To be absolutely peed off with my employer?

[chasegirl]

I work part time and claim working and child tax credits. I am a single parent -Dd is in year 2. My employer has decided to retrain staff for a new role. Training could possibly start in July for up to 5 weeks (its might not start then for myself they have til next Feb to finish the retraining). They are giving us all 3 months notice of when our training will start so they can force us to attend full time. Its ok they say as we will be paid full time rate while training Great but it wil mess up tax credits for 2015/16 and possibly the year after!!?? I will have to pay out loads in extra child care etc (yes i can claim it back but it could be a lot of money to find in the first place if I have to attend in school hols).AIBU to feel peed off?

What you need to do is this.

Calculate 47 weeks part time wages, 5 weeks full time wages and get a total. Tell them that's how much you will earn next year.

So the same for childcare, 47 weeks part time, 5 weeks full time, add cost together then divide by 12. That way you get an average for each month

But wont they then use that figure to work out my tax credits for the following tax year too?

As i understand they only use that as a guide, until you can tell them how much you've actually earned ie after it has happened. So if your income changes dramatically you need to tell them, otherwise you'll end having to pay loads back, irrespective of what you earned last year!

But YANBU to be peed off if, as a part-time employee, you are made to work full-time during the summer holidays.

id do it for the part time wage if it would cock up my tax credits by more than what id earn in those 5 weeks. would you have childcare sorted?

I struggle for holiday care anyway.No holiday clubs run here. My mom helps as much as she can but she is a full time carer so I xant ask her for any more help. Its the attitude of the senior management too 'thanking' us for our showing commitment by going full time. We gave no choice!! You will sack us if we dont!! grrrr

Don't be pissed off with your employer, be passed off with the way tax credits work. It's things like this that are why we need benefit reforms.

Part time workers should be glad to be offered more hours at work, even if they are only temporary, not be worrying that they are going to end up worse off by working more hours because of the way benefits are awarded.

It's your job, it's a pain but it happens. If you know your wage is going to be lower the following tax year you can have it estimated on that years earnings but then you run risk of overpayment if you estimate wrong.

You could phone tax credits and tell them that between date a and date b you'll be earning x amount more, then back to normal wages. They may just be able to alter the award for the weeks you'll earn extra and be paying extra childcare. I don't know if this will be possible though but it can't hurt to ask them. I've phoned up part way through the year and got an amended award when dh got a small pay rise.

tax credits is an annual award they wouldnt do that :-(
Its a massive load of upheaval and organisation and expense for me. A right pita and empliyers dont realky care do they?

Ive had a similar situation and did what I explained in my post further up. Give them a ring and explain and see what they say. But they will just tell you to work out an average of everything. You then phone them next year and tell them you will be earning less again and they will adjust it accordingly

will give them a ring tomorrow. Hoe you are right

I would be very wary of providing tax credits with an updated income estimate for this year tbh, if it's not £000's different.

I don't know what the exact figure is now, but there is an £x of income disregard, IF this years tax credit award is based on last years income. So if the disregard amount is, say, £2k - and last year youu earned £10k, which is what this years award is based on - then this year you can earn up to £12k and definitely won't have an overpsyment.

As SOON as you give an estimate of this years earnings - whether higher OR lower than last year- then the disregard does not apply. So if you misjudge it even slightly, phone up and say 'Last year I earned £10k, this year I will earn £11k' - and you actually earn £12k - you will be overpaid and there'll be no buffer of the income disregard.

Op a quick Google (although I would double check) shows that the income disregard for income increases is £5000 atm.

So this year, you can tell TCs nothing and keep your TC Payments at the same rate and as long as this years income is not more than £5000 more than last year, you will have no overpayment.

Say nothing is my advice.

With a daughter in Year 2 surely this is great. You can use this as an opportunity to trial working full time. So many parents get a big shock when their children leave school as they have become dependent on family linked benefits.

You don't have to have children to claim WTC clara

You can claim if you're over 25 working 30hrs+. It is not related to having children, it's about being on a low income.

I know exactly what you can claim.

Can you ask not to be paid but to have toil?

Yes, YABU. Your employer is investing in you by retraining you for a new role, giving you three months' notice of when the training will be, and paying you for it, yet you're "peed off" because it will affect your benefits.

peed off cos it will affect my income therefore dds income too! and potentaily disrupt dds life too. Not sure about my employers investing in me that implies some progression for me but there wont be any I will just remain employed by them just a slightly different role. I was planning full time return when dd is older but she is 7 she still needs me to physically be there.

See thats my worry. Tax credit advice seems to vary who you talk to-even their help line. If it was clear it would be so much of a worry. But I also will have to pay out extra child care (can claim it back but not sure if there is a limit!) but i will be left with less until they pay me back

Why not ask your employer if you can take the extra hours worked as time off in lieu? Then your overall income will stay the same.

Can you request that the training is during term time? Then at least it's just around school care you need.
If you're really worried about the income ask if some/all can be given as TOIL instead.

Its the tax credits that are at fault. The system needs redoing. Write to your mp with a!all this .

It's just one of those things. Your employer needs to retrain you and that needs to be full time for the course. Therefore you need to find a way to make it work.

PPs suggestion of having time off in lieu is a good one. And one that DP (who's been through an identical experience) went for. In his case he negotiated a tricky bank holiday in lieu of training on a day that he doesn't usually work.