worse
ReplyDeleteit is such a shame, lets hope people as a whole can rally together to make the best of things x
DeleteI was in a relatively high paying role in London after I had my first. After my second, I could not justify returning to work because the cost of child care, transport and taxes would eat the vast majority of my wage - and I wouldn't get to see my children while they are young. Our solution was to move overseas for a while (which is becoming more long term as the way things currently persist). I'm afraid the UK is a hell of a long way from getting things right for families and they will continue to have a huge brain drain from the work force.
ReplyDeleteIt's shocking isn't it, that the government are once again cutting the people who can't afford it to the bone, whilst at the same time tax avoiding and giving so much to the rich. As most of us aren't in the top 5% that truly benefit from what the Tories have done, there are a lot of disgruntled people out there.
ReplyDeleteI think choosing to stay at home, even if it means you have less money, is so admirable. Good on you for saying your piece. Have a lovely weekend xx
and no, you haven't been a drain on society at all!!!
DeleteThis government care for those who have money - no-one else. The cut in tax credits for those who do work but on lower incomes will be no way balanced by the living wage.
ReplyDelete#PoCoLo
I am totally anti austerity, and firmly believe that the neediest should be helped more in society not less, I also hate the fact that some 85 billion is lost in tax evasion yet we scrimp to save 12 billion from the poorest. that is the money we should be targeting to properly finance the country. But....
ReplyDeleteI actually disagree with one of your comments where you allude to it not being bad to have more than two kids. Not for financial reasons but the reality is that the world is struggling to maintain the population levels we have. Therefore every couple having more than 2 kids means the populations continue to grow. I have 3 so can't really talk, but we should be aiming to have a world where the population stops growing or things will get much, much worse for us all!
a fair point you've made, totally makes sense but your using a sensible angle where as they are just coming across rude x
DeleteI really dont know how much the changes would affect us but we could really use some help in the financial department. I hope people would stop blaming and shaming other people. We are all in this together. Time are getting hard so lets just support each other because that is what we need right now. #pocolo
ReplyDeleteI don't think the changes will affect us much as we are small family and both my parents work their socks off to send me to nursery. It is shocking how larger families are made to feel that they are a drain on society. We all need to be supporting each other x #PoCoLo
ReplyDeleteOh no, these changes are not fair!!
ReplyDeleteMoney goes nowhere when you have a large family. I have 4 and 2 of them are now over 18 so the changes won't affect us. All mine live at home ( between uni) and we never have spare money as the food alone takes most of it :(
that's just it what we pay out isn't taken into consideration :(
DeleteI get where you are coming from, and I do feel for the families like yours that are bringing in an income and need a little help topping it up. Or families affected by redundancy etc.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I find it hard to justify someone who isn't working and has no intentions of working having a child/children that they know they can't afford to raise. #effitfriday
Debbie
www.myrandommusings.blogspot.com
that's it isn't people should be judged on individual circumstance rather than as a whole x
DeleteI did an online tool and am going to be £1500 worse off due to loosing tax credits and having 3 kids. I'm not going to feel guilty though as we pay taxes! Ali guest hosting for #PoCoLo
ReplyDeleteI think normal, ordinary families who are just about making ends meet, are being heavily hit by this awful budget. I honestly don't think the government cares about anyone who doesn't earn huge amounts of money. It's insane.
ReplyDeletethat's it and the trouble is what they consider sufficient income, what they deem on acceptable to live on considering what they earn is ridiculous!!
DeleteIt's outrageous the way this government and the media have demonised the poor and the disabled. (I could say more, but I won't). #pocolo
ReplyDeleteChildcare costs have a lot to answer for. If we could afford nursery fees for more than one child then we would have already had another baby (we have an older child each, but only one baby together). As it is, we can't afford for me to stay at home and we can't afford childcare for two children so it looks like we'll only ever have one child together. And we've ended up in a similar situation - no longer receiving tax credits and are in fact paying back a lot of "overpayment" that we are struggling to afford.
ReplyDeleteThe Tory government are very fond of tarring everyone with the same brush. Except the rich...they're untouchable. Don't take it personally, we were all just born without the required silver spoons in our mouths.
#pocolo