Combined income of £42K and tax credits

[MoneyBunny]

Posted in 'Going back to work' as well.

Have name changed as income is quite personal to me.

I am about to start work and we will have a combined income of 42K and childcare costs of £1K per month. I am trying to find out how much help with childcare costs we would get but HMRev can't tell us until we have actually started using childcare. I can't find a reliable calculator online.

Does anyone have the same income and childcare cost and can give me a rough idea please?

Both our employers offer childcare vouchers, would this be a better option do you think?

entitledto.co.uk but I think tax credit have been stopped for anyone with a single or joint income over 25k? Might be wrong though.

or it might be .org.uk

Don't think you will get any tax credits. Our joint income is just under 30k and we lost our tax credits last year.

Run your circumstances through the Online Benefits Calculator to see the result. With £12k childcare costs, that takes your net income down to £30k which will probably be be too much to qualify.

I did do a calculator which said we would get £3000 per year but maybe it based it on last years income?

If we don't get tax credits it will mean we are worse off by me working. We are currently getting £350 housing benefit, £400 child tax credit and £50 working tax credits along with my husbands income of £1200. Total of £2000.

When I start we will get my husbands wage of £1200 and my wage of £1500. Less childcare costs this is a total of £1700.

Isn't it a bit weird that we'll be £300 worse off with me working? I don't know how much childcare vouchers are worth but surely not £300 per month.

Per month this is.

You can each get childcare vouchers of £243 a month. You don't pay tax on that money so it works out quite a saving.

Net revenue is one consideration but you also have to look at the longer-term. Child-care costs are high now but, as your children go into full-time eduction, this will massively reduce. During that time you'll be developing your career, receiving pay-rises hopefully, maybe getting promoted. If you don't work now because of the difference in net revenue you may find that you can't re-enter the job market in two or three years' time at the same level.

Or joint income is just over £40K, childcare is £4800 and we don't get a penny. Go through the calculator on HMRC website.

When I go back to work (on mat leave at mo) I will be working cost neutral for a year, but it will keep me in the job market and pay my pension and NI.

Don't get me wrong, I really want to work and will despite this. But I was sort of expecting to be a tiny bit better off, or at least not worse.