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

[DeanaPiana]

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

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

Wow, you lot are horrible! A combined income of £46K in London is F all.
To answer your question OP, you will get child benefit

Jesus wept you can always do my job and earn 12k a year and get no help at all.

I don't care if you live in the Tower of London, its not fuck all and its twice what some people live on, even in the venerated capital.

If people think op can't afford to work, she could try doing what thousands of 2 parent households do and work around each other. We have done this for 17 years, dh works 9-5 and I have worked weekends, evenings, nights. To be honest most of the families I know that don't have free childcare from relatives on tap do this to get by and avoid high childcare costs.
It may not be possible for some who work shifts but for many it is an option. It may mean a change of job or career for a few year while the kids are young but it works for many.

My dp works through an agency which means his hours aren't guaranteed and some weeks (like this week) there is no work. He has applied for numerous jobs on a permanent basis but he's nearly 59 and struggling. His options are limited since his accident and at best brings home £16k a year. That's maximum.

I am disabled and can't work. We have one dependent child living with us and one at university who we also subsidise. We get ctc and cb for the younger child and no other help. No housing benefit and our rent is £1k a month as well.

I wish we had your problems.

There are some incredibly nasty posts on here. As far as I can see, the only thing the OP is guilty of is being a bit naive.

The wording 'a little something' seem to have got people's backs up, and she now appears to be guilty of trying to steal benefits from others, selfishness, and being responsible for all the ills in the world.

46k isn't a huge income in London. Yes it's certainly decent, but remove housing, commuting and childcare costs and there'll be not much left.

She isn't wanting to live a party lifestyle, just a normal one without worries - like us all.

The competitive races to the bottom are sickening to see. The OP isn't at fault for the shitty state of the benefits system and the abject poverty that some people live in. The government is.

Do we have a clear winner of Poverty Top Trumps??

I agree it is expensive living in London and not always feasible to move somewhere cheaper, the moving costs alone deposit etc would cost a fortune.
It does annoy me a little that regional variations aren't taken into account at all ( I know it would be a logistical nightmare to administer) with tax credits as it can cost somuch more to live in certain area, things like childcare, travel etc can be a lot more expensive.

OP, if you sit down and go through your outgoings, I bet you could reduce them. When I was on mat leave I managed to reduce our expenditure by quite a bit. Things like cancelling gym memberships when you don't really benefit from paying monthly fees, sky bundle fees, shop around for insurances on comparison sights, change where you do your supermarket shopping. It really is irrelevant the posters on here moaning about their own situations, as this is your situation you are asking for advice on.

user1484578224 knows people who survive on £5 per week, but I'm not sure if that counts, as it's only people she knows, not her?
Perhaps the PP who lived well on £13k per year, or does it have to be someone who isn't living well?

£46k is just shy of £3k a month on a single salary. My rent is £1200 a month for a small 2 bed flat, 2x travel is £480, nearly full time childcare £1000. It really doesn't go far if u live and work in/near London.

She will get CTC to go towards childcare once she is working again.

OP based her calculations on her receiving Mat pay. Once she's back at work with the associated costs of raising children and working, she'll get some help towards it and rightly so.

As pointed out, if she didn't she'd have to leave work and would no longer be contributing. It won't be enough to help her save to move but once the child turns three and she gets the 15 hours free things will improve. Assuming the tories don't scrap that too...

And yes, most people don't chose to live on housing benefit, income support etc. I'd swap my mentally ill 14 year old and extremely low income work from home job for a mentally healthy child and NMW job any day of the week. Sadly evening and weekend childcare for depressed, mentally unstable, self harming teenagers with suicidal tendencies isn't a thing so I had to leave my NMW job.

My child would always come before paying into the pot. I'd like to think most people would expect that and support my choice.

One salary will go on childcare and the other will go on rent so I think you will get help OP. Have you checked the 'entitled to' calculator online and input your working salaries once you've had your child and the childcare costs?

Peanutandphoenix

Can you explain? How can you earn £12,000 pa and get "no help at all?"
I genuinely do want to understand.

Bibbity - maybe peanuts is single, has no dc's and works under 30 hours so no entitlement to woring tax creidts. Not really comparing like for like.

You're in a better position than the working poor.

Wish MNers could read a sentence properly, the op has clearly said that she didn't take into account any hypothetical help when budgeting for the baby.

we didn't budget for a baby thinking we would get extra help financing them

Not

we didn't budget for a baby, thinking we would get extra help financing them

HTH

Is a syntactic tree diagram necessary for further clarification? Or will op's response suffice before somebody else jumps on her for assuming the government would pay all the costs for her child.

I apologise op if my previous comment was harsh. It isn't a lot for London once rent and childcare are taken into account.

Some people are very damning on here.. if you don't have anything useful to say, probably better not to comment

If you are single, over 18 and earning £12,000 pa are you entitled to tax credits and/or housing benefit?

bear

I dont why people have such comprehension problems

Although to be fair if you are reading quickly you might miss it

Helps to check before posting though

I think you are getting an unnecessarily hard time here.

However, I find the automatic expectation of some state 'help' in a household with a reasonable income (even if not rolling in it) a bit and not a great advert for a wide ranging welfare state. It seems to be a prone example of the 'hands out' mentality.

I don't think you'll get anything except CB.

Our income is almost the same and we are only entitled to CB, no help in regard to childcare through tax credits etc. I've done all the online calculators etc and it all seems correct and fair enough.

It does feel frustrating - after mortgage, bills, food & nursery we are completely broke and we never have any luxuries etc. But I just keep reminding myself it's only a few years until kids are all in school and the childcare bill will massively reduce.