Family Nest

Some news stories are perennials, whether it's the heart-warming story about the first baby born in a New Year or tales of Bank Holiday traffic gridlock.  And so it is, that at this time of year, headlines about parents not getting their child into the primary school two minutes round the corner are sure to appear.  Read more >

There was a time when, assuming you were bright enough, the choices around university centred entirely on what course to do and where to do it. Sixth formers poured over prospectuses, debating the pros and cons of campus vs. city centre unis, what the grade requirements were or which student union bar had the best reputation! Read more >

Universal Credit is the new benefit everyone’s talking (and worrying) about, which is due to start this year. It’s the flagship of the Government’s welfare reform proposals: the vision is to simplify the current system of means tested benefits for working age people, and remove the so-called ‘poverty trap’.  Read more >

So another budget day comes and goes and as usual we're all left scratching our heads, trying to work out how badly affected we are. Newspaper post-analysis always seems to pull out the winners and losers and in this economic climate it never feels as if anyone is exactly a 'winner'. For families the complexities of their personal finances can mean it's even harder to weigh up the pros and cons of changes, even in a budget that George Osborne has dubbed as "fiscally-neutral".  Read more >

We teach our kids to read, write, add and subtract, learn foreign languages and even discuss the awkward issue of sex; but when it comes to how to look after their money, our education system has fallen short. Read more >

Hands up if you're one of those people who writes a list a mile long of resolutions each January 1st. Or do you just mutter into your turkey leftovers that resolutions are for fools, and what's the point as no one keeps them anyway? Read more >

Up until January 2013, child benefit has been simplicity itself. It has been unhindered by means testing, earnings and capital rules, not limited by any bureaucracy other than residence and immigration conditions, and consequently has achieved the highest take up rate of any UK benefit. Read more >

That first thrill of Christmas excitement – be it conjured up by the atmosphere on a cold and frosty morning, a waft of spiced fruit aroma or a quick blast of some cheesy 80s Christmas 'classic' – is a treasured moment. No matter how old one gets, that brief joyous anticipation can still tip you back into childhood mode for a moment. Read more >

The ideal place to bring up a family can be a deeply personal thing. While some escape the city the minute their pregnancy-test stick turns blue, others come out in a cold sweat at the mere hint of a rural life with no public transport. The freedom to let our kids run through fields and climb trees may be appealing, but there is also the reality of being near to work, able to afford a house, and all the other aspects of life that determine where we settle. Read more >

At last, the summer holidays are upon us, and now that my children are older and are able to grasp the principles of a bus timetable and the joy of planning their own social life, I can take a break from the logistical and financial nightmare of juggling work, kids and holiday clubs. Read more >

Over the past few weeks there has been more than one occasion when the government has queried whether benefit payments should be localised, so that those living in areas with a lower cost of living automatically receive less than those in the South East, for example. A recent report from Family Investments highlights the true cost of childcare in Great Britain... Read more >

As the author Erica Jong said: "advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't". I'm pretty certain she wasn't talking about financial advice but knowing when to trust one's instinct and when to know it's time to call in the experts is particularly pertinent where money is concerned. Read more >

The Government’s Welfare Reform agenda has been making headlines over the past few weeks, and mysterious new pieces of jargon are entering people’s vocabulary. ‘Benefits capping’ and ‘Universal Credit’ form part of the new Welfare Reform Bill, which looks like receiving Royal Assent (and thereby becoming law) sometime this year. Read more >

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. Read more >

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. Read more >

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. Read more >

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... Read more >

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. Read more >

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. Read more >

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. Read more >