im so anxious about threats to cut ctc...

By Aeschylus Tue 22-Jun-10 14:46:52
em83

QUOTE
"Problems with that are, what jobs let you only work school hours and only employs term time."

Do what I did and re-train as a teaching assistant....term time work AND school hours!!

Except that it is a local government job,and what with the cuts and everything........

barmyarmy have you actually read what you wrote i could but mamasandpapas clothes insted of mothercare there are people that rely on tc and cb myself and my partner included we both work and we still stuggle, well i suppose we shouldnt have had any children because we arent rich enough. we have both paid tax for 10 years we pay into the tax system so why shouldnt we get sumthin back. in my opinon you should be ashamed of yourself you havent got a clue and i hope you never have to stuggle like we have you mite not be on your high horse then.

salizchap if you work over 30 hours and have at least one child you'd get at least £6,000 a year in tax credits, plus potenial housing benefit and council tax discount.

Did they put a stop to some of the exportable benefits, I did'nt see any mention of the exportable child benefit going Polish children living in Poland, which is costing the UK taxpayer millions, I don't agree with this loophole especially when the parents only need to register for work here.

'well i really honestly dont know how they think people are going to survive imo £30.000 is not a fabulous income so how can they class it as a middle class income...'

OMG! How out of touch are you? I would be extatic if I could earn even 20k a year!

Try living on 10k!

thanku jellybeans

The CTC was mainly designed to get people into work. The labour Gov probably didn't like the fact that it enabled some parents to SAH but this was outweighed by the benefits of getting more lone parents into work. They said as much in reports. I think it is great, though, that peole have been able to have the choice.

Why should someone feel guilty for SAH and claiming CTC?

the woman - i didnt say i couldnt get a jon i would find it too tiring and too streesful working evenings or weekends
plus my dh doesnt get home till 7pm in the eves
and he does photography @ weekends
will prob get a job in tesco once kids @ school

Thing is, many jobs involve shifts or working away.

My DH, before I was ill, was away from home at least 50% of the time. There was no pattern to it, he just had to be where he was needed when they needed him.

It does irk me a little that single parents can choose to stay at home to raise their children, until at least school age and the state supports this. That's not what irks me, I think that's right. What I find unfair is that, as a married woman, I'm not afforded the same privilege.

Despite the fact that I've worked for 20 years and paid into the kitty, I'm entitled to nothing. At least CTC make some acknowledgement that raising children is a valuable contribution to society and offered options, whether a single parent or married parent, whether working or as a SAHM. It puts the children at the heart of the policy.

Allshoppedout - if you want to stay home and look after them, that's fine. But I don't see why you think tax credits are there to do enable you to do it. As for not being able to get a job - lots of people work without getting childcare you know: I have many friends who work at evenings and weekends so they don't have to/are unable get childcare. Yes, it's tough but they do it because they need the money.

My CTC has already gone up for this year, by about £100 so only a tenner amonth or so. it was mainly in the childs disability section where it went up so very well deserved as DS easily costs us more then what we get in DLA.

As for people having more kids to get more CTC. Unfortunately it will happen. I know about 5 families who have decided to either have another baby quickly to get the HIp payment and baby element or to enable the mum to give up work and stay at home therefore relying on one wage and claiming more CTC.
Fortunately not every benefit claimaint is that bad and several more families have decided to say no more babies, it's not viable.

I think the £40k cut off is pretty reasonable, it is a large wage at least 5 times what dp was earning last year. we would probably have to work 3 jobs each to get that wage. Of course it doesn't help if you are mortgaged to the eyeballs, especially with the lowering of HB.
$400 a week would pay for my council large 3 bed 4 and a half times over.

The VAT is a bit high but if it pulls money in that is all they care about.

I have always said that too riven

Watching PMQT. Harriet Harman is trying to get PM to say if family under £40k will lose out. So far he hasnt said!!!

(not saying that 40k is a low income btw, just saying that we have little to spend on anything other than basics so can't see VAT making a big impact)

On the BBC calcuator I just worked out that my non-working sister and BIL, with their fours kids will actually be £600 a year better off.

Not sure how this is meant to be encouraging people back into work.

And does the VAT increase really make a differcence to those on low incomes.

DH and I earn just under 40k between us, once we have paid the mortgage, bills and food shopping and clothes for dd we have little left to spend on anything else. So fail to see where the VAT rise will have a major impact on our lives.

anyway woman so there are no other SAHMs then like me!!!!

meant child care

the woman - no i cant get a job as we wouldnt be able to afford child.
i have a 4.5 year old who is @ school and a 17mth old.
will be going back to work when dd2 is @ school
and also i used to work quite a distant away and had to get train which was cosing nearly all my wages gave up when i had dd1.
also made the decision that i wanted to be the one to bring them up not someone else as then i would miss out on milestones and quality time

I am not sure about that but then I don't think she pays it in to her bank I think she just keeps it in cash so it would be hard to prove. I wouldn't even know if she didn't brag about it. But I didn't think about people labeling honest benefit claimants scroungers, I wouldn't want that as I also know of many people who have no choice but to claim benefits and are usually very embarrassed about it they are much more common than people who play the system.

thats annoying slushy. It is tales like that - and I think most people can quote someone- that make it so east for the benefit system to be attacked and benefit claimants labelled scroungers. when the majority are just struggling through.

Out of interest if he is handing his wages over to her does that not count as declarable income?

I think this whole CTC thing is misleading and uncertain but it does provide that much more help to thousands of hard working families that can really do with the help.

particularly with the 20% vat rate starting in Jan 11.

i think there should be some assistance for hard working families especially if it rewards large families with parents that do not work far more thAN those that do.

i have one child and earn £35K a year and virtualy no help i know families where neither parent works but as they have 4 children they have a better standard of living and life style than i do. it simply is not fair!!!

gt17

It depends on what kind of people you are talking about if you are talking about people on low wages who struggle to make ends meet and have a few children with the knowledge that when they are in full time school and no longer paying childcare costs they will be better off, then I think that is unfair. Or people who have disability or no choice in their circumstances.

However if you are talking about people like a lady I know who has three kids claims income support legally while her husband works away on the railways only coming back for two nights (which is why she can claim legally) he fetches £2000 a month home and she gets £1300 in benefits not including free milk, school meals. She openly braggs about it and there is nothing anyone can do because you are legally allowed a partner to stay for two night a week without having to declare it . She also kept his name of the birth certificate so he wouldn't pay maintenance. In the latter case I couldn't agree with you more.

Tax Credits don't necessarily stop at £40K. It depends on how many children you have and how much over £40K you earn - for every £1 you earn over £40K the family element of £545 will be decreased by 41p. Next year it is changing again and unless you have loads of kids (!) you are unlikely to get anything at all.

But yes, allshoppedout, if your dh is on £44K you are unlikely to get anything from next April. You could always do what other people do and get a job. Just a thought.

Norabarnacle, the taper rate is currently 39% not 37% (was increased to this from 37% about 4 or 5 years ago iirc)

If you're currently earning less than £50K, and are currently getting more than £545 with no child aged under 1, then you should either notice little change in the amount you're getting or an increase.

There are other more complicated changes coming in within a couple of years, the most notable being that if you're income goes down from the previous year, not all of this decrease will be taken into account when your award is worked out.

I don't think anyone is being a fascist - It's a fair point - people that are living off benefits are having more and more children. We can only afford one child so that's all we are going to have and we both work 30 hours a week. Why should a couple who don't work be able to continue to have 3+ children and rely on the state? - it's such an expectant society "I have children therefore I am entitled to X,YZ". Of course there are exceptions - women left alone... and no one is saying that someone shouldn't have a child! It's those who intentionally keep breeding to excess and expect everyone else to pick up the bill. I work in welfare and it beggars belief the amount of cases where people intentionally get pregnant so they don't have to work!!