AIBU to think its become shameful to admit to getting tax credits?

[smallspikyleaves]

it certainly is in my circle

I have had mine reduced recently and was moaning about it only for most of my friends to be kind of like, oh we don't get any anymore. when I would actually put money on that they actually do

It just used to be a given that most people with families got some. and people used to openly discuss it in my experience. now its all hush hush and taboo I think

I guess my friends don't get them anymore as our dc are all school age so we have 2 incomes. While dc were at nursery I think most of my friends got them. We kept them longer than others as we have 3dc and friends have 2. With 2 dc we wouldn't have got anything in dh's just above average salary so I think the bar is set much lower now.

The only people that want you to be ashamed are the government and the trashy right wing tabloids. DON'T.

It just used to be a given that most people with families got some.

Maybe in you experience, but I can't believe that's true across the country as a whole, it would be too expensive.

OK, the most recent data is for 2011, but this page indicates that (much) less than one in five families with children received tax credits then.

www.poverty.org.uk/15/index.shtml

I didn't mean to imply we worked harder- just recognised relying on them was a dangerous long term strategy so stopped worrying about increasing hours/ getting pay rises etc because of tc cuts and concentrated on long term increasing earnings etc

oh ok conflicted sorry that I was snippy

someone said to me recently that I shouldnt have had my kids if I couldnt afford them, that stung with our 3 jobs so kinda feeling a bit sensitive atm x

We get them. I can't see the shame in it myself and I would tell my friends we get them (if they asked). If the state is going to give you money you take it! We've paid into the system over the last twenty years so I feel no guilt about taking what we're entitled to.

"Living costs" vary hugely. Some people are single so a full time wage covers their living costs. Others seem surprised when one or one and a half wages won't cover two adults and numerous children.

No I totally get it. At one point we'd have been totally screwed if tc had been cut. They paid for the food. But this scared the bejeesus out of me so we gradually made some changes to jobs/ hours which initially meant working longer hours for less money but eventually paid off a couple of years down the line. Many of my friends have done similar and they started taking overtime/ more than 16 hrs etc and dodging the consequences to ctc. It sucks though

Yanbu, the rhetoric is working.

Well there'd be no shame if people were paid a living wage, as tax credits wouldn't need to exist.

Ilive, that would only be true if everyone worked full time. Many on tax credits have a non earner in the household, work part time etc. Even with a lying wage, 16 hours is never going to support a family and the living wage would only be useful to actual workers.

YANBU. I've had to claim tax credits for the first time recently (lone parent, made redundant from fairly high paying job, found another one with much poorer pay) and I feel quite ashamed that I have to do so. I have only admitted it to one or two close friends IRL as I fear being judged.

I get them and have definitely noticed that people now disapprove much more than previously. I've also noticed a new assumption that you must be doing menial, unskilled work if you need tax credits. My income now is worth £3000 less than my income 30 years ago thanks to inflation. I haven't had a pay rise in 3 years so my salary effective keeps dropping.

As part of my job I speak to people about their tax credit claims and in general people are far more reliant on them than they were even a year ago. Some people are in pretty desperate situations dispite working as much as they can.

Some of the cases I see stick with me for a long time. Some people are very ashamed too and I agree it's down to propaganda and the cost of living spiralling. I think it will only get worse too

Oh gosh, that's terrible - working 3 jobs and still needing tax credits. There's something wrong with this country. 3 BLOODY JOBS and you still need benefits that are going to be taken away. That's awful :( I don't know what to suggest :(

I don't think it should be shameful to admit that you get them, but I really don't think that they are a benefit that most familIes get. The household income threshold is so low that even if I became a sahp we still wouldn't qualify as dh's income is above the threshold (dh's salary isn't particularly high either). I have no issue with this as support is being targeted at those who most need it. I can't think of any of our friends whose household income would be below the threshold (that I know of that is!)

Theoretician - that link refers to working tax credit or tax credits above the family element rather than all tax credits.

I believe initially around 10 years ago about 90% of families with children under 16 qualified for some tax credits - basically any family with an income below £50,000. The limits have come down now and around 40% are eligible (I think the income limit now is £26000).

About 40% of families with 2 year olds qualify for the 2 year nursery funding btw - which means a family income of under about £16000. Many families in this country live on very low incomes, even if they aren't the families posters know personally or through their book club.

I agree, I feel and have been judged in the past so I figured it's better to avoid the topic as best I can. Very rarely do I admit to getting any Tax Credits in real life if it does come up (which fortunately is rare in my circle).

Autumn I think you missed the point again

Never mind. You put the boot in, so tick that little box

demonizing the working class is the 'in thing' right now unfortunately.

Very rarely talked about but it's definitely seen as being on benefits, same a child benefit, on the odd occasion CB comes up in conversation it's to mention that it's no longer received.

I do remember speaking one lady about 5 or 6 years ago, she said that with tax credits they just about managed with her being a SAHM, that seemed ok to say then, not sure she would dare say that now though TBH.

I can't say that's the case within my friendship group, but then we're all on average-to-low incomes and discuss benefits and wages quite openly.

We get them. £26 a week. I work 42 hours a week and he works 45 hours a week. We pay £615 in rent. That rent wipes out more than half of my wages. Just the rent. Not the gas or leccy or water or council tax. We use the £26 tax credits to feed us all for the week because, after bills, there's nothing left. I don't think people realise how hard it is to survive when you are skint.

Its the change in narrative thats done it.

We wouldn't survive without tax credits. They make up the bulk of our income - we have a severely disabled child and you receive a tax credit disability element on top of tax credits that mean we receive £200 tax credits a week plus carers allowance of £62 for me being a registered carer for ds and then we receive income support too as dh recently lost his job (and is desperately looking for another)! I hate being on such a low income - we've always been a reasonably high earning family until having ds with his disabilities (on high rate dla) and dhs job problems, we both used to work full time in good jobs. I do think the current political climate has made people think being poor is a choice, when for the vast majority of people like us being poor is just due to unfortunate circumstances and lack of jobs / opportunities. I don't feel ashamed to get tax credits but I do feel judged by others.