To question this...?

[foureleven]

I saw this on another thread and kind of hope the mum in question doesnt see this because I dont want to cause offense... just genuinely interested in peoples views..

(..treads carefully...)

I spotted this person say that she is a SAHM and her husband brings home £1000 a month. Plus they get child tax credits. Now I assume this is not 'working tax credits' as thats for childcare right? And they wont need it if she doesnt work.

It may be that its not a lot of money anyway and not worth getting one's knickers in a twist for but AIBU to wonder why a SAHM can claim benefits (other than initial maternity benefits of course)?

If you are a SAHM because your partner earns enough to cover everything thats one thing (and a debate for another thread, this is not ANOTHER SAHM Vs WOHM debate!)but why can women receive top up money to be able to stay at home with the children they cant really afford to?

Shouldnt we be responsible for bringing enough money in to the home for our children?

Genuinely ponders....

I think most couples are entitled to child tax credits, as long as they earn less than £50000/pa or something. We get £40-ish a month

I thought you were entitled to Child Tax credits and Working Tax credits depending on your total income. I know we were just outside the WTC threshold but get about £47 CTC. but I'm not a SAHM so that probably doesn't add anything to your topic.

I'll be off..taxi

im a sahm my dp works we get child tax credits and working tax credits.we are claiming these honestly and are told we are entitled to them.

Can't quite grasp the reason for the OP

And I don't think it's a case of claiming CTC as a "SAHM"-you claim them as a couple who have children, whether you both work or only one of you does. The WTC element is different and is based on childcare needs

If her husband is bringing home £1000 a month, aren't they at or just below the national average wage? Stuck on ESA atm, so I don't know what that would be with tax included.

That really isn't enough to live on in some parts of the country, not at all. And yes, CTC are for everyone - for the benefit of children who would otherwise be below the poverty line. Yes there are parts of the country where you could probably manage, but benefits which varied across the country would be even more ridiculous to implement than the system we have now.

And often going out to work is more expensive than staying at home, due to childcare costs (from what I've been reading here government grants won't cover it all and then there's additional tax, loss of benefit and transport costs to factor in). So quite often the give-with-one-hand-take-with-the-other benefits system in the UK at the momenet means that to provide for your family you have to give up work, depending upon where you live and how much you can work. (I have been told by my doctor that it's a bad idea for me to work full-time.)

Oh no I'm not suggesting that she's not intitled to them, or claiming them dishonestly, not at all.

Im questioning the system.

I'm saying basically - Is it right that if you choose to be a stay at home mum rather than work that you can claim benefits to support you?
Wouldnt that be unemployment benefits?

I cant see that if your husband cant support you both that you dont have to go out to work yourself.

(..realises this is going to be a big deal, doesnt want to make anyone cross, would just like some view points)

P.s £40 a month def not worth getting my knickers in a twist over.

p.p.s Pixie on a leaf, yes she may be. Point taken.

We get Child Tax Credits, we don't qualify for working tax credits but we do for the child care element of working tax credits.

£1000 a month wouldn't be enough for me and my DH pay the mortgage, bills etc. It's a low wage for a family!

erm £1000 a month is a pretty low income to support a family not sure what your beef is tbh

"Is it right that if you choose to be a stay at home mum rather than work that you can claim benefits to support you?
Wouldnt that be unemployment benefits? "

if this is true then I do kind of agree with you.
Lots of women cite not being able to afford childcare as a reason for becoming a SAHM. It possibly is cheaper for them to remain at home if they are getting benefits too?

Maybe she hasn't chosen to be a SAHM but can't find work.

i personally think that WTC and CTC are the only way to ensure that mums can stay at home to look after their kids.

i would much sooner pay for mums to bring up their children than have that place in the workforce taken by them (as there aren't enough jobs to go around as it is)

i think that's probably another topic, but what i mean is, if mums want to bring up their children they shouldn't be forced to have to go back to work because they can't afford to live otherwise.

Maybe thats the issue, that it is more cost effective to stay at home for some. Maybe the goverment make it too easy to be reliant on benefits in that case.

I think I just thought if you both worked that you got tax credits. If one didnt work, and the one that did earned less than necessary to support the family - that the other person should work, if they are able to, rather than claim tax credits.. oh I dont know. Im confused by it all.

Kinda wish I hadnt brought it up. Just constantly questioning where all the tax goes to so often question things like this..

I am a sahm, my dp earns about £1600 a month, we get £360 a month ctc. Are you saying that I shoudl not be entitled to this?

the mum in question is me i'm afraid.

yes my husband does earn 1000 a month. we let them know all our income/finances and thats what they gave us. its not a lot, but does help.

i dont expect the government to pay for me. and tbh if i didn't get the child tax credits it wouldn't put me off being a stay at home mum, we chose to have me stay at home because we thought it would be better for ds to have a parent at home, even before we ttc we decided this. we'd just adapt to having a little less money in the bank.

we also get wtc. hardly an amount to get excited over but everything is above board, they know about our earnings, we fill in the forms correctly etc etc.

many many people are entitled to these. even you may be. we were urged by midwives to see if we were entitled to anything, and we were

i feel kinda crap now...

Nickelbabe, I guess thats kind of where we disagree.

I never really had that 'I want to stay at home and look after my children' thing so that is a blessing for me as it was easy to go back to work but I'm sure even if I wanted to stay at home with them, if I couldnt afford the luxury I would feel it my duty to go out to work (if I could find a job that is of course, I know its tough at the moment) rather than claim benefits..

YABU. Why couldn't you have just asked the poster in question then and there if it was bugging you so much?

A whole thousand pounds per month?

Someone had better get Gordon Brown on the phone, there's clearly been an error!

I tell you something that never ceases to amaze me. Mothers get the shitty end of the stick ALWAYS.

"I cant see that if your husband cant support you both that you dont have to go out to work yourself."

Explain this tangled pile of words please.

I think you're saying something totally unreasonable, and you SEEM to have got my hackles right up, but TBH your posts are so confusing I'm not quite sure.

Don't feel crap, Witchy. You haven't done anything wrong.