A UK family where both parents work full-time, pay full council tax, and earn enough to be 'doing alright' on paper, can't afford to take their kids to the Tower of London on a Saturday in 2026.
Two adult tickets and two child tickets at standard price comes to roughly £100. Add £40-£80 in train fares and £50-£70 for lunch — that's around £200 for a single Saturday at one tourist attraction in their own capital city.
A family on full Universal Credit, living in subsidised housing, paying no council tax, can take the same four people to the same Tower for £1 a ticket — £4 total — under the 'inclusive access' schemes most major UK attractions now run.
The working family pays the full £200 day out AND covers — through their taxes — the £196 discount the benefits family gets on the same trip.
Whatever the original intention of those schemes, this is the structure most UK working families are now living inside. Pay the full bill, then watch the people next door enjoy the day out you can't take your own kids to.
“A hydration break?!
At this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country, localised entirely in this indoor air conditioned stadium?!”
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[H/T - swbristol on TikTok]
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I have put restrictions on my kids phones so they can’t use them before 7am or after 8pm except to make calls/send texts.
They can’t download apps without me approving and they’re not allowed:
WhatsApp
Instagram
TikTok
Snapchat
X
It’s called parenting, some should try it.
I have 7 kids at home. They get a dumb phone when they get to an age when we need to pick them up from their extra curricular activities.
As they get older they get a regular phone, but have restrictions and they are monitored, as is their access to computers.
They do not get an email till they are 13.
Their school has a no social media policy that parents sign on to.
They are not allowed x, insta, snap or facebook till they are 18.
No government supervision required. Just good old parenting.