Tax Credits...need 16hr contract? Or as long as you work 16hrs?

[redhappy]

Have been offerred a new job. Will be an 8 hour a week contract initially, in a few months hopefully will be 16hr contract.

It's all technicalities for the companies 'baseline' labour. Basically, they are definitely going to give me 16hrs work a week.

In terms of tax credits and the childcare contribution, is is how many hours you have a contract to wrok? or how many hours you actually work?

[foreverastudent]

how many hours you actually work

[Meglet]

But don't they calculate your tax credits on working a 16 hour week so you will end up repaying it if you drop below 16 hours? IIRC once you drop below 16 hours you can't claim tax credits, it's not pro-rata'd for less hours.

Not sure what I'm trying to explain here or even if that's helpful .

[Lougle]

It is OK as long as your AVERAGE working hours are 16 per week. So you can work 32 hours for 2 weeks then 0 hours for 2 weeks, and you will still meet the criteria for Tax Credits.

Decision Makers' Guide is here

[redhappy]

Thankyou, there are definitely enough hours for me to do 16hrs per week, just that, my contract will say minimum of 8.

Will ring them on monday just to check, but I was offered the job this morning so felt like I couldn't get excited.