Budget 2012 explained: Live webchat with Mark Dampier, Head of Research at Hargreaves Lansdown, Wednesday 21 March 12.30-2pm

[AntoniaMumsnet]

It's Budget day on Wednesday. What will happen to the 50p tax rate? Will we see a mansion tax? What about child benefit?

It could be a red letter day for your family finances. We are delighted to welcome Mark Dampier to Mumsnet for a live budget webchat. Mark is head of research at Hargreaves Lansdown, the independent financial adviser, and an all-round financial guru. He will be translating the Chancellor's statements as he makes them, and finding time to answer your comments.

Mark will be busy keeping an eye on Osborne, so please don't post questions about your own family finances here (we've got plans for a special Q&A about this later, see below). Do join us here at 12.30, when the fun begins.

Coming up: We've set up a Q&A with a panel of experts to take questions on your family finances after the Chancellor sits down.

Next week, Mumsnet favourite Alvin Hall will be in on Thursday 29 March for a live webchat on savings and investments.

It's all about the Money at Mumsnet HQ.....

It is very difficult to actually compute what these things mean in real terms atm as the spending cuts from last year have only been implemented 12% and the remainder will start to kick in from April so in combination I think a lot of people will really feel this later in teh year

I should just add I have no proof that when cb is cut NI credits will be cut just guessing!

Thanks northernlurker

If any of you have questions about HRP post them here and we'll get them answered. Sometimes it's tricky to get into the detail straightaway because it's buried under the rhetoric......

I don't want to start a new thread, but OMG I hate Ed Balls.

Here, hold this noose someone.
I feel incentivised by the budget to hang myself.

Xenia will be delighted with this budget.
Feather bedded public sector workers will be taught a lesson.

bofin. Yes because all women should be out at work

HRP no longer exists, it has been replaced by a different scheme:

From HMRC website:

If you were getting Child Benefit before 6 April 2010
If you were getting Child Benefit for a child under 16 before 6 April 2010, you automatically qualified for a scheme called Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) which helped to protect your basic State Pension. This has now been replaced by the weekly National Insurance credits for parents and carers and Earnings Factor credit.

You won?t lose out on any protection you have already built up. If you reach State Pension age on or after 6 April 2010, any complete tax years of HRP (up to a maximum of 22 years) you have had will have been converted into full years of credits that count towards your basic State Pension.

If you received Child Benefit for a child under 6, you automatically built up entitlement to an additional pension through State Second Pension.

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Further information
For further information you can phone the Pension Service Helpline on 0845 606 0265 or textphone on 0845 606 0285.

You can also phone the National Insurance Helpline on 0845 302 1479 between 8.00 am and 5.00 pm.

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More useful links
How to claim Child Benefit

National Insurance credits

Read more about getting credits towards your State Pension on the Directgov website (Opens ne window)

Find out more about understanding the basic State Pension on the Directgov website (Opens new window)

Find out more about the Additional State Pension on the Directgov website (Opens new window)

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Child Benefit claim form
Child Benefit - report changes online
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See also
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Revenuebenefits website - for advisers

I've lost my CB, but I understand the money is needed for those in greater need.

There is a helpful bit on HMRC website (don't know how to do link but google HMRC budget 2012 child benefit and it pops us). Says how it's to be administered and when from (Jan 2013).

But in all seriousness, yes money is needed, but the system they've said is absurd and flawed and totally unfair.

Look, it's not even unfair, it's random. Completely and utterly, illogically random. And it hurts women. And don't kid yourselves that any of this money will go to the needy, either, because it won't.

What are we going to do about it?

I think I will start by refusing to tell them what my husband earns. They can find out themselves, if it matters so much to them. There is no law that demands we tell spouses what money we have, unless a court demands disclosure. If 20 million married people do this, the whole thing will collapse. Could someone draft a standard letter for HMRC/DWP so we can all do this, please?

Next I will lead a very intense process to turf as many men out of the cabinet as possible, to be replaced by women. Again, we need another standard letter please, to go to all our MPs, especially the Tory ones. The current patriarchy has gone on about two centuries too long, in my opinion. We are all fed up now.

What else?

You and me both Boffin !

So, because we are "all in this together", people earning £50,000 to £99,999 have to lose the child benefit income to contribute to George's ability to reduce the top rate of tax back down to 45% for those earning over £100,000.

Hmmmm, no, sorry, this just doesn't compute as fair or support the statement that we are "all in this together" whichever way I look at it.

It is clearly squeezing the "middle band" of earners again and there are a hell of a lot of them, so this is a nail in the coffin for the Tories at the next election.

Bad move George, grow some balls and stand up to the higher earners. They only have one vote each you know and there are less of them than there are of the "squeezed middle".

Part of the problem is the Governement's London/Home Counties centred approach, those regions have a far higher proportion of higher earners so "get out into the regions and find out about real life in the rest of the UK you twunts!"

What I would like to know, is whether there is another way to earn your credits towards a State Pension. Can you buy years if you are missing any?

I've already got 14 years of the 22 needed, through NI contributions and then HRP, so in fact I only need to work another 8 years of the next 30 and I will qualify.

Look, there's no point debating it. They have just lost the plot, so we need to get them out asap.

Over £150k Cricket, not over £100K.

It is fair that households with a person earning more than £60K get no CB. It isn't unfair that two worker households can bring in more money and still receive CB.

Two worker households are likely to have to pay for childcare.

I think it's women-friendly to encourage and incentivise two-worker households.

Alibaba Thanks for the correction I'm probably confusing the limits with the allowances withdrawl level.

You need to contact the contributions agency and see about paying for some of the years where you didn't qualify. You may be just short on some years and they would be the cheapest to make up to full years.

I thought you needed 30 qualifying years to get full state pension - 22 seems like nothing on comparision to a working life now that state pension age has been increased so much.

Er excuse me ! We are a two earner family, one paying higher rate and one earning very little. So we still need child care and have commuting costs. I work caring for abused teenagers which pays rubbish, but I don't want to give it up as have done it for years. Don't make assumptions that this is all about SAHMs.

Glad you find it amusing Justine. Unfortunately for some of us it's not very funny as its the difference between my kids being able to go on school trips with their friends (this year they will total over £1000 and that's for 3 trips). State schools and things everyone else in their year goes on. We live in SE, 3 bed house, 2 vauxhall cars and are going camping in Ireland for holiday. We have just enough at moment but am now going to have to tell kids they can't go on things. Hubbie may take home £2400 a month but after mortgage & utilities and food and child we are usually left with nothing. CB funds the kids. No holiday from now on so might sell tent. Or children.

Meant childcare not child (although they are v expensive)

Why does everyone always assume that this is about SAHM?

In the early years, childcare often cancels out your earnings which is why you are so dependent on the other partners salary/child benefit.

Hear hear Hazel. I work too and it affects me - no, not me, my kids.