Third child- tax credits

[Orangeflower7]

Hi there, I am a mum of two little boys aged 2 and 5, and we are considering another...possibly... I am wondering if we will be able to afford it or not. I just checked the tax credits website, trying to look at changes after this tax year ends, and happened to notice that it seemed to be that if you have 3 children it increased by about £2,000 on our income level (£30,000) whereas with the two it is a really small amount.

Just wondered if anyone noticed this when they had their third, if they were in a similar situation..we may be able to afford it..

Personally speaking, I would be very wary of using tax credits as a decider whether or not I could afford more children. Experience of the last few years shows that they are not a reliable source of income by any means. The goalposts tend to change.

that doesnt sound right tbh, we are currently expecting our 3rd child but i KNOW that theu have got rid of the extra baby amount that you got for the first year.
I have also looked into what we will get after april (baby due in MAY) and despite our income being 22500 and our childcare costs rising by £100 per week in AUG we will only get about an extra £40 per week in total from TC (so about 2k a year) but obviously that takes into account rising childcare costs and our lower income compared to you.

in our experience having a fourth child made a big difference, but the third not so much. I expect the tax credits website is still adding the baby element which goes next month I think.

I'd agree with Chil though, the way tax credits are going they are not reliable source of income long term. I'd not want to be relying on them to determine such a major decision