Post by nickd on Sept 7, 2011 21:02:44 GMT 1
poorest parents priced out of work
We'd like you to tell us how you would find it difficult if
childcare cost forced you into debt, are you worried over the
government cuts which also threaten local advice agencies
such as CAB and law centres as well as the family solicitor?
On Mylegal, we are doing our bit to help struggling families to cope in these difficult times. There's been a lot in the news today about how childcare costs are forcing people into debt. Save the children are running a campaign over this which you can access via the link at the bottom of this page.
What also concerns is how government cuts are forcing many advice agencies to close or severely cut back on the services they offer. We've got a lot on Mylegal about this but what we'd like to hear about is how this will affect you.
One of the major cutbacks is in legal aid, by this we don't mean the expensive lawyers you usually hear about, we mean hard working 'social welfare lawyers' who provide advice on housing, family, debt, benefits and employment issues.
These are the type of enquiries which we often hear about, but in order to campaign on your behalf we really could do with some good stories from a few of you. It needn't be much and you can register anonymously if you like, it only takes a few moments and once you've signed in you can log in again really easily; - you just need your user name and password; - we don't ask you any of those confusing 'gotcha' caption questions or to provide any more than a few very basic details, you only need to do this once.
please make Mylegal - yourlegal and help us to help you; we're a very committed campaigning bunch on here and you'd be surprised how much we're doing on your behalf at national level.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Here's the 'Save the Children' article:
Save the Children and Daycare Trust today launched a report with the results of a new survey on the costs of childcare.
Knowing that work is the best route out of poverty, our organisations wanted to see how childcare costs were impacting on parents’ – especially the poorest parents’ – ability to work.
More than 4000 parents took part in the survey with earning incomes across the spectrum.
The findings showed that most parents are struggling with rising childcare costs. 41% of parents put childcare costs on a par with their mortgage or rent.
Can’t afford to work
A majority of all parents who took part in the survey agreed with the statement “I can’t afford not to work, but I struggle to pay for childcare.”
But the survey shows clearly that it’s the parents on the lowest incomes who are suffering the consequences of rising childcare costs, coupled with a government cut back to support through working tax credit put through by the coalition government in April this year.
Crucially, 40 % of parents in severe poverty (earning less than £12,000 a year) who have been affected by the cut in government support for childcare costs said that they were thinking of giving up their job because of childcare costs.
Soaring childcare costs
This drives a real concern that we may see more families and children trapped in deep poverty because of rising childcare costs.
Through no fault of their own, faced by spiralling childcare costs, stagnant wages and a cut to government support, the poorest parents are struggling to stay in work.
The government, which has promised to overhaul the welfare system so that work is guaranteed to pay more than benefits, has to ensure there is sufficient investment in support for childcare costs so that parents are not priced out of work.
More support for struggling families
Save the Children and Daycare Trust are calling on the government to increase the funding available so that parents can claim up to 80% of childcare costs (up to existing weekly maximums) when the new universal credit is introduced in 2013.
Do this, and the Chancellor will be able to deliver on the laudable and vital promise to make work pay for the UK’s poorest families.
Link to Save the Children campaign
www.savethechildren.org.uk/blogs/2011/09/poorest-parents-priced-out-of-work-by-childcare-costs/