I have no idea what to believe

[KodakTheBat]

I'm rubbish when it comes to politics, absolutely clueless. I'm seriously confused by all the conflicting information as it is, but this bit of info has made my ears prick up, can anyone clarify for me?

Are family tax credits being stopped, completly??

it's pretty much all conjecture until the budget is announced.....

Family tax credits were referred to pre-election by both parties that eventually formed the government i.e. Conservative and Liberal Democrat. Broadly speaking, both wanted to lower the ceiling for qualification down from the £55k it is at the moment... could be to £36k, could be to £50k.

So if your family income is more than £50k you may not qualify in future. If you are a family on a low income, you will most likely still qualify.

Since the election, Labour MP Frank Field has been asked to look more generally by the government at the issues surrounding child poverty and how best to alleviate it. He has recently gone public with ideas surrounding Child Benefit.

Thats what I thought, that it was only going to stop for people with high or middle income. We're on a low income, and tax credits help us alot. I've been told that they will be stopped altogether in within 18 months.

If they are stopped all together then they would be replaced with something else - hopefully better - to help families on low incomes. Benefits change name all the time as they evolve..... e.g. 'Dole money' became 'income support' became 'job seekers' allowance' and quite a few other names in between. They are rarely scrapped entirely.

There are rumours that child benefit and tax credits could be stopped from incomes as low as 22K! Say you were on a joint income of 23K with 4 children, you would loose hundreds a month all in one swoop!

My feeling is that it should be 50K at first as said in the election and then cut down to 37-40K gradually so people have time to get used to it. I also think they should condsider number of children etc as many people won't be able to work if their childcare is cut.

Personally I think the Cons want to rid of tax credits and the coalition gives them an excuse to use the lib dems policy of scrapping tax credits from 20-26K and blaming them.

Either way, I think for lower middle earners it should be cut gradually as people live and rely on means.

I read somewhere that they are leaving child benefit as it is (for now anyway) and scrapping tax credits for those over 30K, but obviously until the budget it is just speculation.

If you are a family on a very very low income, it is unlikely the government will screw you over too much as they will get hammered for it. At the moment their objective is to stop giving away money to high and middle earners as well as cancelling a few stupid projects, like ID cards. I would be surprised if your family was hurt too much, OP.