LATEST MOAN FROM YOU AND ME - 2022

Must admit I've wondered what all this is about when they say, if you can't pay your bill, talk to the energy company about it.
If you can't pay it now you're not likely to be able to pay it in the future, especially when I gets another price hike in January.

So why talk to them, just seems a pointless exercise.
Maybe they set you up with a mortgage or something and put you in debt for the rest of your life.

 

In this hypothetical scenario, the single mum will end up on a prepayment meter whether she likes it or not. Her credit rating will be rubbish so she'll find it difficult to switch provider so she'll be locked out of the best deals for a long time, so will be stuck in a perpetual cycle of bad deals and debt.

Our hypothetical skint single mother can climb out of the situation by building her credit score. She could take out a credit card with one of the providers that target those with poor credit scores, and use it for her weekly shop, as long as she immediately pays off the spend every time, but in reality, when times are hard and the focus has to be on getting through each day, the risk is the debt will build up, and with a 30% interest rate, once it builds up, it's very difficult to pay it off as the minimum monthly payments mostly just pay the interest and very little of the principal. To be honest though, and this might sound harsh, but it's not really the hypothetical single mum that I'm worried about. Any person that can raise a kid on their own is a tough cookie, and she's likely to have youth on her side, and the health benefits that youth brings. It's single pensioners that I'm worried about. Many of whom on state pension only, and living in a big house that was once occupied by a whole family, but now has just the one occupier, but still needs heating. My mum falls into that category. Luckily she has many family members close enough to keep an eye and help are out, but not everyone has even that.

 

I know it's a sore point, but there are far too many single mums out there, come to that some dads as
well.

I assume they are not all biblical conceptions but a lot of them appear to be.
Something inside me resents paying to bring up someone else's kids while the other half runs off and starts another brood.

 

I don't think there are that many. The media would have us believe that, but that's just because news that makes people angry or sad sells well.

But I do agree that some people, very much a minority, do tend to be a bit reckless in their breeding habits. I think the vast majority though are situations that started off with all the best intentions, but for whatever genuine reason, the relationship simply didn't work out.

 

Totally agree Pete. Grandaughter Kat's Dad is one of the wasters, no Birthday or Christmas Cards, no financial support, but ha, he can't work but can still breed

 

Maybe the relationship didn't work, that isn't the issue.
But you don't just walk out on your responsibilities, which appears to be happening, and then we get single mums and dads bringing up the family with just the one part time wage packet, or benefits coming in and saying they can't cope.

 

Good for you to be there to pick up the pieces John.

 

Hmm. I was a single Mum for many many years in between husbands and I did not receive any child support. Or government subsidies and handouts!

I did however work full time, paid for the roof over my head, food on the table and the day care which enabled me to earn a living. I learned to fix my washer, dryer, small auto repairs and all sorts. This was before the internet so not a small accomplishment.

As @pete points out. It is a matter of taking your responsibilities seriously and doing the hard work to provide for your kids.

The only single moms and dads that I feel have some validity for not working full time, are those with handicapped children such as Autism or wheelchair bound.

The rest should get their bums out to work! Been there and done it, so I do know what it's like

 

The usual problem over here is that the cost of child care pretty much makes any earnings pointless unless you have some really good paying job.
No, I'm still convinced it's up to the other half to at least put something in the kitty.

 

But how do they define lone parent families I wonder. Would this include, for example, where the dad works away but is still very much part of the family? I'm thinking young military families, where one parent is always away except when on leave.

 

I have no statistics for this, but I do personally know some people who for whatever personal reasons don't register the dad on their child's birth certificate, but are very much in a stable relationship with them. Of course anecdotal evidence isn't representative of the big picture.

 

More to the point is how many of those 3 million are just getting income from the one parent or from benefits.
I'm not sure how long ago it was now but one of the governments tried to track down missing Fathers and get them to pay.
For some reason it was considered unfair at the time and got bad press.

So they gave up.