Economy & Banks

But this as well - be smart enough to hide a lot of it!

£1k on utilities? Really?

I have to say I think that affordable childcare should be available to everyone in the same way that the NHS or schools are not chargeable to people on higher incomes. Not least because the price of childcare is insane. I think '30hrs free' roughly equates to a 35% discount at our nursery.

The fact she is in a single income household changes things, but a lot of people in her position would stick 50K in a pension, get 30 hrs a week per child, 2k more in tax free childcare while at the same time massively reducing the amount of tax going into the system to pay for it all.

I wouldn't be at all surprised, if she doesn't have a pension to stick £50k into.

Yasmin has displayed some poor judgment talking about her income online like that but its nice to see her doing well.

My take home is not that Yasmin has it all wrong and should think right etc etc, it's more that it's fucking nuts that a single parent family can have an income of circa 5x the median and still not have a lot of disposable income as @aggi pointed out.

Yes, for her personally the struggle is not comparatively bad, but it really highlights the mess the UK is in.

£1k on utilities, council tax, food, etc.

Doesn't seem that far wide.

Yeah that’s a fair point about cost of childcare - it should be more affordable (I don’t have children so wouldn’t know the true cost).

I do however struggle to feel sorry for someone who can afford to put 50k into a pension per year.
That person should pay for child care, and perhaps be taxed in a way that subsidises childcare/other public services.

Interested to see how the Budget could restructure things

utilities, council tax, food, etc

£250 council tax, £300 gas, electric, water, phone, broadband, £100 on various insurance and then food, nappies, clothes and the rest.

Seems reasonable

[New Page Fail - Was talking about Nicole's situation above...]

The info is in the page.

Monthly income:

• £1042 - Employment and Support Allowance of £1,042
  
• £798 - Personal Independent Payments
  
• £917 - Housing Benefit of £917
  
  

That's £2757/pcm = £33,084 a year

Rent is quoted as £1250pcm, so her housing benefit doesn't cover it completely.

“I am not able to use my PIP for what it’s meant to be used for. Half of the payment goes towards my rent."

Rent - housing benefit gives a £333 shortfall, which is roughly half of her PIP.

It might just be better to say that to have a full time job, 2 young children and live in an appropriate house in the southeast will likely cost £6k+ and that fucks things up.

@aggi I misread it as £1k for utilities. Then CT, food etc

I bet £70k (or whatever the highest figure you can take without losing TFC) would, with a bit of rejigging and some sacrifices.

It’s temporary and you’d have a mega pension pot by the end.

I’m not defending TFC rules though, especially the dumbassery around child benefit.

Even with thirty free hours I was paying about £1,400 a month for childcare for one kid.

Couple of kids and a London mortgage would wipe out £70k salary. Which is crazy

You also don't (or didn't) get any free hours for kids under 3

weird how many people earn below the 99th percentile salary and still manage to bring up kids.

how do they do it?

The answer to that is usually family. Having your family around is a great source of free or very low-cost childcare.

Also easier if you're not a single parent.

I think I would struggle to be a single parent on any income.

This was specifically for a single parent working full time.

Realistically you need help from family otherwise.

In the broader picture what often happens is that one parent, generally the mum, gives up work or drastically reduces their hours because that makes more financial sense than working and childcare.

This then knocks on to career progression, gender pay gap, etc.