Will we get tax credits?

[herewegoagainxyz]

My dh is likely to be made redundant any day soon. He'll probably get a year's basic, but no bonuses, so around £100k lump sum.

Our mortgage is nowpaid off & I work part time. I reckon our bills, running cars, food etc will be about ££2,400 per month, which leaves a shortfall between that and my income of around £850 per month. We'll have to dip into the lump sum for that (it will, in theory, last us a good few years so if dh doesn't find anything else, by that time he'll be close to taking his pension (at 60).

Soooo, I realise we won't get tax credits straight away as last year dh earned £180k, but will we get them after he's been on JSA for a year?

Also, and I'm really really hoping the answer is no, will the fact that we have redundancy money stashed away mean that we'll never be entitiled to tax credits?

If you're going to be £850 short, you're probably safe knocking £600 off your estimations on 'unexpected and b'days etc' and 150 a month for car reparis would be v high if only one of you is currently in work and needing to drive every day.

If you can't get tax credits and don't want to go itno the 100K, I think you could squeeze that down without too much pain - people at bank or CAB may be able to help re-do family budget.

Your income has dropped significantly so your income for the last financial year is irrelevant. They will assess you on this year's income. However, for most means tested benefits there is a limit of £6k in savings that you can claim. Your DH can claim contributions based JSA for 6 months, that is correct.

Can I help you out with your budget a little -
Food 400 - we spend £250 for 2 adults and a child. Make cuts.
petrol to work for me 200
DD expenses (sports clubs, pocket money, school trips, clothe etc) 150 - make cuts.
Council tax £286
Coal 80
logs 35
oil 50
elec 70
Bt/BB 50 - make cuts - you can get phone/internet/tv packages for under £20
car repairs for 2 ageing cars 150
car tax
40 - per month?
car ins 70
dh petrol 40
house mtce 200 (big house & garden) - what is this for?
350 unexpected stuff - you don't need that much for unexpected stuff. Time to live like a poor person.
250 b'days, xmas, meals out, modest hol - make cuts.

You really shouldn't be expecting to live on benefits when you have 100k in the bank. It's taking the piss, frankly.

Have a go on the moneysavingexpert Budget Brain - I found it really useful working out what we need per month.

It's complicated. Capital in the sense of savings is ignored for TC purposes but investment income arising from capital usually counts and anyway redundancy payments are not classed as capital but employment income. Of course it will not count as income forever ... I'm on maternity leave at the moment and am not close to any of my usual sources of info but any CAB would be able to tell you the period affected if you tell them the amount, date and nature of the payment.

Have you considered seeing a financial adviser re the best thing to do with the redundancy pay so as to maximise your benefit entitlement/income and minimise tax liability? Might be worthwhile for such a sum. And don't listen to the negative comments. If you are entitled you should have it and if you're not you shouldn't ... that's the way the benefit system works.

Marking my place for the budget brain link later

250 b'days, xmas, meals out, modest hol

very lucky to have this in a monthly budget. we are a family of 4 and we don't spend anything on these heads, we don't go out to eat (can make nice food at home!) no holiday etc but we both sleep soundly that we can at least pay the mortgage. same goes for "unexpected stuff"

i realise it is personal but those amounts for those two heads of expenditure every month seem a lot to me?? I would put our equivalent at zero or less than 100 at the most per month for both of those two heads of expenditure

Thank you MissEdith and other helpful people!

After decades of supporting lower earners, I don't think it is at all immoral to ask for something back for a while. In any case, dh may get another job quickly and we won't need to claim anything.

The financial advisor thing is a good idea. TThere's some sort of redundancy counselling thing at dh's work which I think includes financial advisors.

oh god youre just pissing me off now 'supporting low earners' makes you 'entitled' regardless of what you have in the bank.
thank god everyone else in the country doesnt share your view

Well Mosschops you'll be delighted to hear that after hanging on the phone to the TC people, we won't get anything.

Thanks for your support.

CAB are very good - in the last recession of 1991 they were very good at pointing us in the direction of what we could and could not claim.

HOw the fuck have you been "supporting lower earners"??

Have you been;
titheing large amounts of your income to local church?
Spending weekends volunteering in sally army place?
Donating cash to the poor people?

Shite that your husband has lost his job but even worse that you feel entitled to list "modest holiday" and £ 350 for "unexpected items" each month as essential expenses!

Welcome to the real world. It's a bit crap but most of us live in it and manage to get on with it.

You will be entitled to contributions based JSA for 6 months.
You don't actually need it though do you.

Herewegoagain

Hope your DH gets another job soon.

youre very welcome, enjoy spending your £100k and not benefits that some people may actually need!

Obviously I hope your dh gets another job as it can be very stressful to be out of work when he's worked so long.

As others have said tax credits are means tested so you will be entitled to tax credits once you've spent the 100k (which you reckon will taken you nearly five years).

So you can spend that (and claim his JSA for six months) until you become eligible for tax credits.

Jesus, the OP's husband is being made redundant and she is trying to make plans for the payout to last as long as possible.
She is just asking the question, stop giving her such a hard time. hopefully DH will get another job, but she is just trying to figure out how long the money will last.
And as for telling her she should have saved more.... their mortgage is paid off.
I hate these threads, God help anyone who dares to be successful or actually have some money.

Come on, the amount you'd get in JSA would only cover some of the luxury extras you're budgeting for! You don't need it - leave it for someone that does.

If you don't want to dip into the £100k fair enough - but trim your budget rather than expect money back from the tax pot.

Herewego - you're not for real, are you? This is a joke, isn't it? I'm right, aren't I? Aren't I?!!

Whatname
it's not really about not having saved - it's about an unrealistic budget which is not in line with their income, and an expectation that the government will fill the gap between what they can afford and what they would like to afford, in order that they don't need to spend their (large) nest egg.

We take tax credits and anything else going when I was on mat leave. I do consider that we are entitled to take from the pot for a short while since we pay in for such a long time. However, we actually need the money (no savings) unlike the OP. If her DH was made redundant and the OP was unemployed and they had no savings - fuck what they used to earn, that's what benefits are for. But I assume OP is working and they have 100k in the bank.

whatname the OP clearly stated

'and I'm really really hoping the answer is no, will the fact that we have redundancy money stashed away'

so not exactly trying to make it last eh, rather just stashing it away and living with help of benefits she's apparently 'entitled' too, which of course will help towards the modest holiday.

ROFL!!!!!!

yes, I know where you are coming from.£100k is a huge amount of money.
But she is asking the question will they be entitled to tax credits. It's a valid question if you think about that £100k lasting 5 years.
I just hate the way anyone who dares to have lived a affluent lifestyle is trashed.
Yes the OP probably needs to come back down to earth, but it doesn't make her problem any less real. And criticising her lifestyle choices just because you can't afford it/or wouldn't do it that way is not helpful.

Or shall we have a mumsnet higher net worth forum only.

Thank you Whatname. You're right, the reason we have no savings is that all of our spare money has gone to clear a massive mortgage in a fairly short time.

So shoot me all you who are having a go (and who've no doubt been leeching tax credits etc for years) at least I'm not claiming housing benefits.

Why shouldn't she claim ? We're always being told tax credits aren't benefits aren't we ?

But you do have savings - you have 100k!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not yet, Eric, he hasn't been made redundant yet.