Our family friendly government?

I am that parent (step parent) and I'm incredibly angry. We didn't move but our housing benefit was docked by 14%.

Cameron says both parents are important. Absentee fathers are criticised for not caring about their children. We are financially penalised because my husband wants to have a relationship with his children.

I think he ought to have discussed it with IDS first. The DWP will find it impossible to cope with any more changes to policy.

https://fullfact.org/live/2014/aug/cost_troubled_families_30_billion_not_government_estimate-34735

They cannot agree on the figures, either.

The whole "troubled families" number was examined by the wonderful programme More or Less. Politicians latch onto headline figures and treat them as if they are evidence.
He didn't say they are going to actually come up with any policies that are going to help "families". He just said that IF anyone was thinking about policy (which they aren't really, so near the election) they should consider the impact on families. Sounds to me like those at the top are demanding from those below that they come up with something they can "announce" that will sound good but cost nothing.
Ah here it is, the bit of More or Less where they took the figure apart. Worth a listen as always.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01hl4h2

And yes Vampirequeen I bet you are.
He's probably won (back) your vote with yesterday's announcement though

In the run up to the election I would have thought that's when new policies are produced, to tempt the electorate.

A bit more window dressing - it is what we have come to expect. Do they think we are taken in by all this?

I'm not- I remember MT saying much the same thing.

I think Ian Duncan Smith is thinking about policies. He's got less than a year to get his universal credit off the ground. Hope he has nightmares about it.

At least Cameron hasn't said there's no such thing as society.....yet, suebailey1.

A man whose government has made the lives of many people (not just "families") an unending cycle of anxiety, I have no time for his stupid proclamations.

Meaningless marketing. The Telegraph published a map today showing the 'best'(?) places to live in the UK. Why do we have such extremes of great places to live and not so great. Interestingly the south seems a paradise and yet on another survey most of the unhappiest places to live are in the south. Milton Keynes, parts of which are amongst the best places to live is also amongst the top for anxiety. Should the government conduct a families survey based on other criteria than productivity and salary.
Adding to the bizarre status of families already i was reading 'Tatler'in the hairdressers. Pages of advertisements for schools set in acres of greenery with tennis courts, stables, music blocks and swimming pools. This is in the same country that does not provide standards of local schools good enough to prevent parental anxiety that their child may be forced o attend a sub standard school as they cannot afford to move or pay.