Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

£35k tax free for working 20 hours a week....

775 replies

BitchyWitchy · 22/10/2010 23:42

In response to the 'Benefits' thread, I thought I would post this...

We took the decision to reduce DHs hours a few months back as we realised we are better off with him working part time than full time and this is what we get WEEKLY (4 DCs):

Wages (20 hours per week) £209
Housing Benefit £188 (leaving £7 for us to pay)
Council tax benefit £19 (leaving £3 for us to pay
Tax Credits £196
Working tax credits £13
Child benefit £60.50

Thats over £35K tax free! DH's fulltime wage was £34k before tax.

Also get free prescriptions and dental care, discounted kids activities and leisure centre membership. DH is home 5 days a week and I am loving having him around to help out with the DCs and doing stuff with them which he could not do when he worked 50 hours a week! 3 DC are at school so we get quality time with the youngest.

We are also doing free OU degree courses so we can get better paid jobs in a few years.

Wish to bloody god we did this earlier when we were BOTH stressed out working fulltime and brought in LESS that what we get now after childcare.

We shall enjoy this until 2013 I can tell you! I don't give a monkey's what anyone thinks of us. DH is still working after all and who would really continue working fulltime knowing they get all this? It may not be right but while it's on offer, should we refuse it?

OP posts:
pearlym · 23/10/2010 14:03

i think the original poster is just winding us all up - no-one could be so arrogant could they?

MaMoTTaT · 23/10/2010 14:03

cumfy - they said in the spending review the other day that the cap won't affect those getting WTC - ie those who are working.

Which I think is fair enough as most people that get these benefits actually need them because they can't get better paid work/longer hours.

witcheseve · 23/10/2010 14:09

I don't think she is a troll but I cannot understand how they wouldn't take into account the £200 a week earned income when assessing HB or perhaps they have and that's why they have to pay a little rent and council tax.

MaMoTTaT · 23/10/2010 14:10

they would witcheseve - but I can't get the figure for housing benefit any lower than £176, based on the OP's figures for TC and CTC then it would be around £168 they'd get

cumfy · 23/10/2010 14:25

WetAugust

Intentional deprivation. Good call! :o

Do you have any view on the level of HB claim.

cumfy · 23/10/2010 14:28

Re Intentional deprivation

Presumably this may be quite hard to prove, especially if there is any hint that employer says they offered employment contract as apoosed to employee begging it.

cumfy · 23/10/2010 14:30

apoosed WTF ?

My brain is in need of some benefits.

fsmail · 23/10/2010 14:31

We are paying for you to enjoy life while the rest of us have two jobs and are stressed out. No wonder the country is not progressing as it should. I am really annoyed that the OP appears to be gloating.

MaMoTTaT · 23/10/2010 14:32

Grin cumfy - I like apoosed

Joolyjoolyjoo · 23/10/2010 14:36

God, these threads are really depressing me Sad Not because people are claiming what they are, after all, entitled to, but because we have a system that actually discourages working.

Until the recent threads, I didn't begrudge people benefits at all, as I had no idea just how well-off you could be on benefits. I'm wondering why we keep pushing education to our children, when it seems years spent getting a degree are of little or no financial value Sad. Neither are the long working hours, or the 100 mile round trip my DH makes each day to be able to live at home and work full-time. Or the months he spends away (he is RN, 24 years service)

I've heard people argue on these threads that ah well- you are home owners, so it's an investment. But the house won't be ours until we are much older, and then if either of us need care it will be sold to provide that, so it's hardly such a concrete asset, is it?

It does all really make me wonder why we bother. Having said that, it's just the way I have been brought up, so I doubt I'd be happy not working. I wonder, though, if more and more people catch on to this cushy life-style and decide to live it, who will pay the taxes that support them? It can't last forever, can it?

earwicga · 23/10/2010 14:43

I haven't read the whole thread so this has probably already been said but I can't see how these figures add up.

4 years ago I got a job of 16 hours a week termtime only. I was then eligible for WTC and TC (including the single parent elements) and continued to get CHB. My earinings from my job were around 5,600. I wasn't entitled to any HB or CTB.

Have the rules really changed so much in 4 years?

cumfy · 23/10/2010 14:48

I think a point that should be borne in mind:

It was some peoples' job to make up the benefit rules.

They have been paid hansomely for failing to do this properly.

Did these people really ever have proper jobs themselves, if they didn't do them properly ?

Bit philosophical I know, but perhaps those people are rather chuckling at this thread whilst they sit in their plush houses.

Just a thought.

Redolent of most £50k+ benefits cheats going to jail, whereas Baroness Uddin has apparently Confused committed no crime.

MaMoTTaT · 23/10/2010 14:49

earwicga - you didn't qualify for any HB on a wage of salary of £500 are you sure??

ZephirineDrouhin · 23/10/2010 14:50

earwicga, how did you pay your rent on £5,600 pa?

WetAugust · 23/10/2010 14:51

To clam that amount of benefits the OP must have virtually no savings whatsoever.

I wouldn't want to be in their shoes if an emergency arose.

I used to wonder how the vast amounts raised in NI, VAT, Fuel tax, Excise Duty etc etc etc that I and everyone else in this country pays was actually spent.

I think we're starting to find out.

Setting aside the 'deserving poor including the disabled, I beleive that benefits are far too high and, as we've seen, postively discourage personal responsibility.

earwicga · 23/10/2010 14:54

MaMoTTaT - Absolutely nothing. It put me into debt. Luckily the contract finished as there was no way I would walk out of a job.

Zephirine - there were tax credits on top of that - that was the basic wage.

I've read more of the thread and now realise that the OP is total bullshit. How sick to come onto MumsNet and pretend you are on benefits and lie about how much you receive. Totally fucked up.

MaMoTTaT · 23/10/2010 14:56

that's really odd - as 5yrs ago exH were nearly face with the possibility of losing our house (mortgage) and having to rent and we would have qualified for some housing benefit when we were working and earning more than that.

cumfy · 23/10/2010 14:57

Who advised you earwic ?

They may well have been wrong.

earwicga · 23/10/2010 15:01

My local council cumfy - I applied and was refused.

MaMoTTaT - perhaps your LHA is higher where you live?

I know the rules have now changed so that CHB isn't taken into account which does help.

MaMoTTaT · 23/10/2010 15:04

it's pretty low here - obviously wasn't a sset rate LHA 5yrs ago like it is now, but now it's £126 a week for a 3 bedroom.

earwicga · 23/10/2010 15:12

A 3 bed here is £115.38 pw, but I wasn't entitled to that anyways as only two kids and me. I was surprised that I was worse off working.

Anyways, the point is that the OP is bullshit.

Quattrocento · 23/10/2010 15:14

I'm starting to think that this thread originated in Conservative Central Office.

Longtalljosie · 23/10/2010 15:17

I'm wondering if this is WWC actually (goes off to ask MNHQ)

TheRealChopin · 23/10/2010 15:19

Parasite.

MaMoTTaT · 23/10/2010 15:20

god that's utter shite earwicga - thankfully now people in low paid jobs like you were in can get help with the rent and don't have to go into debt to keep a roof over their heads when they're actuall getting off their arse and into work.