Richard Exell has put an illuminating post on the TUC blog, Touchstone. Exell points out that a whole series of cuts have fallen specifically on mothers: he points to
- “The abolition of the baby element of Child Tax Credit.
- Abolition of the Child Tax Credit toddler supplement.
- Cutting the proportion of childcare costs covered by Working Tax Credit.
- Freezing Child Benefit.
- The abolition of the Health in Pregnancy Grant.
- Abolition of Sure Start Maternity Grant for second and subsequent children.”
The reduction of the age of a child when mothers have to be available for work mainly affects lone parents in the first instance, but as joint claimant commitments are rolled out and both partners are expected to seek work it will be another to add to the list.
The commitments to make this government ‘the most family friendly ever’ seem to have disappeared from Conservative websites – they are only now carried by the Government’s opponents – but David Cameron did write three years ago, for the Daily Mail, that “making Britain more family-friendly is still a crucial objective of this coalition government.”