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

Yes, lets see what they come up with.

FWIW, I work in the private sector and don't have any animosity to public sector workers. I think a lot of the so called division between public and private is whipped up by the media.

interesting thread.
for the first time in my adult life i am actually concerned about this budget.
Dh took a pay cut last year and now earns 17,500k, i work part time and was hoping to up my hours in sept. currently together we earn £22k and we were hoping with my increase in hours in sept once DD goes to school our income would go up to £26k. Currently we get £120 a week TC. We get no help with childcare which was why dh took a pay cut and demotion infirst place so that we could work childcare out between us!
Todays budget will basically decided if i work at all! i love my job and am doing a degree too BUT we cant afford to lose our TC at all. If the choice is between getting TC and working less or working more ( i would have to work an extra 20 hours a week to earn the tc amount!) then i know what i will do!
what a bizarre situation!

Anyone who struggles to budget while holding the moral high ground by saying "we don't claim tax credits and child benefit" is plainly idiotic . Aimed at barmyarmy and others here who have said as much.

The money is budgeted for and you are entitled to it so stop being such bloody martyrs and claim it. I budget carefully too and would be broke without thre CB and CTC I have to (note HAVE TO) claim. Therefore if you don't claim it and manage by "budgeting carefully" then you have plenty more than I and many others do to live on.

Lego - I know quite a lot. You're right that they are not the majority, of course, and that maintenance can be unreliable. But those that DO receive it regularly should have it taken into account. It could be calculated by the tax year based on what was actually received, rather than projected forwards and based on what is expected. (I do know about this - I'm a divorce lawyer)

I've only read to pg 3, but I can tell you, DP and I are incredibly worried about any changes to tax credits. DP works bluddy hard in a 37.5hr a week job, and gets £16,000 a year for his troubles. I can't work due to being disabled (with Epilepsy) and we have 3 dc's, soon to be 4. Without the ctc & wtc, we would be better off if he stopped work, as we would in no way shape or form be able to cover our living costs on one £16,000 wage. I didn't chose to be dxd with epilepsy, I was working a 60hr a week job until that point (after dc3 was born, I was dxd). I have now been unable to find ANYONE willing to employ me. YES we are having one last child, but it was conceived before the election and before any hoo-ha about tax credits being 'got rid of'. This was our last child, we both came from large families, and wanted that ourselves. How the heck are we meant to manage on such a low income? If minimum wage was actually a livable amount of money, then maybe....I mean, we don't have holidays, our clothes come from supermarkets and charity shops, we only go on day trips with the dc's 3 times a year after saving up for months (and that includes the beach/zoo). We can't afford to run a car, yet my partner works full time. Maybe if all these politicians tried to feed a family on sixteen grand a year, they might see how essential ctc/wtc is, or raise minimum wage to a decent amount!

Watching the budget with interest!

Remove element baby from next year.
£40k plus reduction.
Align the threshold for child & family element.
Reduce the income disregard form £25k. I dont know what that means mind you?
No more pregnancy grant.
Restrict the sure start grant to first child only.
Single parents to find work when youngest child go to school.

Child benefit unchanged but frozen for 3 years.

Ronshar is that decided?

What does 'Align the threshold for child & family element' mean? Does it mean once you are not eligable for child tax credit you won't get family element?

Income disregard I think is if your income changes in the year of the award.

'Corporation tax will be cut by 1%'

Because those poor corporations really need a break.

Not like us mothers squandering government cash on childcare whilst we swan off to work.

Slushy I typed as he said. Although I did have to sky+ a few times to keep up

Hey I have to pay corporation tax as a small business owner, we aren't all minted!

So far it doesn't sound as bad as I thought it would be.

Poor George his voice is going.

Am very happy about keeping chid benefit

When are tax credits being cut from? Anyone know? April?

Im sorry for this stupid question(s) about to have my 1st and under the new 40k cap we are still ok for ctc- there are 2 elements we are looking at: family and baby element...
What I dont understand is these elements! We get the baby element until the baby one( this wont be the case april next yr though) Then do we just get family element?
Also what is all this aligning the threshold about?
ctc is going up?
My poor head is just spinning!!

*sorry until the baby is one!
I do apologise for the questions Im so lost!

baby element is £545 and family element is £545 too i think, from april you wont get the baby £545 but will get the £545 of the family element, so you will get £545 in ctc instead of £1090, works out about £10.50 a week?

'Also what is all this aligning the threshold about?'

Just a guess but I think this is what the lib Dems were talking about in their manifesto..

Basically I think it means once you don't qualify for the child element anymore you won't get the family element. So basically if you only get the £545 you will no longer get it if they align child/family thresholds. In other words you could get no tax credits on 25K with one child, 31-35K 2 kids, 36-40K 3 kids.

Either that or maybe they are thinking about lowering child and family elements. I have read that the lib dems wanted simelar to above though.

""We will expect lone parents to look for work when their first child goes to school"

what about 2 parent families? shouldnt they have to work >

i think the £25,000 income disregard, is something like "if you earn £25000 LESS than previous year then it doesnt affect tax credits for that year" so they have reduced this to £10,000

im not 100% certain this is what it means , but this is what i take it to mean

Is the 30K combined income or single income?

its not £30000, its £40000

Thank you glittery and jellybeans

Glittery- I thought as I will applying for ctc before april 2011 the baby element would still be until he is one as I applied before it came in to play? I think thats me being optimistic? Thats quite a big loss £545. Although our income will be less by then would that have relevance?

Jelly- I dont quite understand we wont get any ctc? sorry to be a pain!

em83

what he is saying basically that the goverment are not happy for single mothers to have a life on benefits, which I agree with.

Problems with that are, what jobs let you only work school hours and only employs term time.

also you will simply get those who dont want to work simply have another baby