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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be gutted we're not entitled to any financial help?

481 replies

DeanaPiana · 21/04/2017 13:48

Myself and DH have a combined income of £46000.

I have done numerous calculators and apparently, I am not entitled to Child Tax Credits or Working Tax Credits when baby gets here.

A few sources have even said I shouldn't go for Child Benefit as it wouldn't be worth it in tax returns Shock

We didn't budget for a baby thinking we would get extra help to finance them etc, but I thought we were entitled to at least a little something and I have to say, I feel gutted. We live in a high cost area, London, and rent here too. We want to move out into a more rural/outer area in the next 2 years max but that just doesn't seem possible now. No way we can afford to save that much. We don't even have a lot of outgoings. Our rent is over 1K a month and that is considerablly cheap here.

Just doesn't seem fair at all Sad

OP posts:
Wolfiefan · 21/04/2017 13:49

I'm sorry but you didn't budget for a baby as you though you'd get help? Hmm

Dishwashersaurous · 21/04/2017 13:50

Of course you can get child benefit and until one of you earns more than £60k always worth claiming.

And you only have to do tax return if one of you earns more than £50k.

Dishwashersaurous · 21/04/2017 13:50

Of course you can get child benefit and until one of you earns more than £60k always worth claiming.

And you only have to do tax return if one of you earns more than £50k.

Stormtreader · 21/04/2017 13:50

Theres no money there to help people who desperately need it, there definitely isnt enough to give to people who want it because theyd like to move somewhere nicer. Sorry.

Original poster
DeanaPiana · 21/04/2017 13:51

We did budget and we will get by Wolfie

I just thought a little something would be ours to put towards small costs, nothing big/too reliant.

The saving for a mortgage rant isn't really relevant as we would find it difficult without baby.

My fertility clock is ticking and I have a lot of conception difficulties. We couldn't put having a baby off.

OP posts:
MilkTwoSugarsThanks · 21/04/2017 13:51

DH and I have a combined income of £22K and yes we get "help". Swap?

usernumbernine · 21/04/2017 13:52

On £46,000 per year you were deluded to think you'd be entitled to help.

Come on.

Lasvegas · 21/04/2017 13:52

Apply for child benefit. You don't get it if one of you earns over 60K and that inc any benefits in kind and bonus's.

even if you did earn over 50K and some of thr child benefit is taken back via tax code. A tax return costs nothing and is simple to do on line.

soapboxqueen · 21/04/2017 13:52

You should claim child benefit anyway. If you go over the threshold which starts at 50k claim it at the nil rate.

Floralnomad · 21/04/2017 13:52

At a combined income of 46k it's definitely worth getting child benefit .

user1475587233 · 21/04/2017 13:52

My heart bleeds for you.

44PumpLane · 21/04/2017 13:52

At a combined household income of £46k you are entitled to child benefit.

However if I read your OP properly, you didn't look into a budget for your child as you just assumed that you'd get some sort of financial aid to raise your child?!

Ridiculous!

If you have a baby you have to be prepared to pay to raise the baby. DH and I considered whether we could even afford kids before we decided to have them.

LIZS · 21/04/2017 13:53

Presumably you looked into your maternity pay and how you might cover your leave financially. You will get child benefit. Your household income is well above average, why should the state supplement it?

Want2bSupermum · 21/04/2017 13:53

Is it worth you moving out of London to lower your income so you qualify? If you can move somewhere with a lower cost of living you would be much better off.

Weareboatsremember · 21/04/2017 13:53

Combined income of £46k in London is not a lot, but you really should have thought about this before you decided to have a baby. How will you pay nursery fees when you go back to work after maternity leave? You're definitely still entitled to child benefit unless your dh is earning that £46k on his own, and is also going to be getting a pay rise soon. Not that £20 a week is going to make much of a dent in your outgoings!

WonkoTheSane42 · 21/04/2017 13:53

Wolfie, the way she's written it is a little confusing but she means they didn't assume they'd get help when budgeting, not what you've interpreted.

alltouchedout · 21/04/2017 13:53

With a combined income of £46k Child Benefit would have no impact whatsoever on tax. It's only when one of you earns in excess of £50k that some of the CB must be repaid via tax.

Have you used current figures for the calculators or have you worked out what your earnings will be during maternity leave and what your childcare expenses will be afterwards and put those figures in?

mayoli · 21/04/2017 13:54

£46k with one kid and you're worrying about money? You're over £10k above the average for London, how do people even manage this?

Dishwashersaurous · 21/04/2017 13:54

Oh and of course you get free health care and schooling for your child so actually you get loads of 'help'

usernumbernine · 21/04/2017 13:54

You earn 3 times what I earn. Catch yourself on. Seriously this has really pissed me off.

totallynewname · 21/04/2017 13:55

Well isn't this thread delightfully entitled and insensitive

UndersecretaryofWhimsy · 21/04/2017 13:55

I just thought a little something would be ours to put towards small costs, nothing big/too reliant.

I genuinely don't understand this mindset. Why did you think you'd get 'a little something'? The government's not your auntie, it doesn't get you a present because you had a baby.

ProudBadMum · 21/04/2017 13:55

Combined we get about £35k. 2 kids and only child benefit as a form of help. We don't need it I don't think though if we had to pay childcare it'd fuck us over.

We are in the north so rents aren't anywhere your rent. I think what we pay up here for a 4 bed is the same as what my daughters dad paid for a room down london!

PoppyFleur · 21/04/2017 13:56

OP you will be able to claim child benefit.

Are you and your DH able to get childcare vouchers through your workplace?

Children are expensive but there are ways to cut the cost and a wealth of experience on this site to help.

viques · 21/04/2017 13:57

But you will get help.

You will get free maternity services, including dental care while you are pregnant, if you are working you will get maternity pay, your partner will be entitled to paid paternity leave, your child will be entitled to free nursery care , free medical care, free dental expenses and free education up to the age of 18.

In many parts of the world parents would bite their own hands off to be offered those services.

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