Is there something special about working 30 hours?

[Saffers]

I am dropping 1 day after working full time all my life as I feel my 7 year old son and me finally need the rest (and I might be able to afford it). It feels like the most manageable hours for the 4 days of work for me would be 28 but everyone says there is a good reason to work 30 hours but they cannot explain why, with confidence. Can anyone give me a definitive answer as to why 28 is better than 30? Is it to do with pensions or benefits or something?

It's to do with Working Tax Credit.

Ah so is there some kind of threshold and does that mean that instead of working 28 hours I might just as well work 20 or something?

I think so. Apart from the extra 8 hours pay, of course. There's the magic 16 hours a week threshold that qualifies you for Working Tax Credit in the first place, then there's another threshold at 30 hours that benefits you a bit more.

You could try playing with turn2us to see what difference it would actually make to you.

It may be irrelevant but when applying for things like mortgages/loans etc 30 hours per week is usually classed as full-time and therefore lenders seem more positive towards you. Anything less and they consider it part-time.