bawdy-nan

I'd love to allow my children (7 and 5) to make their own way to school because I want them to learn that they can be ok in the world without me and I think the regular route to school is a perfect place to do it. Ideally all of our chidlren should have safe routes to school. Around here it shoudl be possible to provide proper off road, safe cycle routes to ALL of the schools. Cllr Barber ... a possibility?

The two nannies I have had (after-school) have brought their children with them and it has been absolutely brilliant. My kids love having a younger child to play with/ "look after" / talk to etc. In fact when our nanny left us to have a second child we asvertised for a nanny with her own child because it has worked so well. In terms of pay I paid roughly what a nanny share would be - so a discount for me.

what a fantastic story ... good luck with the tortoise

I've got mixed feelings about DMC. I've lost an appointment through calling in adavance to say I was going to be a few minutes late (actually thought this might be helpful to them) and was mightily annoyed. They always, always run late when I'm waiting and I thought that , given that, my arriving a little later (train mayhem from the elephant) might not have been such a disaster.... seemingly not BUT ... I've been a user of theirs for the last 8 years and, on the whole, I've found they've improved tremedously in terms of adapting to patients' needs. I prefered the "turn up" model of seeing a doctor but, I've found them to be flexible and helpful in the case of "emergencies" and I LOVE that they now do evening and weekend appointments and I'm dead keen on the online appointment booking system they're trialling.

That's fantastic news - well done everyone!

archie wah-wah by desmond decker - love that whole greatest hits album - still gets me in the zone for running or whatever ...

loads of places - many reently added

keep up people surely it's funkids or radio3?

The self-employed thing is difficult, I agree. I was self-employed all the time my children were at nursery. WTC is caclulated on what you earned in the previous year. It used to be extremely difficlut to make a judgement about whether to ask them (HMRC) to make an adjustment because you knew your earnings might be more or less and yes, you could end up owing moeny if your income was more than it had been the previous year but the rules changed quite recently so that you only end up owing money if your income goes up by 20k (which is a pretty significant margin) Rhubarb&Custard Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > littleEDfamily Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Yep - the ?100 or so we save a month via > Childcare > > vouchers is a very much needed bit of relief. > > Didn't know about working tax credits for the > self > > employed.... must investigate.... > > It's a bit of a minefield from our experience > (both myself and my partner are self-employed). > If you are self-employed, working tax credit is > calculated according to your earnings forecast > (i.e. a year ahead of submitting your actual tax > return). Therefore if you earn any amount over > your forecast you end up owing the tax man. We > found to our horrible cost that working tax credit > for the self-employed is good only if you know > your projected self-employed income precisely > (which is pretty hard for many self-employed) - if > not then expect to pay back the sums over a year > later. For us working tax credit proved a head > ache, and threw long-term financial planning out > of the window. > > While I am grateful for being self-employed, and > love it, I do feel we are penalised if we have > kids - no childcare vouchers and a working tax > credit system that does not favour how we work / > pay our tax.

Rhubarb&Custard Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > bawdy-nan Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > You can get working tax > > credits which support childcare costs if you > are > > self-employed. Although I don't imagine this > would > > be of much interest to those fretting about the > > cost of private education ;-) > > Why wouldn't it be of interest? Kind of a > sweeping (and inaccurate) assumption that the cost > of private education is somehow for the super > wealthy and that tax benefits are of no importance > to those who choose that route. Working tax credits are to support the cost of child care or after school care and not for school costs. So they can be applied to the private nursery that costs 9k a year but not to the private school. In order to have a significant impact on reducing those costs you'd need to be earning a relatively low income. You're eligible up to 50k household earnings but the tax credits payable wouldn't have any kind of significant impact. For example, a couple both working 30 hours a week or more earning 50k and paying 100 a week in childcare costs would get around 500 pounds a year in tax credits, If they earn 40k between them they'd get around 800 quid, below that as a joint income and you start to get more. The same couple earning a joint income of 30k would get about 4723, or roughly 90 a week in tax credits. Perhaps I'm being naive but to pay for a private education I would have thought you'd need a joint household income of more than 40k a year. Fees are paid our of taxed income of course and if you pay your own rent and bills it would seem an unlikely stretch (after tax and one set of 9k school fees you'd have less than 18k to pay for your rent, bills, food and transport). If you're earning more than that n(ie 40k) you're probably better off using childcare vouchers as a more tax efficient way of reducing your childcare costs (though its not always clear and is worth checking that out). I didn't say that private education was only for the super-rich. I did suggest that if your income is high enough to enable you to pay for private education then tax credits probably aren't your best bet for reducing after-school care costs. Incidentally, I know that nursery fees are high. I've had two children go through it but because I had a low income I was assisted by working tax credits. I'm a single parent and work full-time paying for after-school care again, making use of tax credits without which I wouldn't be able to work. (Hope you're listening George Osbourne)... BTW There's a brilliant site which can help you see what you might be eligible for and allows you to model different scenarios (to see what happens if you go full-time, for example) www.entitledto.co.uk > Nursery education (which many of us on here pay) > is on a par, if not more than private primary > /secondary education. It's a fact that my child's > 4 day a week nursery education is actually more > annually than the fees of a well known local > private pre-prep school up the road. Therefore > it's wrong to assume that someone paying out > upwards of ?9K a year for private primary > education is less likely to be interested in tax > benefits (in whatever form) than someone paying > ?9K a year for nursery education. > > Sorry to go off topic / thread, but the often > wildly inaccurate prejudice about state v private > and income annoys me. So many of us are shelling > out one way or another, and just as much, so that > our children can be taken care of/ educated / > picked up after school etc etc., while we work.

yes its a relaly annoying anomaly, like the no cycle-to-work scheme too. You can get working tax credits which support childcare costs if you are self-employed. Although I don't imagine this would be of much interest to those fretting about the cost of private education ;-)

but you can both get vouchers - it would mean your childcare costs are reduced by 20 - 40% which isn't bad, surely.

Don't forget childcare vouchers too. I'm making the assumption that at least one of you pays the higher rate of tax, in which case you can get a massive subsidy by having the cost of the vouchers taken off your pre-tax income,onlypaying tax on the remiander.

You omitted to mention the changes to the rules on dissolving parliament... a simple majority no longer sufficient to suport a vote of no-confidence now 55% which means "strong" government of course, but not the democratic kind

yes you get the money back (plus a little I think)

I've recently been going away with the kids to youth hostels - really good value and much more chilled than a hotel. some better set up for very little ones (toddlers) than others. family rooms (and rates) available, some have baby equipment, many do food (or you can cook your own). Most also now have a bar! Check out their website but I'd recommend calling up to book asvthe call centre staff really helpful at helping you get what you need.

Had that Vernon Bogdanor in the "back of my cab" recently who is very interesting on the demise of party orientated politics, arguing that the party allegiances make little sense any more now that individualism has come to the fore and individuals want to be the agents of change rather than looking to political parties to do it for them. Not only that but party loyalty subsides in the face of fractured identities and allegiances: you might be a parent, a Londoner, a woman, a member of a professional group, a euro-sceptic etc and opens up the possibility for people voting across different parties where there are a number of opportunities to vote according tp which of their interesys is most dominant or pressing at the time. This is why he likes certain forms of PR but its also a bit like this time around, where you could vote in the GE as well as pick 3 councillors not necessarily from the same party. This might explain the Labour surge in councils as well as som eof the odd Southwark results thathave been described. He also suggested that the idea of representative democracy is only a transitory one (originating from the short 20th century) and arising as a necessary stepping stone from (relatively recent) universal suffrage but maturing into something more participatory.

Talking to the BBC explains why the discrimination faced by old etonions is now gone now Cameron is PM. "It is a sign, Dr Spence believes, that the Etonian label is no longer a handicap. And present-day pupils, he says, are well aware of this. "There's a renewed confidence that there is no reason that having been here, we should suffer thereby. "We can do what we want to do in life. Etonians are back on the scene." Maybe I missed it but I don't recall anti-Etonian discrimination being up there alongside the other fights for injustice ...

sorry should have done that anyway it is [email protected] good luck

Just to say that if you're having trouble with Southwark call centre, who this morning were quite officious, keen to tell me about their procedures and lacking information, it might be an idea to email Anita Hawksley (at the email on the rejection letter). When I emailed her this morning she replied swiftly and with really precise detail. Not great news for us but being spared the hell of admin fudging and bureaucratic nonsense was a real relief and it felt like someone, a human being, was taking responsibility for their repsonse. So - thank you very much Anita Hawksley.

bil, I think I love you: for your reasoned response, your life-story and your general good cheer...

I think he might have b een wondering if you were too young to remember the tories in government

According to their manifesto the southwark labour group are promising free school meals for all primary school children as well as guaranteeing a school place in a local school. Seems extraordinary... That would save me approx ?750 a year (current annual cost of school lunches for 2 kids at primary school)... I'm assuming that council tax will go up under labout but by that much...???

east dulwich in http://www.southwark.gov.uk/site/custom_scripts/viewelection.php?pollid=19 no change other than the third (new) Lib Dem

YoyUpu will, one day, have sleep and it is wonderful. Even more so after years of jittery waking... In the meantime I used to find that valerian tea worked a treat and without that heavy feeling when you do wake up.