What a difference two years makes! And it just goes to show that politicians just can’t be trusted.
Back in 2008, the Conservatives asked the Policy Exchange think tank conducted a study, which called for a universal childcare allowance that would be paid to not only nurseries, but to mothers and grandparents.
Roll on two years, and with his feet firmly under the threshold of Number 10, and his government have decided that stay-at-home mums now have to go back to work. We understand that, and frankly, when the finances don’t add up it doesn’t take the government to convince a mother that she needs to start earning more.
But, making more welfare cuts in this manner makes it even harder for mums to return to work. The cost of childcare in the UK is higher than most of Europe, and the cost of living is increasing further still, while this new government stays determined to penalise mums who don’t work, and penalise mothers who work even more!
Maria Miller, the then Conservatives’ families spokesman, said: “Finding ways to support families in those very early years is critical yet remains a neglected area of Government policy.
“This report graphically shows that many families feel they have little choice in their children’s earliest years as to how they structure their family life, with many women still struggling to balance work and family life despite significant levels of government spending on child-care and Sure Start.
“We will be considering these proposals as part of the work we are doing to ensure families get the support they need.”
This universal childcare allowance was supposed to be paid for by scrapping the payments for free nursery places for three and four year olds, the childcare element of the working-tax credit and the Sure Start maternity grant.
Roll in to 2010, and it seems that David Cameron’s government has got it in for mothers of all kinds – the stay at home mums and us working mums.
With recent announcements of cuts to child benefit by 2013, the scrapping of the Health in Pregnancy Grant, and cuts in the childcare element of Tax Credits, it seems as though mothers are being more heavily penalised than everyone else. If you don’t work and are a single mother you are penalised, if you are a stay-at-home mum who is supported by your partner, then you are penalised if he earns more than £44,000, and if you both work, well you are even more penalised if your joint income is more than £44,000. Not to mention single mums who earn more than £44,000 who need every penny they can get to help pay for nursery fees, afterschool clubs, school lunches or any other form of childcare, and that’s before mortgage payments and other bills.
We get that the government wants mothers to work – it’s something that www.motherswhowork.co.uk advocates, but to take away the financial support that makes this possible is ludicrous, and it’s unfair.
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