Waiting with baited breath! What will the chancellor do with CB on Wednesday.

[chickydoo]

Probably been done to death, but holding my breath to see what the budget will bring for child benefit on Weds? Will there be a U turn?
What do you think will happen?

Was - well it seems to if his tax is going to be affected by something paid to me. The CB is my income so can't see how it has any bearing on his tax ! If I earned lots then that would be fair but my income doesn't even qualify for tax (caring profession so obviously low paid !). Individual taxation has been a right for many years. It seems a completely unfair change. Maybe they are intending to do it regionally like they are with public sector pay - you can earn £100k in London but only £20k elsewhere (should protect their friends).

isnt it the change a payment to you altered due to his salary?
have you looked a salary sacrifice?

To be honest I thought they just stopped paying CB to me, but previous posts seem to suggest I will still claim (so pension protected) and it will then be deducted from my husband via PAYE. Seems pretty illegal to me as it breaks all the individual taxation rules. They surely either have to means test each family on all income or leave it be. But that would be too simple ! Maybe mrs George osbourne reads mumsnet and might inform her husband he is a prat (kindest word I could give him)

Mumsneedwine - you still don't get it, CB is not YOUR income, you have not earned it, the family have been given it to support the children, that also belong to your husband. So he is being taxed on his own income, the net effect to the family is that you haven't received help as the family is deemed not to need it because DH is earning enough to support family without state assistance, yet govt has ensured you still received the hard cash in case DH wasn't willing to hand it over for the children voluntarily.

I think that they will go ahead with their plans regarding CB and HRTs. They only really care about their super rich friends.

Oh I do get it ! I get that I've paid a lot of tax over the years and the one time I want a little help from the state for a benefit that I believed was universal and fair, I get told no. Because my husband earns more than £42, which in SE England is not a lot. We live in a 3 bed house, drive rubbish cars and wear clothes from Tesco. No one earns CB so why is it to only be taken away from certain families. My friends both earn £40k each and their take home pay is over £2000 more EACH month than ours - but they still get to claim CB. Please explain how that is part of 'we are all in this together'. All I ask is fairness- either means test it by family income or on my income.

I may have sounded a bit cross !! Will go and lie down in dark room. Have now got over my life is not fair rant - I tell my kids this all the time.

It is her income for NI protection purposes.

I agree with you wholeheartedly that it should be on the family income at whatever level they choose, not if one half of a child's parents earns over a level.

But we all know cuts have to be made somewhere and there is probably some truth that not everyone NEEDS their CB so if they are going to means test it I also don't think it is fair to only test half of a child's parents. So I guess I agree with you that it should be fair, but I think the ONLY fair way would be to assess the total family income. This is what they use for other child tax credits so surely it could be incorporated with that somehow to reduce admin costs. The same application could be used to register for pension contributions for those that SAH even if they don't qualify for any payment.

Am in total agreement MeDented. I accept cuts are needed and we have taken quite a few ourselves already, but I would like it to be fair. I shall now go back to work (although expect the chancellor to tell me this should be taxed as part of my husbands income anytime soon so it too can be at 40%).

'This is what they use for other child tax credits so surely it could be incorporated with that somehow to reduce admin costs.' The question is how they identify who needs testing? If you are not currently in the means testing system, and many hrts and their families aren't, then how do you enforce this?

I would like the chancellor to scrap the UNIVERSALITY of the Winter Fule payments to OAPS rather than child benefit.

scaryteacher I think the idea is that people would have to apply for CB through the existing tax credits framework.

There are problems with that though. The tax credit system is terribly complicated and expensive. The forms require a very detailed level of disclosure and the whole process is very paper/admin heavy. It would be terribly expensive to put a large majority of the families in the country on this system.

You couldn't enforce it as such but basically it would be the vehicle to claim pension contributions, CB and CTC all in one. If you only qualify / want to apply for the pension contribution bit you could stop at Q1 and not have to complete the rest of the application.

I'm not sure how they would tie 2 people together if one didn't want the other to know how much they earn but I guess that must apply to the current system for CTC too. And it would still be open to fraud relating to people pretending to live apart that are really together or fabricating children etc but most people are honest and those problems already exist so perhaps the people that used to administer CB could be given new jobs tackling that problem.

With child tax credit I have lost my 10 pounds a week [well will in April]. Very quick off the mark in noting as a household we earn over £26,000 a year.
Council tax benefit cut won't affect us unless my dh got mega pay rise. However ridiculously unfair if whole household income not taken into consideration re CB.

Grrr child ben cut!!

yes, with CTC they do have operational (legal?) definitions for what constitutes a unit / family.

I have long been a believer that fuel payments for elderly people should be delivered via pension credits; simply add the amount to the existing system and anyone in a position to qualify for PC will receive it. My dad who still works is befuddled as to why he receives it yet the payments to disabled families were ended. Not sure we as a family need it but we may well next eyar (scary times ahead!) and I certainly know others who absolutely do.

My parents give their winter fuel allowance to Help the Aged every year. They are very lucky to have a nice final salary pension and can live comfortably. My dads an old style socialist and has never had much but he says others need it more than him.
Oh and just saw Cleggy on tv saying 'wait and see' when asked about CB. So maybe they've come up with another plan - hopefully one that might be workable.

Wonder how many couples will split over this - if you have lots of kids you'd be so much better off separate - get child benefit, child tax credits, working tax credits if you work, LHA to cover rents, free school meals etc etc etc. Plus the HRT payer gets to keep his salary.

So much for Conservatives supporting traditional families!

bread-- we worked out that we would be better off apart, because otherwise my inability to work through caring could stop the whole family getting help. However, no way is it happening here. I can see why peple would though.

Another option for people is to have another baby. Not for me, but how silly a loophole is that? Carer but can't find childcare but been asked to work? been told if you can't work you are on workfare but still your responsibility to find chaildcare or lose benefits? have another child, and get a few years more support.

I don't know what my parents do with their Winter Fuel Payments; most likely use it to help Grandad, who is 91 and cared for mainly by my Mum; his pension doesn't stretch that far when needed to pay a morning carer and for constant heating.

If I have learned one thing since the election, it is that democracy is clearly a male phenomenon. We are allowed to participate as long as we are prepared to lump ourselves together with the blokes for the purposes of financial assessment, but if the blokes bugger off, or are disinclined to support us, suddenly the lumping together stops and we are more or less on our own - frazzled, broke and poorly tolerated, nay SCORNED.

Ah go for it Boffin; I will be 'Peachy, Minister for Disability And Carers' if you do ;)

And whilst the tea is doing don't forget to hoover under the sofa . can't get into those slattern'y habits now can we?

The loss of child benefit to our family will mean my net income after childcare will drop by 50%.

I feel like dropping my kids off at the House of Commons, and asking the MPs to mind them while I look for a third, yes a third job.

I am actually potentially very angry today.

HappyMummyOfOne - you name is a bit inventive isnt it - you seem more bitter than happy.

I will be Prime Minister and I will:

Set up a national system of nurseries for over 2's, free at the point of use, to correspond with the needs of working parents (like in the war). Men will be required to do all drop offs and pick ups.

Introduce free transport to school for all children. Healthy pensioners under 70 will be conscripted to drive everything.

Introduce free school meals for all children, and milk and vitamins, and fruit and veg.

Introduce free prescriptions and dental treatment for anyone who has ever given birth, for the rest of their lives.

Sack every single bloke from the cabinet immediately and build an all-female cabinet with representative women from all age groups. but we can have a token male Minister for Men.

Take all men off boards, apart from a few token ones.

Raise tax to 70% to pay for all this, because actually most women would be better off, paradoxically.

Then I would proffer a small amount of money, say £20.30 a week for the first child and £13.40 for second and subsequent children, to the men, so they had a little bit of money to call their own, for family use. Oh, and then I would take it away if the mother earned over £40k.

That'd learn 'em. Bastards.