im so anxious about threats to cut ctc...

The only positive I can see is that perhaps the cost of living and housin prices will fall if more families have one income.

It is however going to hurt this generation. However if it means that life is easier for our children maybe it is worth paying - just.

Just to play devils advocate for a minute here. If one member of a couple is forced out of the workplace and is back home (does not automatically have to be the woman), might it be better for society?

It would free up much needed jobs for others, I am thinking particularly of those families where no one is in paid employment. Spread the jobs around more evenly. I would rather live in a society where most families have some earned income. So many people on here talk about equality for all - would that not be a way to help redress the gap between richer and poorer?

DH and I were both made redundant at the same time and although we are fine now, at the time we thought it seemed crazy that so many families were either busting a gut and hardly seeing their children, or not working at all and worrying about money.

IMO its just another way to force Mothers out of the workplace and back home. I might have to give up my job if this is all true - but then my youngest starts school in 2 years - so maybe I just need to struggle on and on until then?! I honestly don't think we would be able to afford to live without CTC.

I KNEW they would do this if they got in - knew it. Take from the ones who work hard, bother to get off their arses and go to work. It makes me so sick, now we are really panicking until Tuesday and those bastards just wander round looking smug with themselves.

I might just fucking emigrate!

Do you know what I think? I think if they just scrapped the "You don't need to tell us what child maintenance you recieve, we don't take it into account" then that would make a big difference. I know of women who receive £400 a month child maintenace from an ex, but it makes no difference at all to their tax credits?! THAT is crazy, where is the logic in that?!

And if they abolish CTC for people who earn over £25000, the first thing I will do is look into applying for housing benefit - and I am guessing with a drop in income of £315 a month, and rent of £775 a month, I would bloody well be entitled.

Idiots. The lot of them.

I'm with lowenergy. I'm also a public sector worker in a London Council, where we have to buy our stationery with our own money to save cash. I am no illusion that my job is at risk and remain quietly amused that all of my very liberal friends are bemoaning the Tories for cuts when it's the Lib Dems setting such low thresholds.

We are 'lucky' enough to have a household income of £44k with no childcare as one of our sons is severely disabled and DH stays home to care for him. We have the least amount of disposable income of any or my peer group, who all have to have the latest iPhone/gadget/3 game consoles and really don't miss all that crap.

(I say lucky as we would prefer for DS to not have such a difficult time of it, and not to require 24 hr care)

"A few years back the council supplied carers itself and paid them £7 an hour. Now its all contracted out and they pay an agency £15 per hour (of which the worker still only gets £7"

Exactly. We were SCREWED by Labour, and that's just one of the ways. And yet, having been screwed, people are still willing to believe Labour's hypocritical, disingenuous misinformation about the deficit, which is going to lead to unwillingness to make cuts, strikes etc. and even more general screwed-upness.

How much longer are you going to let Labour get away with it?

Slushy i think you may have a point. I need to sit down and work out fiqures after the budget. I am on mat leave at moment and will have to decide if there is any point returning to work on the same hours (30pw) when due to return.

As it is I am having to take only 6 months mat leave. Though only work 30hrs pw this is spread over 5 days so still will have ft childcare costs.

What a nightmare. I like my job too.

Sorry better off not working if childcare costs are that high.

fifitot

You would probably be better off working If you are just in the bracket of 30,000 then say you both earn £15,000 roughly a £1000 each a month and 800 of that is for childcare for you to work then you are basically working full time for £200.

My dp earns 15,000 I don't work as I have no family and would have to work full time on minimum wage to see any benefits. We have no childcare costs and receive £480 a month CTC. Meaning technically as I am not paying childcare costs I have £280 a month more than someone earning 30,000 paying £800 who receives no benefits.

Yes, the income in a household where both work and earn a combined income of 30-40K but have childcare expenses is very different from a household income of only one person working and earning 30-40K with no childcare expenses. I think this budget is going to force a lot of women out of work.

So many misconceptions about people's earnings I think. I think me an DH's joint income when I am working will be over their threshold but bearing in mind we will have nusery costs of over £800 pm and household outgoings of over £1000 pm I can't really see how we are classed as 'wealthier'.

I will lose CTC but if I lose CB as well we will struggle. Since me and DH both in public sector, pay freezes will also hit us.

I hate this fcukin govt.

I don't think its their IKEA-cushions people are worried about daysoftheweek

Looks like child benefit on the agenda too according to this morning's paper.

FFS.

we live in a society where consumerism has gone mad

we all strive and crave the latest thing, just look how much we now spend on electricals and communications compared to just 10/15 years ago-most people would consider that to be important spending

look how much we just throw away

look how many people spend hundreds in IKEA each year updating their cushions

houses have become comodities or cashpoints for so many not homes

some of us clearly expect the state to fund that for us and wish to stay home to raise our children ourselves (nothing wring with the second obviously only shouldn't expect the first to happen automatically)

I'm off to knit my own lentils!

wot lightbulb said.....
just remember people a lot of us are going to loose our jobs that will put a few hundred quid into perspective.

(i didn't think you got any childcare element if you earned over a certain amount about 16k Im thinking now i'm wrong....)

'if people bought and made food more cheaply they could save 40 quid a month no bother'

But some families get 11K tax credits if they have large families and are near the 25K threashold. I had a look on the calculator. They would loose hundreds a month. That is like a full wage.

Like has been mentioned, it depends if they mean just the family element (which is £40) or tax credits in their entirity.

I heard of a few people both on the minimum wage who claim TC for childcare. If they lose that they would be better off one quitting and then getting the maximum TC as they would be under the threshold and get free precriptions/school meals/rent benefits etc..Surely that may be the likely result?

BarmyArmy on the month they introduced CTC due to the change in income tax, if I remember correctly it was the abolition of the married couples allowance, my DH brought home £267 less and we were give CTC of £40.00. So we lost out by a considerable sum.
So I don't think they are paying for my DC

were not are - doh!!!

Being a public sector worker I'm scratching my head to see how the boom benefited me. I didn't get big pay rises, bonuses, gym membership, private health care. In fact I couldn't even afford to buy a house.... so forgive me if I don't subscribe to the current demonisation of public sector workers.

It was my private sector employed friends and family who are borrowing dosh, getting flash cars on HP and living the dream. Why should I pay for that?

Xenia I don't doubt that the private sector provides a lot of money for the economy, before becoming a teacher I worked in the city and can remember how much tax I paid. But public sector workers to pay tax.

"but private sector nurses/contracters etc end up costing the Govt more don't they?
A few years back the council supplied carers itssled and paid them £7 an hour. Now its all contracted out and they pay an agency £15 per hour (of which the worker still only gets £7) "

But presumably the carers didn't manage themselves, and rock up to the council to get paid every month? There would have been layers of HR, managers and back office to support them, probably costing a substatial amount more than the 8 pounds/carer/hour.

if people bought and made food more cheaply they could save 40 quid a month no bother

i agree with this cut but only for over 30k

""Obviously most countries want more people in the private sector than not because the private sector pays for things."

Stupidest post ever. "

The private sector generates money which pays for those who depend on the state for their benefits and jobs. Without the private sector everyone in a country would starve so why is my post stupid? I don't think people realise there isn't a pot of money from which handouts are made. Instead the private sector makes and sells things and pays taxes on its profits which then fund what public sector and benefits we can afford at any one time.

monster

waiting for them to privatise royal mail. bet they can't wait for that