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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:
katronfon · 21/04/2017 15:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Increasinglymiddleaged · 21/04/2017 15:00

I am Confused about the poster who lives well on 13k a year and posts for childcare.

Surely rent even of 400 a month plus bills and childcare would leave nothing at all for food, transport, clothes out of 1090 a month.

I'm not convinced at all.

Original poster
DeanaPiana · 21/04/2017 15:01

NotMyPenguin Is that taking into account our salaries? Or is it not means tested? Sorry if the spelling isn't correct.

Thank you for the helpful input.

OP posts:
gillybeanz · 21/04/2017 15:01

I wish people would leave the OP alone.
Yes it is a good amount of money compared to someone on half as much, we are in that bracket, but the OP probably has far higher outgoings than we do, so we manage better.

It was naive of the OP to think that tax credits pay for such a large income, but some of the comments are uncalled for.

lifesjoys · 21/04/2017 15:02

Me & my ex were on £20k between us & not entitled to ANYTHING, except child Benefit

ChaiTeaTaiChi · 21/04/2017 15:02

I wish people would leave the OP alone

Oh I'm sorry, I didn''t realise that she had been dragged off the street to be on the thread?

BadKnee · 21/04/2017 15:02

Again - irrelevant. If someone earns 13k with one child in London that means, in order to have some left over for food you would have to find somewhere to rent for under £800, (leaving £200 for all food, clothes, utility bills, council tax - and that's tight.

I just searched on Rightmove for a 2 bed rental anywhere in London for £750 and under and nothing came up except a single page of house shares. Not ideal for a family.

It really is something that needs to be discussed properly rather than a playground game of "I'm poorer than you are" crap!

cathf · 21/04/2017 15:03

Oh, I think they do Willo, if this thread is anything to go by :-D
Catherine

Ellisandra · 21/04/2017 15:03

How do you not know about the funded hours childcare provision?!!
No it's not means tested. Google it.

TheFairyCaravan · 21/04/2017 15:04

DH doesn't earn £46k. I'm too disabled too work. I'm only able to calim PIP, nothing else.

DS2 is at uni studying to be a nurse. His bursary doesn't cover his rent because DH earns too much. He works in a pub, sometimes up to 26hrs a week when he's not on placement, as well as doing his course, and we have to dig deep, make cutbacks and pay for all his food, some of his bills and his transport costs. We never got tax credits for our kids either.

So, yeah you're being really unreasonable. Swap places with some people who are literally scraping the bottom of the barrel 10 days before pay day.

usernumbernine · 21/04/2017 15:04

What kat said. It has galled me to the core that the op is gutted that she wasn't getting a little bit of help so she could have luxuries.

Not for food on the table or heat in the house but a wee bonus.

That has utterly sickened me. That people actually think they are entitled to help for a wee bit bonus. Wee costs.

I get help, and I live for the day when my income will be such that I don't have to deal with the wankers that are tax credits and that I don't have to prostrate myself sending every fucking arsehole under the sun in the government all the details of my life and every time I fucking fart.

It's totally and utterly a bloody joke to think on forty six thousand pounds a year they would get help. And as for the poster who implied I was a lazy bastard who hadn't worked at school and had no qualifications, well, words fail me.

TinselTwins · 21/04/2017 15:05

Becuase the poster who said she would feel like a millionaire isn't trapped in poverty and claims she is very comfortable and goes on holiday.. and if they can "get it", why can't you?

TinselTwins · 21/04/2017 15:07

I just searched on Rightmove for a 2 bed rental anywhere in London for £750 and under and nothing came up except a single page of house shares. Not ideal for a family.

It really is something that needs to be discussed properly rather than a playground game of "I'm poorer than you are" crap!

We're all aware that there are lots of families not able to make ends meet in the capital and in other major towns/centres of employment..

The OP is not one of those families, she is just "gutted" that she won't get money for extras from the government such as savings to move to a nice country pad!

gamerchick · 21/04/2017 15:07

This is going to end up with posters trying to outdo each other with how little their income is, isn't it

Yep, along with odd posts about how the OP wants access to poor people's bank accounts to take the little they have for her entitled self.

Pointy sticks are out OP, I hope you donned your hard hat and suit first Wink

Original poster
DeanaPiana · 21/04/2017 15:08

Tinsel Because I pay London housing, childcare and transport prices? Confused

I cannot afford a holiday. I am not claiming that isn't fair. I am just saying I can't but your post seems to suggest I can.

I shop at Aldi and budget all spends carefully.

OP posts:
ZilphasHatpin · 21/04/2017 15:08

Do they have grip shops in that there London? I'm sure £46k would cover the cost of a grip.

TinselTwins · 21/04/2017 15:09

I cannot afford a holiday. I am not claiming that isn't fair. I am just saying I can't but your post seems to suggest I can

Nope.

I said that if the things that you can't afford are just stuff like "nice" holidays, then you're doing okay, and at a level of comfort that others would find luxurious.

usernumbernine · 21/04/2017 15:09

Astro do you REALLY think that everyone in a low paid job was dossing about at school, doing no work, has crappy qualifications and no drive or work ethic? Because, you know, you're wrong.

Life happens sometimes. People have illness (as in my case) that means they can't do the job they used to and have to take a lower paid job in the hope of working up to better pay. (I have long term illness that physically impacts me but I am able to do a desk job). People leave abusive relationships, have disabled children, a partner who gets disabled, all kinds of shit happens that means you aren't in the high pay bracket.

Being in a low paid job does not mean you dossed at school or are lazy, as you implied.

FanaticalFox · 21/04/2017 15:10

Combined income of £55k here. But it was £45k just before i got a promotion just before mat leave. Either way our baby was a surprise and we just sorted out our finances ourselves without expecting any help! Good luck getting any sympathy OP.

cathf · 21/04/2017 15:12

So much nastiness towards the OP!
I am going to start a campaign to prevent discrimination and abuse of the middle-income masses.
Anyone in?
Thought not!

NotMyPenguin · 21/04/2017 15:13

@DeanaPiana, the free 15 hours per week for children aged 3 and 4 isn't means-tested -- everyone is entitled to it. www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/free-childcare-and-education-for-2-to-4-year-olds

Starting this September you are meant to be entitled to 30 free hours per week for the same age group so long as all parents in the household are working (you'd still get the 15 free hours even if, for example, one was a SAHP)

Unfortunately it doesn't help with the very expensive childcare for age 2 and under. I was very lucky that my parents helped when they could, and I really shopped around for a reasonably priced nursery. You are very lucky to have one at work as they are usually cheaper and better.

JellyWitch · 21/04/2017 15:13

£46k doesn't go very far in London. There are some woefully ill educated and insensitive posters here.

You will get child benefit and you will get help with tax back on childcare costs. That all helps.

yorkshapudding · 21/04/2017 15:13

It would have been nice, a wee bonus, a wee something extra for the OP. They could have had a wee holiday, or dinner out once a week, or a take away now and again. Wouldn't that have been nice for them to have had, that wee bit of something to put towards small costs

To be fair to the OP, there are always lots of posts defending the rights of the unemployed to enjoy those things whenever some goady fucker starts a thread about benefits paying for "luxuries".

Don't get me wrong, I agree that OP was daft to think she would/should get benefits on £46k, but I do think something is very wrong when the cost of rent and childcare are so astronomical that a couple who are both working full time can't manage "a wee holiday" or "a takeaway now and again". I don't think OP should get financial assistance from the state, but I don't think she should be mocked for wanting a decent standard of living either.

MaudGonneMad · 21/04/2017 15:14

What a nasty thread.

OP, you don't deserve the kicking you've had here. Best wishes for your pregnancy.