im so anxious about threats to cut ctc...

[em83]

god i feel so depressed about the threatened cut to ctc, i have been following the news religiously about this new emergency budget, and have just read an updat which was posted tonigha 22.10 which states that incomes £30.000 or over will not be entitled to ctc

im so pissed off with this and feel so anxious

profscooter I'm self employed and my DH is in sales so we never even looked into tax credits. For the amount we would have got it just wasn't worth the hassle.

And we are just under the threshhold and we are quite comfortable, despite living in the SE with a big mortgage.

I am highly anxious too. The one thing I was worried about with this new government was that they were out of touch with reality (what with them being all rich) and really have no real idea of how much it is to just merely exist in the UK. I rely on child tax credits too and if there was a cut to 25k then I would just have to reduce my hours to reflect that as we would not be able to pay childminding fees. Yes I know that tax credits cost the government billions of pounds but surely it is better to support those who are actually contributing their taxes than to force them to stop working etc. I eagerly await the budget next week

I agree that to phase it out would be best for me as I dont mind losing it over a period of time but for it just to stop would be horrendous.

I wonder if these changes would not happen though until after April next year as could you imagine the headache for all to have it done immediately and if they are phasing out the £250 over a period of time it would only make sense.

I suppose I will have to wait until Tuesday but for now buy all the school clothes needed for next year this week lol.

As I understand it, the married couples tax allowance idea has been scrapped? Maybe I've got that wrong.

I'm sure I've also read that the £10k threshold will be introduced in phases, over a number of years.

So if that's correct then the cuts to CTC will make a big difference to those on earnings of around £25k.

Add to that the propsed NI increases and the possiblity of stopping child benefit at age 13 then those on a fairly low income with a couple of kids will be taking a massive hit.

Lots of people talking about this at the school gates this morning.

General consensus was that they and/or partners would stop doing the overtime etc that they were previously doing and drop their income just under the threshold. The money that they could claim in CTC was more than the lost income by far.

What happened to all the promises of the threshold being for £50,000 and over . Everybody said their numbers didn't make sense and to save the money they said they could it would have to be dropped after £30,000, but they kept on saying no after £50,000.

And we all just have to lump it or like it. Where does NC and DC get off telling us we don't or shouldn't really need this money. WTF do they know about needing money for anything. People have built these CTC into their budgets, however meagre the amount people think it is, lots of people rely on this money every month.

We only get the minimum anyway (£10 a week). As long as they do this at the same time or later than increasing the tax allowance to £10k, we should be better off.

We're only just over the threshold, but our sharp shock was this April - the previous tax year I'd been on maternity leave and DH had been in a rubbish job, so we'd been getting £40 a week. Then last tax year we were both working in okay jobs, so this April we got a sudden cut of £120 a month in what we got.

That was fun :-)

Those on a 25k with mortgage and a few kids will be up shit creek if the reports are correct.

Is it likely they will stop the childcare element for combined income of 30k? If so then I suspect many will stop work.

We're not married and don't have childcare so we will feel it.

Who is Nick Clegg to say families over 30K don't need it,he who is earning a fortune.

Try paying a wacking great mortgage on my dp's wage then come and tell me what we do or don't need.

They really ARE trying to keep women out of the workplace aren't they?

I mean, we earn 21k and I planned on going back to work when DC4 was at nursery, but that would take us over the threshold and would probably make us worse off, after nursery fees.

They won't reduce/cut tax credits straight away, will they? It will have to be next april??

Exactly stretch.

Suspect many will be in the same boat as you.

We may end up dh being a sahd. We both work at present and would like to continue but we have to seriously consider finances.

Surely if lots of people have to give up work then there will be a huge loss in income tax?

Possibly not Geek. Those who stay at home but aren't entitled to claim benefits (ie mostly women) means lots of jobs available for those who are currently claiming.

Not necessarily, GOTW. The WOHP or non-parents, etc., who are currently unemployed may take up those posts, thus reducing the unemployment figures. Couples with one person working do not claim JSA, etc. A win-win situation for the government: reduce CTC and unemployment.

X-post, wubbly!

I have heard several people say they will have to give up their jobs (mostly women working part time as second earners). Also people talking about being better off on benefits. The nearer you are to 25K and the more kids you have the worse off you will be.

Alot of people think the Cons wanted to so this anyway but are blaming the Lib dems as it was their policy. However, the Lib dems originally wanted to scrap it for those on about 26K with one child and 31K with two and £6K added on after that per child. They were talking mainly about the family element (according to a IFS report) which can be claimed up till over 50K. The other elements can be claimed up to about 40K if you have 3+ kids. I am wondering if they are scrapping them all now (childcare, family and child elements), in which case they should be reporting that families will loose thousands a year and not up to £545.

No, we don't claim child benefit. Then again, our little girl is just 4 days old! But we have no intention of doing so - we don't need it...sure, it would help pay for Mama's & Papa's clothes instead of Mothercare etc etc but that would be wrong in my view.

THe way to make this a positive thing would be to buckle it onto an increase in the minimum wage. Because it's not just the 'feckless proles with too many kids' that tax credits are subsidizing - it's the massive corporations boosting their profits by holding wages down and telling their staff they can make it up with tax credits.

Barmyarmy you might want to re-think that if you are not going to go back to work. Getting CB means that you do not have to make NIC contributions in those years so your state pension is protected. It's called home responsibilities protection.
Worth considering because although you might not need the money now, you might want your pension when you're old.
Obviously if you don't need the money you could save it for your dc, or give it to charity.

we are on £18,000 with 3 kids how will this affect us? I dont work yet am looking but live in a rural area and barely any jobs so havent got one yet. Will we be better if i dont work? God that feels so wrong to say that as i want to support my family through working too!

Absolutely, SGB.

Initially, I thought - to my surprise - that this government were going to hit businesses, etc., with an increase in employers' NI. However, the Daily Telegraph have suggested that, while this is likely to happen, it will only hit those with workforces paid above £21,000:

"National Insurance rates for employers, employees and the self-employed are likely to go up by 1 percentage point, while the thresholds are expected to rise by £570 for employees (the Labour Government plan) and £1,092 for employers (the Conservative plan), Deloitte said.

"This should mean that employers would actually see a reduction in National Insurance contributions for employees earning up to £21,000, and employees earning up to £20,000 would benefit as well. Those earning above these thresholds would pay more," it added."

So, all those companies who pay the vast majority of their staff the minimum wage, will actually - at least wrt their salaries budgets/outgoings - be better off!!!!!!

Lol at instead of mothercare, try ASDA or Primark or charity shops! FFS!

We are talking about SURVIVING, not being able to afford the lastest fashion! Some of us (esp mums) haven't bought ANY clothes for years!!

You are so frickin perfect, well done you.

People get so het up and mixed up about Tax credits.

They are split into 2 components

Child Tax Credit - which you get regardless of working
Working Families Tax Credit - to help pay for childcare costs

Child Tax Credit - it is the SAME amount if you earn between 24 and 55K or something a year, the SAME amount no matter how many children you have.

So you could earn 25K and have 6 children you get £10 a week (once they are all over 1)

Earn 54K a year and have one child you get £10 a week

Is it CTC or WFTC they are cutting, I am pretty sure WFTC stops once you reach a certain amount, have never claimed it but know we would not receive it anyway?

We would miss CTC immensely if it was suddenly stopped, although the fair way to do it would be to stop any increases and make it harder for people who have never claimed it to be eligible.
My CTC accounts for £850 a month and will go up to over £950 when our baby is born.

Me and DP have both worked in the past and I was going to retrain as a Midwife but our 2nd child is severly disabled and I couldn't committ to the working hours and still care for him. Now he is older it is DP who he relies on and as I am pregnant again neither of us works. I do plan to go to work when DC4 is born and in Nursery, even if it is just parttime

Before anyone says I am draining the state consider if we had put our child into care, he would then cost the state thousands a month. Plus it is circumstance which cause us to rely on CTC not laziness or greed

sweetkitty, you're the one who's mixed up! You are totally mistaken about child tax credits being the same amount between 24K and 50K no matter how many children you have. Put the figures into the online calculator and see what you come out with.

sweetkitty, you are wrong!

WTC is stopped, no matter how much childcare, afetr about 15k!

sweetkitty
You are mixing child element with family element, the latter being the one which is not variable.

Child element is variable and you can be on around 35-30K and still get 2,000 a year (or thereabouts) per child if you have 3+ children. These families are the ones that could loose £150 or more a week if they scrap TC altogether above £25K. It is these families who would probably be better off dropping hours etc and getting the extra TC.