To be shocked at my tax credits review and think i am getting paid too much??

[FeelingSuddenlyRich]

I got my renewal pack today and about fell over. My award is £5160 - that's around 106 quid a week its gone up from about £65 a week I think.

Dh earns £25418 pa and works 45 hours a week, I am a SAHM (3 kids aged 2, 5 and 9) so No childcare element. All the details on the renewal look correct and matches DH income

I also know it will all end when UC comes in in my area as I will be made to also seek work for 35 hours (unless DH is then earning more)

So wondered if its worth ringing to double check as it seems overly generous not that I am complaining but I don't want to get whacked with an overpayment bill in the future...and also wondered if any one with similar circs ie sahm, dh on similar salary, 3 dc could say whether they get a similar amount (if that's not too nosey)

Maintenance isn't included. I've posted before that my STBXW gets:

£230 per week Tax credits/Child Benefit
£220 per week from me
£220 per week earnings (part time)

I don't especially begrudge her it, but it seems like a lot to me.

Conservative policy Step.

Wow they must have mine wrong then OP. Ours was £129 pw and is now £60 pw. Similar income as yours, only 2 kids but oneven with childcare fees.

They are renowned for mucking up and then claiming it back with no apology or comeback for you even if you have provided accurate information. It sounds like a lot if no childcare. Tread carefully

Anyone else find it confusing how they work it out? I think this is why people end up getting overpayments. The details about the free childcare was on a seperate paper to the award also detailed no third or more will be added on the award after April 17.

It's also amazing how people on similar salary and circumstances get vastly varying amounts- leads me to believe it's all made up.

I don't think maintenance should be counted it's seperate for the child's living expenses from the NRP plus it's a minefield if the warning change or non payment and so fourth. They also don't count maternity pay either at least not a 100 pounds a week (obviously people have paid into via national insurance)

Anyone else find it confusing how they work it out? I think this is why people end up getting overpayments. The details about the free childcare was on a seperate paper to the award also detailed no third or more will be added on the award after April 17.

It's quite an involved calculation but not too difficult. You just add up all the premiums that apply to you, work out your h/hold income and subtract the income from the total at the applicable taper rate, for CTC and again for WTC,

There are also 'ready reckoners' (tables) online if you don't want to do the whole calculation but want to doublecheck what a calculator has said. There's a link to a PDF containing one on this page;

www.cafamily.org.uk/know-your-rights/benefits-and-tax-credits/tax-credits/

Maintenance should be counted. As things currently stand, my STBXW nets more than a good number of households. Yes she has 3 kids, no I don't want to see them in poverty, but she gets £220 more per week than a woman in exactly the same position, who doesn't have a contributing spouse.

They could adjust my tax code if needs be - so that they fronted the 'benefit' and claimed it back through my tax.

For those on similar incomes one extra child can make a seemingly big difference to the amount paid.

Its because op has THREE children!

If she had two then her pay would be similar to others with two.

But if the parent was resident then their income would count, so the proportion of their income that is paid to maintain their child isn't any different and should count. I appreciate that people have issues with collecting it though so can see why in some cases it's not counted. But in the same way that people have to declare any earnings while claiming, any maintenance that is received should be declared. I can't see that it's any different from people on zero hours contracts, their income isn't guaranteed or regular either.

I would check it to be on the safe side but overpaying your mortgage sounds like a good strategy rather than frittering the money away on luxuries. It's always tempting to do that when you get a bit more bonus income but overpaying the mortgage will buy you breathing space down the line.

I recently found out a bit more about the "30 hours free childcare" that's due to come in at some stage:

It says here that

"The additional 15 hours will be available to families where both parents are working (or the sole parent is working in a lone parent family), and each parent earns, on average, a weekly minimum equivalent to 16 hours at national minimum wage (NMW) or national living wage (NLW), and less than £100,000 per year. Working will include employed and self-employed persons. Parents do not necessarily need to actually work 16 hours a week, but rather their earnings must reflect at least 16 hours of work at NMW or NLW, which is £107 a week at the current NMW rate. This includes those parents on zero contract hours who meet the criteria."

So it's not for everyone, like the current 15 hours.

It seems a lot. A good friend of mine has the same rough household income for her and her husband. She has two kids, a bit older than yours, and she receives £35 a week.
Personally I think they make it up as they go along!

At that income the extra child means an extra 2700 in tax credits so another £50 a week more.

That seems about right, you'd get very little for 2 kids and that salary but the 3rd kid makes the difference.

Not very clued up on this , but I thought that when UC comes in in our area the payments could not go down because of transitional protection?
www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-guides/Universal-Credit-transitional-protection/What-is-Universal-Credit-transitional-protection#guide-content

this is correct but it really beggars belief how generous CTC is for 3 children
remember the crying woman on QT who was getting £500 per week for her 4 children while running a 'nail bar' from her front room (from which she made no money) and probably getting maintenance from her ex.
It was unbeleivable the amount of anguish expressed over this woman when it is plain to see that tax credits (which are tax-free income) and nothing at all to do with any tax paid - seriously need reform the sooner the better.
not getting at you OP - your husband works and pays tax

I think how many hours you work between you on Universal credit will depemnd on the ages of your kids and how much the main wage earner earns. The hours you need to work between you will go up as the children get older ( which is fair enough).

Three kids rather than two makes a huge difference in tax credits. No idea why but we were surprised.

The more children you have, the higher the tax crdits. We have 4 kids and if I were to give up my job to be a sahm we would get around £400 a month in tax credits. With 4 kids you can have a household income of £45k and still get some tax credits !! I often think I should give up my highly stressful 30 hour a week job working nights/ weekends/ Christmas day etc and claim tax credits, especially as our mortgage will soon be paid off !
With tax credits and child benefit we would get £650 every 4 weeks. I guess we might come unstuck when UC comes into play though, I'm glad the system is finally changing

That sounds about right to me with that income for 3 children.

Your circumstances are very similar to mine and we get a similar amount, so sounds right to me.