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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be seriously worried the new govt are looking at cutting child benefit...

444 replies

cherrymama · 14/05/2010 08:10

to 'middle class' families?What does that mean?We both work but have four kids and losing that income will seriously affect us...so please tell me IABU and that it won't happen!

OP posts:
Rosebud05 · 14/05/2010 08:14

Unfortunately, YANBU. WTC and others have been flagged up. It's not looking good for most of us, is it?
Hope that it doesn't affect you too badly.

GypsyMoth · 14/05/2010 08:16

Yanbu.... It's worrying

TinaSparkles · 14/05/2010 08:18

I am worried, very worried. Any idea what constitutes as middle class, what sort of income that might be?

ClaireyFairy82 · 14/05/2010 08:19

I've been trying to find out where the threshold is for being a 'middle class' earner and i can't find anything anywhere. I'm having to go back to work after having ds only 5 months ago, but we simply cannot afford to live on smp. Now we're likely to have even more taken away, but we'll save £1400 a year between dh and myself under this first £10 tax relief. It seems to be give with one hand and take with another, leaving me completely confused and very worried. I'm only going back to teach 3 days a week and might have to consider teaching full time instead :-(

RunawayWife · 14/05/2010 08:20

DH works six days a week and brings home £200 a week, he gets tax credit and it pays for the school dinners, bus fair and cubs,it helps towards all the stuff the kids need.
he could not afford the bills without it, if it is cut or stopped our children will suffer

Yes put a stop to the benefit culture the people who choose it as a life style and yes some do.
But the people who work bloody hard and just need a bit of help are getting shafted.

Big thanks to every idiot who voted them in!!!

keepingup · 14/05/2010 08:21

We dont get wtc as apparently we earn to much. I wish it felt that way! I'm working to try and make ens meet, we dont have an extravagent lifestyle, and by the end of the month I rely on the child benefit to get me through the week. nappies, milk, bread etc.
Without it I think we would be screwed

TinaSparkles · 14/05/2010 08:22

Sorry to to astray but how does the 10K tax threshold work then. How much will you save if say you earn £20K?

tkband3 · 14/05/2010 08:24

From what I've heard, the cut-off receiving child benefit under their plans appears to be families with a joint income of over £50k per year. I'm afraid I don't know what plans they have for WTC or CTC.

I did have a quick read of their coalition agreement, and I couldn't find any mention of cutting child benefit - it was a tory manifesto thing..;hopefully the lib dems will manage to put a stop to it, but I don't hold out much hope.

MrsC2010 · 14/05/2010 08:25

The 10K threshold should make a discernable difference to most of us.

As far as I know the WTC cuts etc were for families with a joint income of in excess of £50K.

Not as bad as it first sounds I don't think!

LittleMrsHappy · 14/05/2010 08:26

I dont know why people re surprised about this tbh, its always been the same with the tories, the last 3 times they have game into government they buckled our country, by looking after the rich and fucking us mere normals!

Yes labour were shambolic, however they are not as bad as the Tories, its the reason we always go back to Labour, AND the tories get voted OUT!

Their will be a re-election in a year or two!

IMoveTheStars · 14/05/2010 08:28

does anybody have a link about this? tkband3 was it actually in the tory manifesto?

I have seen lots about cutting CTF and WTC for those over a certain income, but the only place I've read about possible CB cuts is here.

Lots of people support getting rid of CTF/WTC for those over £50k (why does anybody earning over £50 need tax credits???) but getting rid of CB would be a massively unpopular move.

Magaly · 14/05/2010 08:29

oh they did this in Ireland a while ago. They talked about means testing it, and everybody was really scared, it was discussed ad nauseum on the radio and eventually when everybody was nicely distressed they announced that means testing it would be far to problematic bureaucratically, so they cut it by 10% and everybody was relieved. Well...... that was how we were supposed to feel. and tbh, I was relieved.

Magaly · 14/05/2010 08:30

How much is CA in the UK now? It was 60 per child when I was there.

TinaSparkles · 14/05/2010 08:30

So, if you are going to be £1400 better off as a couple because of the 10K tax threshold, then you lose CB for 1 child (£1040) you will be £360 better off?

But if you have more than one child you will be several hundred pounds worse (I've only got one, so I think you don't get as much for subsequent children?).

mistletoekisses · 14/05/2010 08:40

YABU

Havent read anything about child benefit. Child Tax credits have been on the agenda...but not child benefit. Everyone is going to be impacted one way or another with the cuts - either through loss of benefits or increased taxes. We simply have to wait and see what happens, and in what timelines. Scaremongering does no one any good.

And re the comment 'Big thanks to every idiot who voted them in!!!'.
I voted them in and would do so again in a heartbeat. Am certainly not an idiot. And am bored to tears with the amount of tory bashing threads on here. I would far rather we start cutting spending and soon then end up with the IMF wading in...

keepingup · 14/05/2010 08:42

you get 12 pound something for each other child.

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 14/05/2010 08:51

YABU.

How many more times does it have to be said - there is no money. Labour have spent it all on stupid things like CTF, HIP grants and that daft cut in VAT last year that made no difference to anything apart from putting another £12bn dent in the finances.

I have seen nothing about CB being cut, nothing at all, expect on scaremongering posts such as this one.

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 14/05/2010 08:52

'its always been the same with the tories, the last 3 times they have game into government they buckled our country'

It's called living within your means. We all have to do it as families so I'm not sure why it's so hard for people to grasp that countries have to do it too.

Original poster
cherrymama · 14/05/2010 08:56

sorry,before you accuse me of scaremongering without checking your facts,take a look at the Guardian and Daily Mail wrbsites today..it's one of the top stories.

OP posts:
pickledmonkey · 14/05/2010 08:57

looks like i'll have to take up shoplifting again

thesecondcoming · 14/05/2010 09:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

oldandgreynow · 14/05/2010 09:02

'Big thanks to every idiot who voted them in!!! '

well I'm not a tory, but I think you should save your big thanks to the bankers who created the situation, and the labour government whose lack of supervision let them!

expatinscotland · 14/05/2010 09:06

'Sorry to to astray but how does the 10K tax threshold work then. How much will you save if say you earn £20K? '

Probably nothing after the VAT goes up to 20%, especially because apparently the new threshold will be phased in in stages.

But the VAT increase won't.

I think for many, it's going to mean both of you going out to work.

Plenty of people go out to work when their children are quite young out of necessity. I had to go back when DD1 was 2 months old and DD2 was 4 months because I was the chief breadwinner and we couldn't afford to live on SMP.

Needs must, and I considered us lucky because I'm from America where there is no statute of paid maternity leave. Unpaid, yes, but they don't have to pay you for it at all.

People who earn over £16140/annum, gross, per family, do not get Working Tax Credits (excepting some disabled employees and/or people with disabled children).

They get Child Tax Credits, but not Working Tax Credits.

Child Benefit should long ago have been means-tested or have a cut off level.

There are quite a few people who use it to buy themselves designer clothes and handbags whilst the country goes bankrupt.

'but getting rid of CB would be a massively unpopular move.'

If it's been getting rid of that for people who really don't need it and more people losing their jobs, I'll chose the former.

cupcakesandbunting · 14/05/2010 09:15

I cannot see CB being cut, if I'm honest. Too many "middle-class" families rely on it and I think that there would be uproar if it was cut. I am pretty sure that WTC will be cut and the figure that's being bandied around is for families earning over 50K.

We earn just about 50K in our house and we claim £38 p/month in WTC. I'll be sad to see it go as it helps out but I understand that there's no money and there are families far more deserving of that money than we are. I'll be very, very angry if CB gets cut though.

DaisymooSteiner · 14/05/2010 09:16

I quote:

"The Treasury had already drawn up plans for Labour to reduce benefits for the middle class, and one source said child benefit for the middle class would be a prime candidate for review, adding: "Welfare for the wealthy is always on the Treasury hit list."

I am all in favour of those of my acquaintance earning in excess of £100K whilst getting child benefit and tax breaks on their childcare (while one parent stays at home) getting a bit less.