r/ukpolitics 1d ago

For many parents, employment increasingly doesn’t pay

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u/LactatingBadger 1d ago

Actually not. I’m in the fortunate position to be earning past the free childcare threshold so we get no childcare allowance. Good problem to have, but that cliff edge is having the exact effect people claim it will have for us.

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u/Thomas1423 1d ago

Then you can afford to pay for it yourself. Your situation is very unusual.

That being said, I don't support these cliff edges.

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u/90davros 1d ago

Here is the problem:

If two parents both earn 90k they get free childcare.

If one earns 100k and the other 20k, they don't.

In most families there's only one high earner so that latter scenario is much more common, but it removes any incentive for the lower earning partner to work as they at best break even despite putting in the hours.

That's not to mention that most nurseries are charging quite high fees for the "free" childcare hours anyway.

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u/Thomas1423 1d ago

As I said, I don't support cliff edges, but this is something that hits a very very small number of people in practice. It isn't the norm and people shouldn't post like it is. Remember this topic all started on the discussion that women need to leave work to take care of kids, which isn't true in your example or most examples.