Everyone is entitled to choose their way of life, my only gripe really is when people expect help to pay for children they chose to have.
LadyG – whilst (even as a parent) part of me agrees – and its not like it is difficult to find out what the costs of childcare are before you decide (if it was a conscious decision) to have a family; the reality is that childcare costs are high in the UK. In my experience people who vocally complain about “subsidising other peoples childcare” are the same
Free child places at nursery from 3 doesn’t necessarily help. Not all private nurseries are eligible (for what appears to be local politics reasons) and most “state” nurseries run restricted hours (say 9am to 3pm) which precludes the parent actually doing anything productive in that time. If you engage a childminder rather than a nursery they will usually happily drop off and pick up at the nursery (thus covering the rest of the hours) but expect paid for “doing nothing” in the interim (because you are blocking a place for another child).
There was a documentary the other night on precisely this topic. It is interesting that in other countries state subsidised pre-school care is welcomed by all.
I don’t see it going that far in the UK ever, but I do question why we have a significant cap on the Childcare Voucher scheme (using maximum allowance for both me and Mrs Polly only gives enough to pay for 2 full days of nursery care). Why tax people on the thing that enables them to work?
