To be pissed off about paying back child benefit

[pinotnow]

I am in a sector that was awarded a pay rise this year - though our union is fighting for a higher one. The rise was from September but our school (yes, it's teaching) didn't pay it until November when we got months at once. HR always send us a pay statement at this time of year and I have just opened mine and seen I am now on approx £52k (been teaching 18 years and am head of a core subject in a large secondary school). I understand I now have to pay back some of my child benefit. This is a pisser as things are pretty tight and I'm a lone parent who gets no CM (ex is a total waste of space - I've gone through CMS). Also, I wasn't expecting it this year (I was on £49k last year and now I'm worried I've missed some sort of deadline for paying it back as technically I've been on this for 5-6 months, but only just realised.

I really haven't got the head space for this now and a quick Google has just brought confusion. As soon as you move forwards a bit in this shithole country you move backwards it seems. Any advice would be great!

I have a very sound understanding of economics and that will be reflected in my report to Sunak/Hunt. Watch this space, things will change. I know how to do it as have been successful on a previous issue.

Can’t wait to hear from you.

You'll hear it from the government, not me. Just be patient!

@Zax
Reducing net income by making pension contributions is about the least “creative” tax mitigation there is. Everyone who saves into a pension does it. There is specific law which allows this. It is a policy choice that pension contributions should reduce taxable income in order to incentivise saving into pensions. Are you saying that you want tax relief on pensions to be scrapped altogether or for the way in which pension contributions are taken into account to be changed in the one specific case of child benefit but otherwise left alone?

No, having read the extent that some here manipulate their income to obtain it, I am going to heavily canvas for the abolition of child benefit. I didn't realise until this thread came alive that there were so many £50k+ earners bleeding the system with 'legal' manipulation. To coin a phrase it seems like very well paid employees are 'milking the system' just like those on long term sick who often are branded as scroungers even though they are ill and simply unable to work. That's irony I believe.

@hourbyhour101 for your friend. Make sure she has claimed bereavement allowance etc.

@Zax I like the cut of your gib!

There's something not right about people moaning about being given public money to overpopulate an overpopulated planet with children they can't afford to raise.

@BanjoKnockers The thing is all those people on £52k - including myself, aren't milking the system and haven't chosen to manipulate anything.

My employer chooses to pay me £52k. (I'd rather they paid me more).
The govt set the point at which child benefit reduces, at £50k
The govt created auto enrollment of pensions.
The govt set standard employee contributions at 5%.
The govt made pensions tax deductible.
5% of £52k is £2,600, so the taxable part of my income is £49,400.

PAYE means I don't claim tax back, it just happens. I and those like me, haven't manipulated anything.

And on that salary, I have one child, who I can afford to raise.

So I think your beef is with government tax policy, not with me.

The eye- opener for me is the number of people resentful at the OP for having gained promotion and a better salary, but not at all bothered that double income households can continue to claim way beyond the thresthold.

Why are there so many people who had mums and children on mumsnet? They should set up another site like 'Misanthropic Planetnet' or something! 😂

I don’t think anyone approaching £50/60k is going to quit their job to claim CB of what £20 a week 🙄. Less for subsequent children.

Don’t be ridiculous.

I smell a wind up.

@Princessglittery I didn't even know that was a thing ! I will tell her I currently have her and her boys at mine (hers is being fixed due to a flood) and frankly I have been keeping a eye on her. She's struggling.

It's all a bit of a mess as it was rather unexpected and sudden ! Thank you for your help it's really appreciated.

@Suzi888 The government needs us to save for our own retirement otherwise it will have to fund that from taxes. So it does provide incentives to do that. The bill to provide pensions and benefits to pensioners who don‘t have enough dwarves the bill for child benefit.

The eye opener for me has been that some people don't realise they will always be better off with every extra pound they're paid.

Whether that's crossing tax thresholds, child benefit earning limits, or anything else.

Probably because that's wrong.

What you actually mean is that there'll be more money coming to them before any additional costs of working are considered, which is not remotely the same thing. There may not be any such costs, of course, but if there are then they're part of the picture. You don't just stop counting at the point when the payslip arrives.

This of course assumes by 'better off' you mean only financially.

How do you know that? If somebody had three kids, couldn't that make a big difference?

So let’s get it right the problem of everything is those in the 50-60k are having kids like rabbits to get taxes from the government ?

you’d be surprise that you barely get cash between 1-2k a year which to me is not enough reason to have a child. Mainly cuz it doesn’t pay even a month worth of nursery.

doubt there are that many people in that salary bracket and even less those that have kids. So your changes won’t save that much cash to the government

The third child doesn’t get child benefit. Only the first one and the second one (lower amount)

This is incorrect
There is no limit on how.many children you can claim child benefit for
You may be getting it confused with child tax credits/universal credit that has a 2 child limit

Apologies. It’s 14.5/week from n2 on(£750/year)I got it wrong. Thought it was only 2 kids.

Completely wrong. If your taxable income is below £100k you qualify for an extra 15 hours of free childcare. If it just goes £1 above you lose the whole 15 hours. On top of that you will also start losing your personal allowance. This is made even worse by the fact that you may not know until the last day of the tax year whether you have actually gone over. that’s why doctors etc are unwilling to put in the extra shifts.

Oh yeah I forgot about the 100k bottleneck impacts. Probably because I'm never likely to have to worry about it haha. But hopefully it's been conclusively demonstrated by now that you are not always better off financially with every extra pound you're paid.

I can't people be as dense to say people "breed" so they are supported by the government on the measly amount that's given CB. I thought it was 1000 per month not £80 something quid.

Given that one month worth of nursery fees full time is £1300 per child.. but sure that £80 really encourages people to breed like rabbits and the government.

I suspect the people saying this didn't have nursery fees anyway near what they are now and the cost of a mortgage on a nice 3 house was around 40k than the average price around my neck of the woods (not London) £360k.

But sure inflation and the rates have matched so perfectly that people are so unreasonable for adjusting their wages to pay into private pensions so they keep their CB. Considering it's unlikely there's gonna be a state pension when we get to a old age.

Sure it's the young people screwing the older generation- totally money grabbing fraudesters trying to game a system 🙄

Honestly this thread is so so depressing and I don't even get CB 🙃

Missing word believe