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Original poster

Reduction in child trust funds and child tax credits

71 replies

haoshiji · 12/05/2010 16:34

At-a-glance: Cameron coalition's policy plans

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8677088.stm

Reduction in child trust funds and child tax credits

Bah!

OP posts:
snowlady · 12/05/2010 16:40

Some very good news on the environment - no new runways at heathrow, gatwick

per plane tax makes more sense.

I don't think any of it looks too bad so far.

frogetyfrog · 12/05/2010 16:42

Child trust funds were a ridiculous thing bearing in mind as a country we were broke.

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 12/05/2010 16:47

CTF should never have been implemented in the first place. We couldn't afford them even in the beginning.

The increase coming in the tax threshold will help all families who currently get Tax Credit and are working.

HousewifeOfOrangeCounty · 12/05/2010 16:49

I've been a labour supporter for many years and even I think the CTF was crazy.

Imarriedafrog · 12/05/2010 16:49

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thisisyesterday · 12/05/2010 16:50

i didn't vote tory, but to be honest I can't say I am bothered by the reduction in free money that's being thrown down the drain

CarGirl · 12/05/2010 16:51

No problem with CTF but would very much like to see the real detail of CTC cuts.

frogetyfrog · 12/05/2010 16:51

If child tax credits continue (for those with combined income of under £50,000) and yet tax threshold is moved up towards £10,000 then surely for those earning under £50,000 its wonderful news - more money in their pocket. For those earning between £50,000 and £58,000 it probably wont make any difference as tax credit of £40 or so a month will be removed but benefit of higher tax threshold. For those who didnt get tax credit it should still be good news.

Or, not having looked at the policies etc, am I barking up the wrong tree and totally wrong.

CarGirl · 12/05/2010 16:56

If the only change is reducing the cut off to £50k that's fine but I haven't seen a guarantee that they say freeze the levels at the current one so it doesn't increase with inflation etc, or the sliding scale changes etc etc etc

legoStuckinmyHoover · 12/05/2010 17:52

I dont know how to make a link, but if you go onto the conservatives.com website,

you will see that Thereasa May says combined income of less than £40k not £50k to be effected...

IFS, reckon £31k so we will have to wait and see?

EdgarAllenPoll · 12/05/2010 18:06

hum..i was always amazed CTC went up that far and we got anything @40k to begin with...

and child trust fund..i always saw this as introducing american style saving for university from birth...lets see if they get them cancelled before or after i give birth...

£250 with compound interest may get them a nice holiday in 18 years, or possibly will be chicken feed then, you never know..

but not something i'll cry over if we don't get a third....

snowlady · 12/05/2010 18:13

my DDs £250 is currently worth less than when they gave it to her. Wonder if it will have gone back up to £250 by the time she is 18.

MadameCastafiore · 12/05/2010 18:16

I think you have to be earning under 20k to be eligable for the no tax under 10k thing.

whomovedmychocolate · 12/05/2010 18:20

CTF is a complete waste of time and money. DS is 20 months younger than DD, we've invested £50 a month since birth - plus tops ups for them both. They are both worth the same despite the extra 20 months top up!

People on low incomes can't bloody afford to top them up anyway, so you just end up with an 18th birthday present which will no doubt be counted as income in assessing benefits if you leave school then and can't find a job.

I'm surprised how undisturbed I am by these policies. I think I can live with them.

Am delighted with the ditching of the new runways too - what an achingly stupid idea that was! We are running out of oil - oh good let's make some landing strips then

snowlady · 12/05/2010 18:29

madamecastafiore - how does the no tax thing work if your DH earns over 20k but you earn less than 20k? Is it based on household income or each person's income?

snowlady · 12/05/2010 18:29

sorry I meant no tax under 10,000 in my post above.

canariesfansmum · 12/05/2010 18:38

Are childcare vouchers affected? This is worth more to us than CTF and genuinely helps to make work viable.

Tidey · 12/05/2010 18:39

I won't be sorry to see CTF go. They seemed a bad idea to me as lots of families would have a situation where only one or some of their children would get the money and others born before that point wouldn't. Rather unfair. DD has one and DS hasn't. They can have DD's back if they like, it's worth less now than when she got it, as someone else said.

I was worried about tax credits but it doesn't sound as bad as I thought it might be.

NoahAndTheWhale · 12/05/2010 18:47

Ctf was a waste of money IMO.

Tax credits - dh earns about £42k, I earn about £7k although is freelance and may go up or down. We currently get £545 a year in tax credits. If tax threshold gets raised we would gain there if my earnings go up although not by as much as we would lose if limit for tax credits went down.

What will happen to current ctfs? Will they just sit there?

SimonCowellIsSatan · 12/05/2010 19:02

CTF is madness.

qwerty999 · 13/05/2010 12:45

Man-alive! I seem to be the only person who thinks CTFs are/were a good idea. I had twins 4 years ago and opened a stakeholder CTF and Shares CTF (by way of a sort of experiment). When they are 18 I plan to combine both and divide (or tell them to as it's not my money).

I only put the minimum of £25 per month in as that's all I can afford. The Shares CTF is now outperforming the stakeholder and even in bad times they have increased significantly in value way over a standard Interest CTF.

I sadly fall into a tax bracket of getting very little out of the Government, but get squeezed the most. So I think CTF was finally something worth getting for all my hard work. and it's not even mine, it's the kids.

So I'm dissappointed in Cameron giving-in to Clegg for that!

But I do wonder what will happen now, will the CTF providers perform so badly that the funds will be worth nothing.

To the people who think/moan that the CTF is worth less than when they got it. You have to remember this is an 18 year long term investment. And there's only 1 18 year period in the last 200 years that didn't perform. So Statistically, it will perform better, but you got to put something into it! You can't expect £250 to become £20000 in 18 years on its own!

potplant · 13/05/2010 12:49

Qwerty - its not such a bad idea if you can can top them up, but lots of people can't.

sallyJayGorce · 13/05/2010 12:57

CTF - window dressing idea. Get rid.

cat64 · 13/05/2010 13:14

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electra · 13/05/2010 13:16

I also think the CTF is not a good idea and I'm a labour supporter.

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