to ask how you will be affected by the budget announcements?

[manicinsomniac]

Sorry if there's another thread about this, I can only see lots of speculative ones.

Now that it's announced ... I admit I'm struggling to get my head around it. I don't think it's as bad as I thought? I don't think it can be that good though? I don't think there's a single thing in it that affects me. I'm not sure about any of that though because I find it all quite confusing!

So, ordinary people from ordinary families/households - how are you going to be affected, if at all?

I will be about £140 better off according to BBC. I did some quick sums myself earlier and worked out I will be about £200 better off due to the changes to the income tax thresholds. The BBC calc shows I will pay £60 more in NI - I listened to the chancellor's speech and don't recall any mention of any change to NI so is anyone any the wiser? Just curious really.

We will be better off a little when the personal allowance goes up. Other than that, I see little difference. We rent privately, don't earn over £30K, have no relatives to leave us expensive houses, don't own a car or a telly. Most of these budgets are pretty much the same every year. Poor people get poorer and blame it on the rich. Rich people have more of that they have saved taken from them and are told its because the poor are too lazy or too stupid to look after themselves. Classic distraction politics. Everyone points the finger at everyone else, and no one is looking to see if the system itself is broken.

Next year I doubt our gross income will be more than £30K, we'll probably still be renting privately, we'll definitely not have introduced DCs to the television nipple, if we have a car it'll be an old banger, when I buy cereal or washing powder there will be even less in the box that stays the same size, and people will still bang on about inflation only being 1% and that the economy is growing. Yet more youngsters will be unemployed, more graduates will leave university with greater debt, more of us will be on fewer hours a week, and the poor will be told to blame the rich and the rich will be told the poor are dumb and bone idle. Everyone will complain about the MPs and no-one will dare talk about the system being broken.

Everyone will pretend they didn't know it was broken, just like the Greeks pretended they didn't know they couldn't live on benefits forever.

I earn more than the new living wage. I am a single parent with a ds working part time. I will be about 1500 worse off a year. If i go to full time work i will be about 2200 worse off. I may as well quit my job because if you are on jsa you arent affected.

Heisenberg - people will be losing 100s per month as the income threshold is being reduced from 2016, while the taper rate is being increased. This affects basically everyone who is in work and on tax credits.

Im sure Dave was banging on about supporting working families maybe they thought he wouldnt screw them over that is the only reason i can see for it. I guess they wont do it again but a bit late for most of us. I dont know how the tories can sleep at night they have condemned thousands of children (and adults) to a life in poverty.

It worries me that the information about the income threshold and taper isn't being more widely reported, probably because journalists can't take the time to understand it. I can already imagine the threads that are going to be started on here from April next year from people asking why their tax credits have gone down/haven't been paid.

Thetruthshallmakeyefret -- I'll be better off. I'm going to give it all to a food bank though. They'll need it right enough. I urge anyone else who's better off from this Budget and can afford to spare it to do the same.

If you (or indeed anyone else) do that, do be sure to Gift Aid it.

I actually thought I'd be okay but having looked I will be £1500 worse off. So that's nice. I did some playing on the BBC site & I have to earn lots more before I am not worse off. Really quite stressed and anxious now.

Ahh, but they took care to re-write the definition of child poverty before bringing this budget in, so they'll be able to say that there hasn't been an increase in poverty.

Heisenberg - people will be losing 100s per month as the income threshold is being reduced from 2016, while the taper rate is being increased. This affects basically everyone who is in work and on tax credits

Do you mean at the moment anybody on less than £30K is entitled to tax credits but they are reducing the £30K threshold? What are they reducing it to? I haven't heard this

Thats true ElizabethG81 now they have moved the goal post we might find that despite notbeingable to afford food and heating that we are living the life of Riley!

Will Housing benefit/council tax benefit make up the shortfall from the tax credit cuts?

I'm sure I heard that housing benefit will be cut too or at the very least be frozen for the next few years. I rent privately. Its unlikely the rent isn't going to also increase over that time. I already live in the smallest house possible in the cheapest area for miles around. I don't qualify for any help with the council tax.

My rent is twice the amount I 'earn' each month. If they did something about the ridiculus cost of housing in this country, I wouldn't need to claim so much benefit. Nothing was mentioned about that was it?

My friend was saying that if she cuts her work from 16 to 15 hours she loses nothing but on 16 hours she loses 1700! That is shocking. She is a single parent. And how will this work? What's to stop self employed people on a low wage simply changing their hours to 15 hours to ensure they don't lose out?

I would urge them to do exactly that if it will help them out.

However I thought the other year there was some policy where they were saying single mums had to work 16 hours to qualify for x, y, z. My memory is a bit hazy but I remember people saying how are they meant to summon up an extra hour or 3 or however many to make it up to 16. Maybe someone else remembers better than me.

The 1% freeze affects me
Only band 3 as it is but top of band. And that's for doing a stressful, emotional, life saving job

Melamine I've heard two figures. 6.1bn and 10bn (going to private landlords as HB. It's the fastest growing welfare cost (in London at least, not sure about elsewhere) Think how much rent caps would save on that if saving money was actually the govt's aim.

We will be £800 a year worse off.

The thing that makes no sense to me is that DP takes any overtime offered - he's now doing a 10pm to 6am shift to earn more money but when I look at the calculator doing that makes no difference.

If he earns 16,500 a year then after tax is taken and tax credits/CB added we are on 18799 a year (I think this is a fair amount and we will manage on it) However if he does lots of overtime and goes up to 19,500 after tax is taken and tax credits added we would be on 19,199.

DP always does overtime but what is the point of him working 190 extra worth of hours to only get 400 a year extra? where is the incentive to do more hours or earn more?

My sympathies to everyone losing huge amounts.

I'm really confused by the whole budget announcements. I only started claiming CTC last October so fairly new to the system.

DP works 38 hours and on around 22k a year. I am self employed and work 20 hours a week but it doesn't really count towards anything as I only make around £100 profit a month at the moment (just have a small sewing business to stop me from going mad being a SAHM to a toddler!). HMRC are aware of my self employed status and earnings, but obviously we don't qualify for WTC.

Currently get around £180 every 4 weeks from CTC. I've done a calculator thing and it says we would be eligible to £0 CTC once it all comes in to effect. Is this right?

Sorry I didn't want to post a new thread to ask but hopefully someone can give me an answer?

Heisenberg - they are reducing the income threshold from 6,420 to 3,850, and increasing the taper rate from 41% to 48%.

An example of what this means:

Household income = £15k, 2 children, 2 adults (1 working over 30hrs, 1 not working), no child care costs
Current maximum tax credit amount = £8,875
Current income threshold = £6,420, so income over this is £8,580
The taper rate is applied to this figure - 41% of 8,580 is 3,518
This is taken from the maximum amount - 8875-3518 = £5,357 tax credit entitlement.

From April 2016:
Maximum tax credit amount = £8,875
Income threshold = £3,850, so income over this is £11,150
The taper rate is applied to this figure - 48% of 11,150 is 5,352
This is taken from the maximum amount - 8875-5352 = £3,523 tax credit entitlement.

That's a £1,834 pa reduction.

A single parent needs to work at least 16 hours per week to qualify for Working tax credit. Any less and you will only qualify for the child tax credit (subject to total income)

So if you only work 15 hours now and don't currently get working tax credit, you will be unaffected by this cut.

If you currently work 16 hours and receive working tax credit you will lose something through these cuts.

If you drop your hours from 16 to 15 you will lose all of your working tax credit, plus one hours pay.

There is no win situation here, for anyone on low pay.

Yep nearly £1000 worse off next year, low earner working 30 hours pw to fit around children, thank you husband for leaving us! Daughter loses maintenance grant for university next year and the further 5 years after that so £3500 per year worse off for her. Very helpful.

Waffly I think you're right. Have to work 16 hours to qualify for wtc.

When do changes take affect?

I think we will be better off. I will do the calculator tomorrow. DP is just below the current 40k tax threshold so any pay rise he gets will actually be more £ for us know.
I earn £7.50 per hour so the 11k tax allowance will help me as will the eventual pay rise.

I really feel for people who are set to lose £ from this budget. Even though we earn above the national average as a couple we sleep in a dining room and struggle to pay our bills, so I do understand that awful fear of having even less to go around.

I don't resent people on benefits or tax credits in the slightest & am a natural leftie, but I do resent the current system propping up businesses paying people so badly they need help just to live, but then get made to feel shitty about having to do so.

HeisenbergSaysHello you used to be able to earn £6,420 without losing any TC, every pound that you used to earn over that figure, your TC got reduced by 41p -

that has been cut to to £3,850 and every pound you earn over that, your TC will be cut by 48p.

And carers earn £62.10 per week, which is just below the threshold. If there are two carers, then the household will lose money. Households where one person is working and one is a carer will lose money.

Taking care of disabled people and their families as promised, eh, Dave?

I honestly can't see anything in this that says they help lower end working families.

Or families with people as carers.

Or families working below 40k with children.

Or single parents.

Or in fact, anyone who isn't earning a high wage and has money anyway. Only what i expected. It's just that I REALLY hope the people who voted them in that fell into the groups affected will now no longer be swayed by their rhetoric or right wing emigration promises. We've still got to weather it for years though.

I can't increase my hours in my current public sector job to allow for my shortfall. I'll have to go full time if possible. And then who will do my in-laws shopping, and take them out and clean their house, as they are not able?

Shortsighted madness.