to think that too many people rely on the Tax Credits for their income.

[IdRatherBeInBed]

Bit of background first

My sister and her boyfriend has got back together after they split up last year. She was then claiming income support.

He has moved back in with her so her benefits have all stopped. she works 13.5 hours a week, he works over 30 hours. They earn £17k between them. Which lets be honest in this climate is not alot of money.

Shes just called Tax Credits to let them know hes moved back in and wanted to know what she would be entitled to WTC wise. Due to her HB/CTB stopping. Her rent is £500 per month, CT £100 per month. She is entitled to £4.90 per week.

I am sad for her because after all rent, ct, bills have gone out shes isnt left with anything. her food bill for the month has had to be cut to £200 per month. She has a car on finance (through my dad) which is shagging her tbh due to engine size (she got it when still with partner before splitting up and he had to get a 1.8 sport^^) her insurance with just her on it is £115p/m. - (she isnt 25 yet)

Anyway she called them last week to ask how much she could be entitled to, they told her £80 per week so she was like
"ooh we can afford this, we can afford that" so went out and spent £100 on clothes for her, him and nephew. I told her not to rely on what they have said because it could be wrong but she wouldn't listen and was saying 'it will be right'. Today she rings me bollocking me as to why she is only entitled to £4.90 per week.

FFS why bollock me - i dont work for them.

WIHBU to have said to her 'cancel your £24p/m gym membership, get rid of the car or change it if you can, stop getting things from catalogues that you cant pay for and get your arse of a boyfriend to stop spending money you don't have on shit like £5.50 magazines each week, stop getting shit for the garden you dont need, you don't need so many fucking flowery things to make a garden look nice.

Or what i come across as a complete and utter bitch.

She is one of these who says "oh i have no money" but yet has enough for new clothes or go out for a meal, or takeaway"

Ahh there we go usual suspects. At least you can admit to it.Yes Shirley your right they are showing their true colours- proud to waste money on vodka.

Guess I am screwed then niceguy since we already do all that (except don't have the option of free housing) and still need tax credits to pay the bills

and fags ,don't forget the fags

Good for you usual! Your so cool.

Hahahah! I wasted my tax credits on a wrap of cocaine.

I might buy some pre cut fruit with mine

Your really doing on those who actually need tax credits proud now! They must be so happy to have people like this giving them a bad name!

coco you do know they are winding you up ?

With lovely typical MN banter ...pay no attention

at pre-cut fruit. Haven't heard that for a while. Just so long as you don't get a taxi [wunk]

Aw chill out doily. No need for the dreaded hmm face is there? Blimey.

It was called family income support

I believe Xenia just answered this. There was something but it was incredibly difficult to get. Not like the spray & pray mentality of tax credits in their current form.

Despite being on a very low income at the time, i was not entitled to it. Nowadays, even if you earn a very average and respectable income, you still expect something from tax credits.

Xstitch. I never said you were being irresponsible. But the question is, what are YOU doing about improving your life?

For me when I was in that situation, I moved jobs to a LOWER salary because I saw training potential. Over the last 14 years I trained and I worked my arse off. My kids were up at 6.30am, at the childminders at 8am. I picked them up at 6pm and they were in bed by 7.30pm ready for the next day. I did this as a single parent for nearly a decade. I've had to rely on friends to have the kids whenever i had to work away.

We're now in a much more comfortable position because of the hard work & sacrifices we all made over a decade ago.

My point is that you can sit there shouting at others for not understanding your situation but ultimately it's not me who can do anything. The goverment ultimately cannot fix your woes either. The bottom line is only you can. And it's rarely easy.

Retraining is a difficult one...

I can't get free training and childcare (I believe) as I am part of a 2 parent family and my husband is earning, but I cannot afford childcare for my 4 children if I were to retrain, let alone pay for a course. I imagine there are many people like me?

If my husband left me and I claimed benefits, I could retrain for free...

shirley my name is doley ... for now

feckwit - sounds like you need to have an affair. Shall I give you my DH's number? We would both be better off :)

Sorry, blame autocorrect. Entirely unintentional. Honestly.

Well done niceguy I love reading success stories ,it gives me inspiration !

How did you afford childcare niceguy? I guess we're not talking minimum wage jobs?

motherpanda I love lateral thinking, count me in!

Comparisdons aren't easy because time change but there definitely was a much much more difficult situation for parents 20 y ears ago. That doesn't mean it was right and it's just different now. There was no help with childcare and you had no maternity rights unless you'd worked for 2 years so I had 3 babies and none of those rights so took 2 weeks off work and then was back full time. It aws just a much harder time and this thread really does illustrate how cushy it has all become but if you've never known the harder time it's hard for people to appreciate how it used to be.

There was no free training for anyone as far as I remember and no free childcare an dno tax credits and most workers on average and even fairly low wages got none of the family tax credits.

What did we do? We worked full time and the cost of the chidlcare was 50% of each of our salaries so in effect one of us was working for nothing. Like niceg we worked very hard (and I mean stuff like working 5 - 7am on Saturdays even having been up in the night with babies type of hard work) and knew that that hard work would pay off and it has massivel paid off. In my 40s I do earn quite a lot.

We have because we have had a lot of socialistm since them moved to a mentality that the state provides and an entitlements culture. If benefits really did because much tougher with worfare and it was plain unpleasant to be clamining them rather than an easier life than those working for the minimum wage of £13k a year then things might revert to how they were,. We're in a recession so things are going to be tough for a bit anyway.

The issue is how to get people who want to earn more or want to earn at all into a position where they can without being caught in a benefits trap.

The sums can't add up if you're on minimum wage though. If you earn £13k and your rent is £8k, that's not a lot left for everything else.

Does anyone know when housing ben /allowance came to be ?

RitaMorgan It depends what part of the country, in this area you can easily rent an ok 3 bed house for around 5k a year.

Though places with cheap housing tend to have high unemployment - unfortunately everyone can't just move somewhere cheap.

Niceguy - You did well because you got given a second hand car and were allowed to live at your parents which is a luckier position than most people are in. I have never claimed any benefits other than a small amount of childcare and I only took 10 days maternity leave. We work 70 hours between us and still make nowhere near what the uk national average salary is for -one- person like most couples in my town.

I agree with DooinMeCleanin - similar situation - I'm divorcing and moving out of marital home, about to buy a small flat for me and my 2 DCs (one diabetic the other awaiting diagnosis of autism), looking for work, do some freelance here and there, but no real salary to speak of at the moment. The CTCs are counted as income towards the mortgage - and it is tiny, so hopefully in a couple of years I'll be mortgage free - but yes, obviously I rely on tax credits. The alternative would have been renting, which I would have made it completely impossible (mortgage around £140 per month as opposed to £800 per month in my area). I'm not green however, once property has been purchased, my son got the necessary help etc then off to do any job I can find - even a minimum wage job - but guess what? I'll probably still have to rely on tax credits until the time the economy grows and starts paying sensible wages again - like they did in the early 90s.