I claim tax credits and could work more than I do but choose not to. I'm also pg with #5 which was unplanned and so will be claiming even more tax credits soon. Who wants to come and lecture me?

[KidderminsterKate]

I claim what I am entitled to and what the government says I can have......this seems to get peoples knickers in a twist AIBU?

yet more assumptions I see Janey!.....what makes you think I am 'reliant' on benefits? If I lost all my CTC I could still pay my essential bills, food, clothing, run a car etc. Things would just be tighter than they are. Infact I could probaby do that with loosing my CB as well.

The biggest threat to me is the loss of my job, not the loss of my benefits.

And when my children decide to 'breed' (what a disgusting turn of phrase you have Janey) I would just want them to do their best. of course it is better to be financially stable beforehand.....oh and guess what, we were before we had numbers 1-4. We had a house, 2 cars, 2 relatively well paid jobs, paid off our student loans and had no credit card debt.

But then my husband developed serious mental health problems and his capacity to work was diminished. He was eventually sectioned and this left me solely responsible financially and with regard to care. So I negotiated with my organisation to reduce my hours to 30 per week as opposed to 40 so I could do all the school runs, which we usedto do between ourselves as my husband worker an early shift so I would take and he would collect.

This is just one stage of my life and says absolutely nothing about my work ethic, my morals or my ability to parent responsible, aspirational childdren.

Why on earth would you stop your cb when at the mo everyone is entitled to it! Why didn't you just put it in bank accounts for your children if you didn't need it!

well thats a completely different argument entirely.....there are only children who dont think they got enough attention.

Yes my mam was an only child, hated it and had a family of 4. her parents worked all the time and she was left with her elderly gran who was bedridden

kate,
im very sorry for your situation, that can happen to anyone at anytime!
im sure if you explained this at the begining of your post people would have understood your situation. but the tone you set via the title made me feel angry! i dont claim tax credits as i dont realie need them, i work pt and my dp works ft. we dont have luxuries i.e. nicce car forign holidays or a big house, but we do however get by. were not on big bucks by any means. the reason people are angered by people who chhose not to work and claim is that when you live in a bought ex local authority alot of people work the system i.e claim sickness, keep having kids for the benifits and then also 'hobble' to earn cash in hand, you come home from work in your 10 year old car to have to park behind your benifits cheat neighbours brand new car. this is why i choose not to claim as my dd will have to grow up seeing these people getting it all for free but i want her to gain a strong work ethic and the proud feeling you get when can treat yourself with money you earned.
my dp was made redundant in may and i had to cut my maternity short.

i wish your family well dealing with mental illness in the family is very hard and you have my full understanding.

mabe falling preg again was a bit silly but whats done is done and i hope your gonna be more careful in the future.

on another note, my rivita with flora buttery (urgh) was just about managable haha x

how is your dh now?

twinklypearls I think it is admirable that you waited until you were financially stabke to try for a second DC. I have one and I wouldn't want to have another until I knew I could give them what they needed. If EVERYONE had LO's without worrying about money where would we be then?

I don't criticise anyone claiming what they are due. If the system needs to change change the system but if not people are entitled to what they are entitled to. People claim their single person tax allowance and pension tax relief etc Nothing wrong with that at all.

However I recommend to any single mother of 5 (and I am a single mother of 5) that is a huge lot more fun to pick a decent career, earn a lot and enjoy the family too. It's the better route. Make sure chidlren make wise career choices. If I can work full time with 5 children and being single anyone on here can.

Elasticnipples how condescending are you! "Falling pg again was abit silly and I hope you will be more careful in the future." it shouldn't matter what the situation with her husband is, she's said she works, she's intitaled to tax credit what is the problem with that? She's not sitting on her backside all day eating cakes and watching Jeremy Kyle on tax payers money! As for only having children when you are financial stable, some people never will be in this economic climate! How about the care assistant who works in the nursing home looking after dear old grandad or the guy who works in the garage, both on low wages. Who are we to judge or say they shouldn't have kids because we can survive financial without help and they can't . Also if everyone"aspired" to do better we would be giving up our own well paid jobs to look after our elderly relitives and also our children as nursery staff and childminders arnt on that much either

Greenone we need young people to pay taxes when we are old. If everyone lived as we have there would be very few children.

As others have said if we could only have children we could afford some people would never have children. If I had married my dp first rather than my ex husband I would never have had any children.

Lovesicecream I have had to claim benefits in the past due to illness. I always said I would pay back every penny, I am doing that by not claiming child benefit.

in my view people spend money better than Governments so the more you claim that you are entitled to the better. Claim child benefit and if you want to do good with it buy food to give to the starviong with it. Don't leave it to the government to waste on pointless wars and to pay foreign aid into the Swiss bank accounts of corrupt African leaders.

I agree with Xenia.

lovesicecream!
not looking for aurguments, take it as you will.

There also seems to be this idea that if people didn't claim tax credits, child benefit etc there would be more in the pot for those in desperate need which is not true and peoples taxes wouldn't be cut either.
It's like when schools panic and spend what ever is left of their budget because they know if they don't next years will be less as they've been seen to have managed on less. The last thing we all want is the government thinking we're ok so the people need less (and there's more to line the pockets of the politicians and their croanies).

lovesicecream also where do you think cb comes from?

I am not making a comment about anyone else an whether they should claim it. I just think that as an individual I have taken enough out of the system.

I did also say that if I were to have my time again I would have had more children and claimed my CB and TC

What do you think happens to the cb you don't claim? Also if your paying taxes your putting back into the system anyway, I agree with Xenia if you don't need it give it to a charity or something

I would have paid my taxes anyway regardless. I just don't want to take any more out of a system that has been very generous to me.

We donate to charity in other ways.

Agree thesecondcoming... You have to ask why she starts these threads if its all so wonderful!

Claiming what you are entitled to is fine. If the system is wrong change the system. As I said the Govern ment spends money very badly so the more of that money that is kept in the private sector the better for everyone. In that sense you have a moral duty to claim what you can.