Could I be entitled to any benefits going from FT to PT?

[GlitteringJasper]

Am currently on ML with dc2, having both my children in childcare full time is going to cost £1300 per month. I'm basically working to pay the childminder!

As a result of this I'm going to be working 3 days a week until dc go to school and then back up to FT.

I've heard that I may be entitled to child tax credit or working tax credit because of having a lower income. Do any teachers have experience of this?

Thanks

I've also posted in chat but thought I might get more specific advice here!

Are you a lone parent? If so 0.6 of a teachers salary might put you below the tax credit threshold. But if you have an earning partner you won't qualify.

No, am not a lone parent. Husband works full time earnings around £20k.

In my mind there was something about families earning less than £50k per year being entitled to tax credits.

My dh gets around the same salary - I went back 0.4 after ML and we definitely earnt too much between us to qualify for those or any kind of benefits/credits. Not sure what the threshold is, but it's nowhere near as high as £50k I'm afraid.

Teaching part time still pays quite well in the grand scheme of things so you won't get any benefits if you have a working partner. Have you looked at childcare vouchers or considered a nanny share? It's frustrating, I know, but childcare is so expensive it seems mad to work just to hand the money over to someone else.

Just gave this a bit more thought- what if you work full time and your DH goes part time if you can earn more? You still get the holidays (I teach, I know we work in the holidays but you can work around your children more easily and pay less holiday childcare).

tax credits used to pay to higher earners so perhaps that is what you are thinking of? or the threshold for child benefit?

Thanks for the replies.

I already claim childcare vouchers and whilst it's good to have, they are only really a drop in the ocean!

My Dh could go PT but it would only reduce the length of his day rather than days per week so we'd still need quite a lot of paid childcare. I'd hav no problem working FT if he could go PT though.

No, you wouldn't, unless you are near M1 or M2 on the payscale and your partner earns about the same. The threshold is about 26K per household, I think. I qualify now, but only because I work PT and am at the bottom end of the payscale and my husband is redundant, and not earning at all at the moment. Even then it's not much.