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[oliviarose]

^^^

What were you expecting people to reply to your thread with though? How it was wrong that you are not entitled to wtc anymore?

I am sure when this time last yr when you were surviving on 7k + benefits and you read a thread like you have posted, you would be saying exactly the same as everybody else has.

 

[new_mummy]

^^^

What were you expecting people to reply to your thread with though? How it was wrong that you are not entitled to wtc anymore?

I am sure when this time last yr when you were surviving on 7k + benefits and you read a thread like you have posted, you would be saying exactly the same as everybody else has.

I was only writing to share my bad news and to ask if anyone else is in a similar situation, is there something so wrong with that? People are very quick to jump down my throat... And I assure you that I wouldn't have written "exactly the same as everybody else has", because you never know what situations people are really in.

 

[xxembobxx]

Tbh this is just another proof that it doesn't pay to work in this country.

I agree that going from £7k to £29k should hardly be a struggle but on £7000 you would get almost maximum tax credits which add up to quite a bit. You would also probably be entitled to housing benefit and council tax benefit.
As somebody already pointed out tax and NI takes about 25% of a wage so the OP would be taking home less than £22k. Average rent is about £100 per week plus council tax of £20. That deducts over £6k a year. Which leaves £16k to live on. Which is more than do-able. If the OP needs a car to get to work you can add costs of £50 a week. £13.5k left.
Still do-able but bear in mind you would have to pay for school dinners (previously free) at £9 per week per child. You lose free prescriptions, dentalcare and eyecare.
I hope the OP has perfect eyesight!
Yes £29k is a lot of money but when you lose more than you gain by bettering yourself it can be a bit of a shock.

 

[oliviarose]

But you say in your edited post that you were going to be saving most of it? How could you be in a panic, when the money wasn't going to help with your cost of everyday living? Tax credits are not there to build up savings (and by the way, I am very sorry to hear that your mother is ill and not getting proper care from the NHS). Tax credits are there to help supplement a lower income.

I agree that a salary of 29k will have a lot of tax and insurance. But we all have to pay it and we all have bills/other costs we have to pay out, with a lot of us bringing home a lot less.

You say everybody is jumping down your throat. But you have more than doubled your salary in a year. It's a bit of an insult to people out there who are struggling. And you wanted to save it. We would all like to have tax credits to put to one side.

 

[jadesh101]

No offence, but I am struggling ladies and I don't find it insulting, she wanted to save the money to help her sick mother

 

[fluffyblue]

Everybodys situation is different, we have always been used to earning good money and whilst interest rates have been so low have benefited quite well from left over money but whilst on maternity I have gone from earning 2k a month to about £500.00 and its been so hard, so much so I have to return to work early, I think the OP was just saying that she had been used to the money and now its gone and she has to get used to it, a dissappointment more than anything.

Our joint income is about 47k and believe you me we dont have a lavish lifestyle we dont get benefits except chilid benefit but having worked since aged 16 both of us I think thats the minimum we should get. I think WTC should be based more on childcare for people who work and maybe paid direct to the childcare providers so that it cant be abused.

Unfortunately I have to go to work to live !!!

 

[moomin_troll]

I was informed today that we are no longer eligible for working tax credits. Last year (2010-11) we only earned £7,000 but this year (2011-12) OH has got a new job and will earn £29,000. Apparently because this year's income is more than £10,000 above last year's, we are no longer getting anything?!?! We had no idea this was going to happen and we were counting on that money, OH and I are in a panic and I have no idea know what we're going to do now.

Is anyone else in this situation, and are they really right?


-----------edited----------

Wow, I post a simple innocent question and I get a bunch of judgemental answers... I should have expected as much.

I didn't say in my OP that we cannot live without that money, I said we had counted on that money... As a matter of fact I was counting on this year (2011-12) to be the last year we'd receive working tax credits, as I know we won't be entitled from next year, to save up as much as we can to contribute towards private health care for my mother who is very ill and isn't getting the support she needs on the NHS because it sucks. And now we are not getting it - fair enough if we are no longer entitled but I was only saying it's a shock to find out, that's all. Anyway, thanks a lot for a lot of your critical posts!

For those of you who actually posted helpful replies, thank you

i havent even read the whole thread because i knew how it would go
we were never entitled to wtc but got ctc. then when we went from £45 a week to just £10 it was a real shock, i wasnt working and oh didnt get much of a pay rise, then then said we owed them money which we didnt

now im not living on ohs wage as hes not around and my annual income is only £15,000 (which i do get taxed on) im used to living on £25,000 and i cant even get ctc because i have savings i dont get benifits because i have savings and i can easily live off what i get because i have to but it really pisses me off that because a person wants to save money for a better future then u cant get anything and are expected to live off ur savings.

anyway rant over. i no how frustrating it can be to need help and not get it, just because someone has a pay rise doesnt mean they are better off

 

[LankyDoodle]

Everybodys situation is different, we have always been used to earning good money and whilst interest rates have been so low have benefited quite well from left over money but whilst on maternity I have gone from earning 2k a month to about £500.00 and its been so hard, so much so I have to return to work early, I think the OP was just saying that she had been used to the money and now its gone and she has to get used to it, a dissappointment more than anything.

Our joint income is about 47k and believe you me we dont have a lavish lifestyle we dont get benefits except chilid benefit but having worked since aged 16 both of us I think thats the minimum we should get. I think WTC should be based more on childcare for people who work and maybe paid direct to the childcare providers so that it cant be abused.

Unfortunately I have to go to work to live !!!

Hun, our joint income before I had my baby in 2010, was over 40k with a take home of about 2800 a month. We didn't have childcare to pay for, and we didn't live a lavish lifestyle but the money still went.

Somehow, when I went down to 400 a month mat pay, then down to 0, although we ended up spending our savings, we did cope. I am now back working 23.5 hours and earning 12.5k a year. Not great. We have had to change our lifestyle a bit but we still enjoy some extravagances; my daughter has waterbabies lessons at a cost of over 500 a year (plus the underwater shoots), we both have decent cars, we have a horse (did have 2 when she was born but one had to be put to sleep), we went to see take that on Weds, we eat out off the cuff, we do lots of nice things as a family.

Last night, we were watching the news and there was an item about families in poverty, food prices going up lots. My husband has always had a nice life; he comes from a farming background and while his parents are tight with money, he's never had to worry about where the next meal is coming from etc. I also have farming in my family but my parents were divorced and as a child we would often be worried about the next meal, mum couldn't afford a decent car so she would buy scraps and do her best with them but we were often broken down on the side of the road! We looked forward to her getting her grant every 3 months from uni (when she started retraining) as it meant we could go to the charity shop and get some new clothes that actually fit! New school year was a nightmare - she'd reserve uniform at the charity shop by giving them £1 to keep it back until she could pay for it properly! I know what it's like to have bailiffs knocking because your mum has been unable to afford the payment on the washing machine she's had to buy on tick because she can't afford to do it any other way. I don't want to paint my mum in a bad light - many families NOW have these issues. It's living on the breadline. So yes, when my husband turned round last night and said he felt that WE are living close to our means and are struggling, and said that he couldn't understand food sales going down as people always have to eat, I just had to smack my head into my hands! It's nice for him that he doesn't get it, but he really just doesn't have a clue how well off we are even though we don't have a lavish lifestyle as such. I made it clear to him that there are lots of things we spend money on that we COULD cut out/cut back if we really needed to but because we don't need to and have other options, we don't see them so easily. I could have become a SAHM if we had been willing to live closer to the breadline, but I/we are not prepared to do that when there are other options for us. Sorry, bit of a tangent there. I just think that the better off people are, the more they think they are struggling sometimes.

There is a childcare element of child tax credits, and that is intended for help towards childcare costs. WTC are for people who are earning very little while working over a certain amount of hours.

29k after tax and ni and student loan is £1735.26. With no student loan it's £1840.26! On top of that you'd get £45.50 a month CTC and £88 a month child benefit for one child. If you are not working you won't need childcare. So all of that is to pay your rent and bills and food. After we have paid for childcare we have about the same amount left (including the child benefit, after childcare we have about 2k a month left) and we still have enough to save/buy nice things/pay for our horse! I understand why you feel it is such a shock, especially as you have budgeted to have that money there, but at the start of April most people's money went down at very short notice and it's just something we all have to adjust to.

 

[indy and lara]

I do think that some of the disagreement on this thread has come from muddling of WTC and CTC. I am in the fortunate position that DH and I have never received either of these but I do have some understanding of the struggle life can be for those who rely in them through supporting families I have worked with.

OP, as I said before I can understand that you are disappointed but WTC are there to support those on very low incomes. They are to top up wages to a living level. When you earned £7k then they were a godsend I am sure but with £29k a year, you really are not in the same position of need, even though you had ideas of what you wanted the money to be spent on.

A previous poster said that your case was an example of how it doesn't pay to work anymore but I haveto disagree with that. Yes, you will have to pay for things you didn't before but we all have to do that. My DH supports our whole family on his salary and paying 40% tax on part of his salary is pretty frustrating but we do all have to pay tax- hell, my 2 pregnancies have probably cost all he has paid in NI in the last 10 years. The margins between what you had before and what you have now are still pretty big.
CTC is a whole different thing and I am horrified when I read how many ladies on here are now struggling because their CTC payments have been cut to the bone.

I am sorry you feel picked on or judged but tbh, in your 1st post it was a bit hard to be sympathetic when your situation seems to have improved so much but you were seemingly upset about not receiving a benefit aimed at those on the real breadline. I hope you find a way to manage to do all you had hoped.

 

[xxembobxx]

i havent even read the whole thread because i knew how it would go
we were never entitled to wtc but got ctc. then when we went from £45 a week to just £10 it was a real shock, i wasnt
anyway rant over. i no how frustrating it can be to need help and not get it, just because someone has a pay rise doesnt mean they are better off

I think that's terrible. There is no incentive to save nowadays and yet in these times of recession you want the security of having money tucked away in case of job loss.
The savings threshold should be so much higher - if somebody has struggled to save money so they have a cushion should their lifestlye change then why not reward them for that? I doubt the saving was easy. You must have had to cut back on things in order to put money aside.
I just feel the culture is spend, spend, spend and let the government look after you if something goes wrong. If people gto a decent savings rate they might save instead of opting for credit.

 

[xxembobxx]

I think WTC should be based more on childcare for people who work and maybe paid direct to the childcare providers so that it cant be abused.

I agree
I would be quite happy for all benefits and tax credits to be abolished as long as childcare was free. Then it would be up to a family whether they choose to work or not.

You mentioned you have to work to l live - I'm in the position I won't be able to afford to work. In Decemeber I'll have 2 babies under the age of 2. The cost of childcare would be more than I could earn

I saw a psychologist (who was once an advisor for SureStart) and he said this country is geared up to pushing mums out to work and he suggested they pay every family an amount equivalent to a wage and let the mum choose whether to stay at home or go to work.
Mind you he didn't say who would foot the bill for this plan....

 

[moomin_troll]

i havent even read the whole thread because i knew how it would go
we were never entitled to wtc but got ctc. then when we went from £45 a week to just £10 it was a real shock, i wasnt
anyway rant over. i no how frustrating it can be to need help and not get it, just because someone has a pay rise doesnt mean they are better off

I think that's terrible. There is no incentive to save nowadays and yet in these times of recession you want the security of having money tucked away in case of job loss.
The savings threshold should be so much higher - if somebody has struggled to save money so they have a cushion should their lifestlye change then why not reward them for that? I doubt the saving was easy. You must have had to cut back on things in order to put money aside.
I just feel the culture is spend, spend, spend and let the government look after you if something goes wrong. If people gto a decent savings rate they might save instead of opting for credit.

saving up money isnt easy no but then they also counted money for my childrens savings as mine because it was in my name at the time! that money was from there dads pension.
i could rant all day about this lol but yes we arent encouraged to save at all. we are supposed to get on the property ladder so i dont no how on earth normal people are supposed to save £30,000 for a deposite because then ud lose all help that u might need

 

[xxembobxx]

I never thought of it like that. We have thought about saving to get on the property ladder but it's so far out of our reach. It's frustrating when you just can't seem to get ahead.
I think the only way is to earn enough that you are out of the tax credit spectrum altogether. Hopefully in a couple of years I can get back to work and OH and I can be financialloy independent of the govt.

 

[moomin_troll]

the more u earn the more tax u pay...its never ending and nursery fees are beyond a joke :/