AIBU about Tax Credits cuts,

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Commons back Osborne plan for tax credit cuts
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34260902

I don't claim anymore because I now earn enough to support myself - because I could work and progress my career as well as my life while being a single parent.

AIBU to think this is a total travesty and so many single parents are going to have their life's devastated by this - and what about people in domestic abuse situations who will now be more unable to leave?

Maybe I some benefits scrounger - but the tax credits enabled me to be a good parent and role model to my kids - without their feckless father affecting that .... AIBU?!

I had to fight tooth and nail to get my pip awarded. I am still being asked to go and look at jobs by a company the dwp have contracted out to do their harrassing for them. Basically they want me to go and look at jobs on a computer "to see what sort of jobs are there". I don't have to apply for them, just look at them. And they will help me do a cv. I've got serious mobility problems, I've not had a bloody lobotomy. I'm quite capable of doing all these things but a)there is no parking at their office and the nearest car park is a 20 min walk away b) I'm unable to sit for any length of time without ending up in excruciating pain and c) I'm having another operation on my spine in January which will put me out of action for a year. It's a waste of everyone's time and I don't go to these appointments so they phone once a fortnight

Hi coffee, how are you
Fine, how are you
Good. Still in pain?
Yes
Still waiting for your operation
Yes
Ok, speak to you in two weeks!

We are paying for this to happen thousands of times over every day.

I agree with you op but I blame Labour, lots of tough benefits measures have come in as a direct result of the immigration problem, to reduce pull factor.

If Tony Blair had not fucked over the country way back, these measures would in no way be as harsh.

We have a massive immigration problem, we cannot stop people coming here ironically except the small numbers we need here from places like india etc, and he has to put in measures to reduce pull.

On the other hand if there is enough civil un rest when these measures are introduced there could be a softening of them or u turn.

But many many labour supporters do support the cuts, even some hardened socialists I know, welcome the cuts!

It isn't just the cut in rate for WTC and increase I. Taper to 48%, many are unaware it affects the CTC threshold too. So a double whammy. It wasn't announced in the budget.

The taper rate for Chikd tax credit claims only is currently set at £16,105, it will drop to £12,125, effectively hitting those not entitled to WTC but are entitled to CTC.

www.litrg.org.uk/News/2015/090715_tax_credits_cuts

This explains the cuts.

This is the response to questions regards the CTC taper threshold cut.

"To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his policy is on changing the income threshold for child tax credit (a) in 2016-17 and (b) by 2020."
Damien Hinds, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, responded:

"The income threshold after which payments of Child Tax Credit begin to be reduced will continue to depend on a number of factors: the first income threshold (the Working Tax Credit threshold), the taper rate (the rate at which tax credits are reduced once the first income threshold has been exceeded), and the level of uprating of the individual elements of tax credits."
To put some figures to the elements of Damien Hinds?? response:

As announced in the Summer Budget, the first income threshold (the working tax credit (WTC) threshold) has dropped from £6,420 to £3,850 with effect from April 2016. This is the point on the income scale at which working tax credit elements start to be reduced.

The taper rate (the rate at which tax credits are reduced once the first income threshold has been exceeded) has been increased from 41p in the £ to 48p in the £ from April 2016, so all tax credit awards will be tapered away more rapidly when income exceeds the various thresholds.

The Minister referred to the ??level of uprating of the individual elements of tax credits??. Hitherto the income threshold for those who are claiming child tax credit (CTC) only (because they are responsible for children but are not in work, or do not work the requisite number of hours for WTC) has been made up by adding together the basic element and the second adult element of WTC and grossing it up by the taper rate, as set out in our press release. Adding that to the reduced WTC threshold, in 2016/17 this will produce the result £12,125, as compared with the 2015/16 equivalent of £16,105. As announced in the Budget, both the basic element and the second adult element of WTC will be frozen for four years from April 2016.

As we said in our press release, this is a further substantial cut in tax credits to those with children. For example, a married couple with two children, with one person working full time on an income of £17,900, currently receive WTC and CTC amounting to £6,178 a year. From April 2016 the amount they will receive depends in part on the CTC threshold ?? if it had remained at £16,105 then the couple would lose tax credits of around £935, but because the CTC threshold will fall to £12,125 then they will in fact lose just over £2,000.

(23-07-2015)

Contact: Victoria Todd (please use form at www.litrg.org.uk/contact-us) or follow us on Twitter: @LITRGNews

www.litrg.org.uk/News/2015/150723-minister-confirms-further-CTC-cuts

People are going to be in for an even bigger shock in April. If this is correct and the Low Incone a Tax Regorm group think it is, people are going to be hit harder than they think. Most of the online calculators explaining how the budget will affect you were wrong.

I've estimated we will lose £56 a week. I have a disabled child, had to give up work. My husband works full time, he earns above the new minimum wage, works 12 hour rotating day and night shifts over a seven day week. He is knackered.

We don't know what's happening to the disability elements of to yet as they haven't been announced, my carers allowance is included as income for our tax credit claim. We're screwed basically.

I know it's long but people do really need to read my last post.

The deputy prime minister, who was expected to discuss the issue with the German vice-chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, during a visit to Berlin, said: ??I have already proposed that we work with other states to stop EU migrants from claiming child benefit for children who are not living here.

??As a first step, we should pay the same rate as the country in which those children reside. In the UK it is about £80 a month, whereas in Poland it is less than half that. And there are other proposals we must now explore

Nick Clegg 2014 .^^^

I find this shocking, shocking, when we have appalling child poverty rates and we are paying vast amounts to those not living here and never set foot here.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/nov/26/nick-clegg-echoes-labour-call-curb-tax-credits-eu-migrants

^ this is what Labours tony blair has done and left us all with, now we all suffer because his madness.

what does anyone expect, least of all Labour supporters?

Apologies for typos.

I have a colleauge who has worked one day a week for the past 15 years since her only ds was born. Her household has been generously topped up with tax credits for 15 years as her dh is on a low income. She is now waking up to the realisation that come next April she is going to have to work more than 8 hours a week. Not sure how she will cope. Fortunately our workplace has endless amounts of overtime available.

dreary its a huge worry esp with a disabled child.

YANBU. This government getting in is what I was truly dreading, as a disabled person with a DH working full time but not earning enough for us all to live on.

I will point out that YABU to say about it affecting single parents. I am married, DH works, I cannot work due to my disability. We rely on tax credits to top us up and we are going to lose over a third of them. Single parents are not the only ones hit here. I do get quite cross when people assume that it can't affect those who are married or in LTRs.

Interesting point about capping child maintenance. I don't know how I feel about it. I used to receive CM and WTC and was able to pay my mortgage over some very lean yrs (as was unable to claim HB).

OH pays EW £500 in CM but she also works, gets CTC, WTC and HB.

The question is where you'd draw the line. But the (rare) examples of people getting £2kpcm in CM plus tax credits really didn't help the cause.

But equally, if savings were what were wanted, capping the CM disregard would have been more reasonable than this.

But of course it ISN'T about making savings primarily; It's ideological.

Just read this thread - is there anyway I could find out what our new situation will be, once they make the cuts?

We have a massive immigration problem, we cannot stop people coming here ironically except the small numbers we need here from places like india etc, and he has to put in measures to reduce pull.

so benefits attract feckless immigrants? Why then does it not create the same incentives in the resident population?

Margaritte. If you go to the Money saving Expert website, there is a thread where someone tells you how to work it out. I think there may even be a calculater for the new amounts. For child tax credits without disability and with no childcare costs, I have read that the thresholds are as follows one child = £20.5K, two children = £26k, three children = £32k. This is just what I have read from experts on other forums so not sure exactly how accurate they are.

Thank you Babyroobs - I will go & have a look.

OK, so we have the problem that we don't know the exact rates for next year, so we've had to combine what we do know with this year's rates. To work it out, you need to add up all the elements that apply to you. Make sure that if you have more than one child you add in the extra elements as appropriate (e.g. 2 children = child element x2).

Basic Element 1,960
Couple and lone parent element 2,010
30 hour element 810
Disabled worker element 2,970
Severe disability element 1,275

Childcare element
maximum eligible cost for one child £175 per week
maximum eligible cost for two or more children £300 per weekBasic Element 1,940 1,960 20
Couple and lone parent element 1,990 2,010 20
30 hour element 800 810 10
Disabled worker element 2,935 2,970 35
Severe disability element 1,255 1,275 20
Childcare element
maximum eligible cost for one child £175 per week £175 per week 0
maximum eligible cost for two or more children £300 per week £300 per week
percent of eligible costs covered 70 per cent
7.2 Child tax credit
2015-16

Family element 545
Child element 2,780
Disabled child element 3,140
Severely disabled child element 1,275
7.3 Income thresholds and withdrawal rates

Income threshold 3850
Withdrawal rate (per cent) 48
First threshold for those entitled to Child Tax Credit only 12125
Income rise disregard 5,000
Income fall disregard 2,500

Once you have done that, add it all up to reach a total.

Add up all your income and subtract £3850 from the total.

Multiply the result by 0.48 -this is how much they will deduct from your award due to your income.

Subtract this from your award total -if it's negative, you don't get any tax credits. If it's positive, that's how much you will get in tax credits.

I don't think people realised the cuts might affect them. I still don't understand this £4K limit. Surely somebody earning a lot more than that still gets tax credits and other benefits. However, I don't think people should be subsidised to live in very expensive areas. Most people have to live somewhere they can afford themselves

So all these shops,pubs,leasure facilities,town centres and those facilities and services that make areas nice and get reflected in the asking price for an area. All those childminders and other services that are essential for the people that need to get to the jobs or are traditionally used by those who are better off.

They make up a significant proportion of employment in an area and they have to live somewhere.

I pay more to commute than the barista who makes my morning coffee and the woman who sells me my newspaper earn in a year, how is someone on a low income going to be able to get to work if we ship them out?

autumnintheair - do you think it was Labour under Tony Blair that changed immigration policies re the EU? Nope. It wasn't under the current Tories either - it was all set in unstoppable motion over twenty years ago under a different Tory Govt and the realities of joining up were then, I think, not fully known.

The current Tory govt, the previous Labour govt and any future govt don't have much power over EU immigration.

And you're right about them being really stupid when it comes to importing skilled labour from non-EU countries (and restricting student visas to a ludicrous extent - cracking down made sense but they've cracked down like the Hulk on a walnut) - the current govt have made that much more difficult just as a sop to anti-immigration voters because they can't do anything about intra-EU immigration.

I've heard this argument before. I just simply don't see it as a taxpayer's responsibility to subsidise this. This taxpayer mmay well be on a low income themselves and live in an area which is not expensive. They may wish to live in a more expensive/better area but simply can't afford to. Why should this person subsidise others living in more expensive areas. It is not my problem how much the rich in inner London will pay for cleaners and somebody to make their coffee.

No but it is your problem if no retail/hospitality or other facilities in expensive areas can get staff. Or if the streets don't get cleaned.

The tax payer and the economy and the country are dependant on low paid staff.

lougle

Forgive me for not knowing this, I'm retiring before these changes come in so have not investigated.

When they were first talked about there was a rumour that carers allowence could be subject to a lower taper or excluded from income. Is any of that occurring, or is it being treated still as pound for pound income?

People in expensive areas can get staff. They may have to pay more. Or move to a poorer area. (Not likely) I've a friend who makes all these arguments. I don't agree with government subsidies to allow people on very low wages live in very expensive areas. As it has contributed to the huge rise in the cost of housing. So it's getting worse and worse. So you can only afford to live in these areas if you are either mega rich or on tax credits or Housing Benefit Time for a change.

I am very worried about my friend. She's a lone parent working 3 days per week...her DD is 2....she will lose a lot. She won't be able to manage!

What do you reckon is going to happen if companies/orgs have to pay significantly more than the living wage?

Vivien what? Those people are a TINY minority! And why do you think their communities became desirable suddenly? Because they were gentrified and then the original communities broken up and shoved out.

What about people such as my friend? She is a single parent..works three days per week and has to pay a lot of childcare...only her tax credits made her break even. When they're gone, she won't be able to pay her rent! And she lives in the NW in a council flat!

I just hope they don't scrap child benefit as well-that would really hurt :(