To be gutted that I won't be getting tax credits for 3rd child?

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I'm just wondering what people's opinion is really.

We are trying for a 3rd child and I won't be getting any tax credits for this child as the government has changed the rules so that from next year tax credits are only paid for up to a maximum of 2 children.

I currently receive around £1k of TC for the kids and I would have received £4k for the 3rd if the government hadn't made the changes.

That would have meant an extra £250 a month. It's a lot of money for us. My DH works and I'm a SAHM. We have a £100k mortgage on a small house in a deprived area of town. We get by. We don't have much money left each month and I need to save literally for everything. I'm really really gutted. I really wanted 3 kids and this has meant that I'll be financially alot worse off now.

Of course I don't expect the government to "pay" for my children but it would have really helped, that's all. It would have eased the pressure off.

Just for the record we have never received any other benefits apart from JSA when DH was made redundant last year which was a godsend as we would have been homeless otherwise.

Do you think AiBU to feel/ think like this?

TBH. I think YANBU....I personally don't mind supporting large families as we need them to work and support the aging population. That is the argument put forward to explain why we need to have immigration. But the recent referendum has shown many people are uncomfortable with immigration so one thing to also look at is to support people who are happy to have large families. If you can understand the economic argument for immigration then it isn't too hard to understand the economic argument for supporting people to have larger families....no? Family is lovely so good luck with whatever your choice is Xxx

But the recent referendum has shown many people are uncomfortable with immigration so one thing to also look at is to support people who are happy to have large families

I was wondering about that contradiction too. Maybe, like so many things ATM, the two camps fall either side of the same schism?

I do agree with you, just5mins, at the bottom, the working poor are worse off with zero hours and flexible (for the employer that is) working, so there is no security. But many in full-time permanent jobs earn similar or more than there equivalent of years ago.

Me and dp both work full time I would like nothing more than one baby but we don't have any coz we can't afford one yet so think yourself fucking lucky

I have four children. I received child benefit. My DH has worked except for six weeks were he was made redundant. I did some spells of part time work, low paid work including home working. I shopped carefully, didn't have new clothes and sourced bargains. We did lots of fun, free things with our kids and friends with their kids.
No one gave us any tax credits. We managed. Our kids have grown into lovely adults. I don't think they feel hard done by they have never said so.

Run that one by me again. How has immigration come into this discussion?

I haven't read this entire thread but was this a joke??
If not then yes I think YABU.

I have 3 dc - I work p/t so we can afford to have them. Perhaps if having a third child is so important to you, you should look into what jobs etc. you could do around the children. I don't mean this in a horrible way, I just think if you are struggling financially now with 2dc and really want a third you need to look into other ways of supporting your family rather than planning on relying on the government subsidising you. Sorry.

If I was the boss these would be the rules:

Full financial support for 1st child
Half financial support for 2nd child

NOTHING for subsequent children. Anyone who cannot afford more kids should not have them and the government should be discouraging people from out of control spawning.

Why should you expect tax payers to subsidise a large family?

As an aside, it's really time people stopped having so many kids! The next generation are not going to thank us when they're struggling for dwindling world resources.

Why is two not enough?

I had one child and really wanted a second. My partner at the time and I began to struggle financially and ruled the prospect of a second child out. We broke up (for a plethora of reasons, not just financial pressures) and when my son was 5 I met my now husband. He had two daughters from his previous relationship and we now have five kids between us. As two of them belong to another mother we don't receive tax credits or benefits for them, even though they're with us 50% of the time , their mother receives the tax credits as though they're with her 100% . I get tax credits for my three but as my husband runs a business even though he takes home a modest wage from this after he's paid his staff, the amount isn't an awful lot but I'm bloody grateful to get back some of the hefty taxes my husband pays as an employer (not kidding some months his wages are less than his staffs after tax) I make it all stretch to the five kids. They all get the same even if it's nothing extravagant. So my point is please, unless you're willing to allow for it in your household budget, don't go out of your way to have a third child. Be grateful that the tax credits you get help you to keep the two you already have out of poverty. The world does not owe you a third child so cut your cloth....

Are your kids so old that they pre-date Family Income Supplement, Ditsy?

Sorry but if im honest im massivly biting my tongue here.
We receive no benefits, my husband has a half decent job but by no means are we well off. When he works at the weekend while other people are having 'family time' it does grate...so basically if you cant afford to pay for your children from your own wages, dont expect us to pay from ours.

My partner and I have 2 DDs and get NO tax credits. My partner has an fairly decent job and I have to work evenings so we can get by. If I worked full time all my earnings would've pretty much gone on child care. We live in an 'okay' housing association place. We would kill to get on the property ladder and get regularly peeved at people who get benefits / tax credits who moan they don't have enough money, yet they drive a nice car, smoke , socialise regularly, holiday abroad, have decent mobiles, sky TV, tablets, laptops, etc,etc,etc. If you can't afford something (kids included) then don't have them. So damn simple. Can't afford a third child? Don't have one then. And here ends my angry dad rant

Run that one by me again. How has immigration come into this discussion?

Demographics call. Whether we need to encourage more babies (and/or inward migration) or not.

It's usually a (the?) major factor in determining a nation's family welfare benefit policies.

I'm sorry but I do think YABU. I can understand getting help for your first 2 children. After that it is a lifestyle choice having more which I think should be financed sole by the parents.

Well, we don't actually need any more humans either way

@justfiveminswithDacre

"Inequality is skyrocketing"

Sorry, I can't let this pass. This is a myth the left like to trot out at every opportunity which isn't borne out by the data. Since 2000, the income gap between the richest and poorest 1% has not increased. Not only that but the gap between those at the tenth decile and those at the ninetieth decile has actually narrowed since the 1990s, meaning that there is actually greater income equality for the vast majority of people. We may or may not like the income gap which has existed for the last 30 or 40 years but is not "skyrocketing" (a lovely Daily Mail turn of phrase).

This has to be a wind-up.

YABU and more than a little naive.

YABU. If you cannot afford another child, you shouldn't have one. Stop expecting other people to pay for your offspring through hand outs. DH and I both work full time, we have one child. We receive child benefit for our child at £82 per month and have never received a penny in tax credits since he was a year old, the first year we claimed it as advised, then got a letter a year later saying THEY'D made a mistake and we had to pay every penny back. We manage to live comfortably on our wages with one child, another wanted child would strain our finances to near breaking.

We cannot afford another child, despite really wanting one. If you really wanted another child, find a job and ensure you can afford to bring another child up.

I really want a 6th child. I'd not get tax credits and I'm genuinely ok with that. When my husband and I talked about having one of our own we agreed not to apply for any tax credits or child benefit anyway. We'd manage with what we have as its our choice. As luck would have it he is infertile so it's unlikely to happen without assistance anyway.

Well sticky we are still nowhere back to the all time high of income equality, which was in 1979. Although the rate at which that gap has increased has slowed since the 90s, it hasn't closed at all.

Wealth inequality is even worse. People renting now, with no expectations of inheriting face a real struggle to clamber onto the property ladder anywhere where substantial numbers of better paying jobs are. And that gap - the wealth gap - really is accelerating, rocketing, select your verb at a scary pace. The assets of the nation are condensing into an ever smaller pool of people. Not healthy for a nation.

And what sent house prices skyrocketing?

Anyone?

.."..I personally don't mind supporting large families as we need them to work and support the aging population. That is the argument put forward to explain why we need to have immigration. "

Cobblers.........so when the larger/expanded families get older we will need their children to have even larger families to support them on so on ad infinitum.......

We need to ensure those already here can find genuine jobs with decent life supporting wages. We cannot, as a country that wants to keep a decent NHS, education service and benefits system to care for those in genuine need, afford to pay people to reproduce beyond their OWN ability to support them.

It's laughable that the people taking responsibility for reproducing are called the ME ME ME generation whilst the people reproducing without thought for how they will fund their offspring aren't.

Ageing

Is that right? They were all living on the streets until they reached retirement age? :)