Needing to reduce income to get free childcare

[Katie1186]

Hi all,

I earn over the £100k threshold and actually would be better off if I contributed £10k into my pension to qualify for the 30 hours of child care.

Has anyone done this where you have manually contributed after being paid or do I need my employer to do this in order to reduce my income??

I know people who have had their employers do it but I don't know anyone who has had to manually do this themselves.

Thank you so much in advance!!

We should be supporting ALL working parents to stay in work by accessible and affordable childcare.

Interesting as you didn’t seem keen for the OP to have help earlier

You think she can't afford the childcare without fiddling the system? She doesn't really need the help hence the threshold. I would also apply that to households where together they earn that amount and get the free hours.

What do you mean “hence the threshold”? The threshold is specifically based on income after taking out pension contributions. She’s not fiddling the system, the system incentivises the behaviour (paying into a pension) that the government wants to encourage, hence the threshold rules.

You don’t really have a leg to stand on complaining about the OP when you work and handful of hours a week and then have 85% of your childcare bill paid by UC. Maybe you should be the one to pay more??

And supporting them in limiting their families to what they can afford while still being net taxpayers like the OP. Contributing to society instead of just taking.

Exactly.

No takers have the right to disparage the contributors who keep our society afloat.

I think your posts on this thread have highlighted an inherent issue with the system and how it works.

You are clearly frustrated and angry that you are a low earner and yet you have absolutely no incentive to work more hours. You think it's completely optional as you know the state will pick up the tab for your lifestyle choices.

OP is clearly working FT and sacrificing time with her kids to do so. You think she shouldn't be eligible for the help you obviously think you deserve despite her contributing much more into the system.

You have no idea if she needs the help or not. You simply do not seem to understand what she is doing is perfectly legal.

Exactly but unfortunately some people refuse to see it

💯

You can also increase your pension payments with the sole motivation being to have an entitlement to Universal credit, as any deductions are based on net income not gross. I wonder how many people would think that was “sensible” and “not playing the system” if someone asked that question.

The scenario you are describing is intrinsically different because unlike OP, the person attempting to ascertain UC will not be a net contributor. They will already be a net beneficiary and seeking to get even more out of the system. This is morally hugely different.

Exactly. It's apples and oranges.

The tantrums this subject inspires never cease to amaze me.

People respond to incentives, not someone else deciding they ought to work for free, very little or even at a loss because it would be convenient to that person's worldview.

The problem we have is an appallingly designed system, that leads people at many points across the income spectrum to work less. OP paying more into her pension rather than withdrawing some of her labour is actually the better of the two options, for wider society. The whining would be better directed at the system that does this.

It's not playing the system at all. HMRC advised me to do this when I rang up to query it.