Tax credit help please....!!

[blossomsmine]

I am trying to help my sister, she is on her own with two children. At the moment she only works 16hours per week and receives tax credits of about £140 per week, her annual wages from her work are only about £2000. She wants to do more work but is worried about how it will affect her credits cos she will be spending more on petrol etc., She says she has to go from 16hours to 30 hours to get more money....is that right?? I don't understand all this and she is depressed and not in a fit state to help herself at the moment, she is so worried about ending up worse off financially, although she actually would like to work more as she would be mixing with people more that way. Can anyone advice on what she could do without losing money?? Thank you.

They have an on line calculator which should help, Damn, DD shouting, google working tax credits and look for a link.

Sorry - bye

Are you sure she only earns £2000 a year. That would mean she's under the minimum wage

think the one callmeovercautious was talking about is www.entitledto.com

im single mum of 1, when i worked 24hrs a week with salary of £8k I got about £5k from tax credits in total.

I went to the site to check for you, but since I live in NI, i dont know what council tax etc is - not even roughly - so couldnt get far.

is another one

Thank you going to check the calculator site. Does it not matter then if she ups her hours? I suppose they will just give less moeny. Will go and have a look.

You put all the variables into the calculator - including the hours she works. PLay about with the options and see the effects.

just try a few calculations. I did work out that if I worked full time, I would be quite a bit worse off - a few hundred quid a year, in fact and thats before taking travel and childcare into account.

She will probably be better off sticking at 16 hours.

Whenever I have put figures in for 30+ hours I have ended up worse off.

doh - 3k not 5. big typo error there...sorry!

I don't know how i did it then, cos i put her hours at 30 and then put the wages at £400 and it makes her £20 a week better off....which she would be happy with i think but what if it is wrong...!!! She probably is under the minimum wage, difficult situation, she works as a carer and is supposed to get the work done quicker which would mean her hourly wage would be ok, but from what i understand..they can never do the work in that time so work longer for the same wages, she loves the job though.

what about her going back to study - even a hobby course? she will get reduced rates and will meet new people and build confidence while learning new skills?

typo error here aswell!! Wages at £4000 not £400, i know she doesn't earn alot but that is ridiculous!!

Also calculate in such things as less Housing Benefit, petrol, childcare, lunches, etc etc.

Ok so Minimum wage is a fixed hourly rate of £5.52 assuming she is over 22.

16 x 5.52 = 88.32

52 weeks a year = annual wage of 4592.64 before tax and NI are taken off.

If she is not getting this she needs to report them and change jobs asap.

In the mean time use that as the basic figure as unless she tells you other wise that is what she earns "Gross".

HTH

has she gone to gingerbread they were one of my saving grace when i became a single parent.

I called them up and said i can quit my present job(was self employed and earning about 2k for full time)to be the best financially, what do i have to do. They told me x,x x and x to get the best money ie under this, over these hours, do this and that.

Yes 30 hrs will get her more money in wages and tax credits, free prescription, eye care and wigs if needed.

Gingerbread were great and so much better than cab and yes i am so much better off.

You get a tax credits bonus for working 30+ hours too.

Thank you all for being so helpful. How come she didn't know about the tax credits bonus!! They don't tell you that do they!! I will try to get her to contact gingerbread, thing is she is abit down and doesn't seem to want to do anything at the moment. The re-training is probably best for her really, if i could talk her into it.