Family Nest

Budget Day 2012

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT

I must admit I’ve always hated budget day, even as a small child when I was largely oblivious to the economic woes of 1970s Britain. Every year my dad, a lecturer in economics, would spend an afternoon glued to the TV, taking in every minutia of the Chancellor’s budget announcement. To me this meant only one thing: no kids TV after school.

Tricky Tax Credits

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT

It’s benefit uprating time again, and that means that from 6th April we will be in a new tax year, coming to terms with yet more changes to Tax Credits. To millions of people, Tax Credits are an essential supplement to earnings and child benefit. However, the system has also been criticised for its complexity, and lack of responsiveness to changing circumstances.

For the benefit of all...

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The role of welfare benefits in our society has been well and truly dissected over the past few months as the press analyse the coalition government’s welfare reform bill and the impact starts to bite. With the country’s bank balance deep in the red, cutting back on welfare payments has been a major focus for the government in its bid to reduce the deficit.

Moving on from Christmas excess...

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

In the post-Christmas period, even the most frugal of parents can look upon the mass of presents their kids have been given and wonder how in the world they reached such volumes. There have been times on Christmas Day when I’ve looked at the mound of discarded wrapping paper and pondered at which point/present the gifts stopped being appreciated. And that’s with a relatively restrained Father Christmas in our house...

Pocket money

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Pocket money is an interesting headache that faces every parent at some point. First you have to decide if you want to go down this path at all. For some, this style of money management in young kids is not to their taste, preferring a more laid back attitude to money.

Baby paraphernalia

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Everybody is full of advice when you ask “what do you think I should buy for the arrival of the baby”. Friends with children will all give you conflicting advice on which essentials are actually …essentials.

Expectant father

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

I am delighted to say that my wife is pregnant and we are expecting our first child. Do I have any fears? No, not really. Just a smack of reality that I wish MP’s and officials could experience and acknowledge.

Childcare costs

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

We all know having kids can be an expensive business. And while we may delay parenthood or ponder just how big a family we can afford, the decision to have kids is ruled by the heart more than the wallet.