If you get family credit is it worth starting a low paid part time job?

[cuddlesrus]

As you would lose about a third of the family credit you receive, therefor making the p/t job really badly paid.......

I suppose if you loved the job it would be worth it but say you worked in Asda or a petrol station - is it worth it?

Cuddles, the best thing to do is to phone the Inland Revenue helpline and give them the exact details of how much you would earn and how many hours work you would do, so that they can do you a calculation. You still recieve tax credits if you are on a low income, and the whole idea of "Making work pay" is that you should theoretically be better off.

You'd be entitled to Child Tax Credits and Working Tax Credits if your income was low enough - but it's always best to check with the helpline.

And if you find you are not better off from working, then I think you should see your MP about it - preferably very soon, while the election campaign is still on! This is one of the absolute bulwarks of Labour policy - the idea that families should always be better off in paid employment.

Hi cuddles, have a play on the Tax credits website with the calculator and adjust the earnings/ hours worked to see which scenario would be best for you - it's probably the best time to do it as it's the start of the year so will give you figures for the whole year.

I did phone them after I was offered p/t in retail, only a few hours a week @£5 per hour but better than nothing. But the tax credits helpline told me I'd lose 1/3rd of any earnings, so I'd be working for £3.33 p/hr. Hardly worth it with travel expenses is it.......

cuddles are you on your own or do you have a DP who is earning? Because that makes a big difference.

Also, a word of caution about the website - I've often found that the calculations are wildly lower than the helpline ones! Don't know whether that is still the case, but it's worth double checking.

Caligula, are you sure you're not comparing your award for the year figure that the help line gives you with the one the website calculates - your entitlement as of the date you go online.

ie. if you ask it to calculate your tax credits midway through the year it will give you the amount you will receive up until April 5th IYKWIM

Hope that makes sense, quite hard to explain

Ah - that might be it. Dur!

i was going to say whenever i've used the online calculation it has wildly underestimated the amount that i would get from working tax credit.
unfortunatley at the moment i'm not entitled to any (or so they say), but have bitten the bullet and got back to work for my sanity!
however i would say that if you are returning to work for financial reasons, in my experience part time work has never paid off, especially when working in retail.

I know, and part time retail is all I'm experienced in...

Hi,
I'm working part time but through an agency for healthcare assistants. I get paid well, can choose the hours I work. To not affect my current level of child tax credit I work under 15 hours. It works well, I get a wage and tax credits .
I didn't have any experience before becoming a healthcare assistant with the agency and the wages start from around 6.81hr for days, 7.81hr for night shifts, sundays 9.65hr & bankhols £14 per hour. I would definately reccommend it.