Morning Coffee: London banker's wife says her £200k+ family income makes childcare a struggle. Accenture executive says he was dismissed for ADHD
Given that the average household income in the UK is £35k ($44k), sympathy for the families of financial services professionals struggling by on £200k is going to be thin on the ground. But according to the wife of one financial services professional writing in the London Times, the struggle is real.
Get Morning Coffee ☕ in your inbox. Sign up here.
«The UK is one of the worst, if not the worst in Europe for childcare,» says the author, who describes herself as «livid» about the sum of money she spends on nurseries for her two children. This amounts to nearly £4k a month, «a £66k salary, basically,» which takes a big chunk out of the £100k+ she earns as a lawyer and the £100k+ her husband earns toiling in an unspecified job in financial services.
«I know people are going to say, cry me a river,» she adds, describing childcare as a «stealth tax». "- That I have a good job and lots of money. But it pisses me off, because at the end of every month, after nursery fees are paid, we don’t have much left over. Our childcare bills are greater than our mortgage is by some margin."
Moreover, she says the cost of childcare has gone through the roof since the UK government began offering a free childcare scheme to lower earners, which is being subsidized by people like her. «You think, £75k — that’s a lot of money, isn’t it? A really decent salary. But it’s just enough to pay for two children to go to nursery in the southeast,» she concludes. «Something is seriously wrong.»
Separately, former Accenture executive Peter Lacey will have no problems paying for childcare if his £100m claim for being fired due to ADHD succeeds. Lacey, who sat on Accenture's global management committee and oversaw the firm's sustainability strategy,
Read more on efinancialcareers.com
