Income of approx 13k, including tax credits, two adults, one 2 yo = council tax credit of 76p per week..............

[lucyellensmum]

That can't be right surely..............., maybe it is.

We have about that income and don't get any council tax benefit, have just applied and been rejected, and we have two adults and two under 2 year olds.

prob is right . i am single parent and get nothing paid to mine.. i work 24 hours a week

are you sure you are getting the right ammount of tax credits> just seems low to me
maybe i am getting to much and i will have to pay it all back

we had an income of £14,000, two adults, two kids, NO tax credits - they cut us off after alledging they overpaid us.

NO council tax credit at all.

we did qualify for some housing benefit, however.

you should get some HB if you are a renter.

it's another reason why sometimes it's better to stay on benefits - pay only about £20/month in CT, get vastly discounted rent, free prescriptions, school meals, etc.

and there's Crash Gordon carping about all he's done for working poor families.

How come you get so little tax credit? Is it because only one of you working, and therefore no childcare costs?

Have yoou looked at www.entitledto.co.uk works out what you can/cannot claim.

that's usually why, QS.

My friend works 20 hours a week at minimum wage, and is deemed to have too much income to qualify for housing and council tax benefit!!

I do agree with expatinscotland, there isnt always a financial incentive to work.

My dh and I earn around 23k per year between us. Before tax credits. I work part time, 20 hours per week, approx. I get quite a tidy sum for tax credits. No other benefits though.

www.entitledto.com

Is your child in childcare, QS?

I actually know people who stay on benefits because if they worked they would be worse off.

I don't blame them one bit, either.

The childcare element means that my childcare costs were pretty much covered. I have moved now, so not entitled and get nothing, but I dont have chidcare at the moment. So its ok. ish. (Nursery full time is just 240 per month)

You get a lot more if you have a child in childcare, FWIW.

We are same as QS, We boith work mornings doing our business, DH works a bit longer in afternoon, childcare element has really helped.

Quint, we do get quite a lot of tax credits, DP is struggling to establish a business and our income has only been 7k, only just started claiming tax credits though - d'oh!

I agree with expat, we have tried to keep off benefits but can't manage, DP is doing his best to make the business into something that will bring in a reasonable living and not rely on the state - but really, why bother!! We are mortgaged (to the hilt of course!) so no housing benefits, lots of people in this road on benefits, they do SEEM to be better off than we are.

Do you want to know the awful thing expat, i actually voted for this bunch of cunts idiots - never again!!!

quintessential you are in the magic area where you do get decent tax credits. i was for a few months but had to work longer hours and so lost the advantage. wish i'd known, because it actually cost me money to work more.

If we hadn't gotten that housing benefit, we'd have been homeless, because our net income after tax and NI was under the poverty line.

So much for helping people get out of poverty!

Here's an idea for the muppets in power: how about raising the personal threshhold, reversing the abolition of the 10p tax band, and taxing the first £5,000 pounds you earn over the threshhold LESS from the get go instead of humiliating the working poor by forcing them to depend on the state and live with the constant threat that if the benefits office cock up, they'll be left without a pot to piss in.

fishie- what is the magic area?

LEM, I sympathise. We also run our own business. It makes it double hard, you try to make something, you have all the worry and all the planning, and you see so little financial reward, to start with. Not that earning 23 k per year is that great, but it is ok. What really helped us was when I got actively involved, took the kids to nursery and started working regular hours with my dh even if we had kids. (As opposed to being a sahm) We worked together before kids too.

May I ask what his business is?

We were in London. My sons nursery fees when both went to nursery wasa 1200 per month....

DP is a carpenter. I sort of help out with it, i do all the admin, i have found it really hard lately to motivate myself for it as it feels like we are flogging a dead horse. I get frustrated sometimes because he needs a kick up the arse at times and i cant help with the actual doing of the business iwswim, firstly i can't do building stuff and secondly DD at home and cannot afford nursery fees just now. But she will be starting preschool in september so hopefully can get more involved.

Expat, it is so annoying isn't it - you work your bloody socks off trying to keep afloat and you are right, you are made to feel like second class citizens because you are claiming benefits. My title is Dr (irrelevant really, PhD as apposed to a useful doctor) and I can see the people in the council offices looking at me as if to say i am lying, i mean, an intelligent person on benefits?? Someone who they can't talk down too? Fries their heads . They don't have a bloody clue these women/men why people are in that situation, yet they still think they are somehow superior.

Lem, if you are working more than 16 hours per week you would be entitled to the childcare element. Mine has covered pretty much all the nursery fees, and we earn more than you, so I cant see why you shouldnt get it too. The thing is, your dd needs to be going to nursery before you can claim. You need to give them the name and the address of the nursery, the ofsted registration number etc. This means you have the initial outlay yourself. But I found they were very quick to change payment as the nursery fees were increasing, when I changed my sons hours, when we got our second child who started nursery, etc.

I did not actually work as much as 16 hours when I applied But I got sucked in pretty quickly and increased my hours to 20 (and actually worked 20 hours per week).
I get paid less than minimum wage, as that is all the company can afford to pay me, so I dont pay tax on it, and the governemnt is subsidising my NI contributions.

I dont know where you are, but carpenters can charge an arm and a leg in london. Your dh should be able to quote his work at good levels so you can survive. Why dont you research what other carpenters in your area is charging? You may find you undercharge? Does your dh have enough work? If not, could he take a course to learn something else to do, such as fencing, or shedbuilding, laying decks, plastering? Can he do painting and decorating too, to spread out a little? Can he take on a carpenting trainee (from local college) and work as a team? Sorry if I am speaking with my foot in my mouth, as I know next to nothing about the building trade...

just curious but how can people afford a mortgage if they are just setting up business and their income is not reliable?? do you get housing benefit??

Another vote here for entitledto.com.

its ok quint, your foot not in your mouth at all - he does totally undercharge for things, he promises me he will not do it again, but he just does, also he gives himself ridiculous time limits due to the underpricing, then either has to piss clients off, or take on help and end up losing money . He is very multi-talented, he can plaster and all the other things you say - but he is principally a carpenter and extremely talented, makes everything by hand and his work is amazing - by rights we should be minted, just wish he could organise himself more - people have suggested I organise him, but thats OK if he takes notice of the things i suggest, which of course he doesnt - very frustrating, hopefully he will learn.

I am really unsure which way i want to go - the business is a real negative for me just now - emotionally and intellectually, due to the frustrations etc and the rows it has caused. I really thought we could work together and make things good, but i get frustrated with him and end up doing nothing , he gets frustrated with me and on it goes. I'm a scientist "by trade" but i am not sure i want to return to it. I am considering retraining, but i dont want to go back to square one, i need a train on the job type work. hey ho la de da

007, we often cannot afford the mortgage and it is a nightmare - we dont get housing benefit as we dont rent. Our mortgage is £800 a month, this is because we borrowed to get out of trouble, BIG mistake