Hours to work to be better off?

[GossipGirl]

Hi all, am trying to work out things money wise, even though I have a good while to go before popping I like to try and organise things this important asap.

There's a girl in my work who's 7 weeks ahead of me and she says she is coming back to work part time 16 hours a week when her maternity leave is over. I also wanted to come back part time and mentioned to her I might do around 20 hours or so. She then said to me that she doesn't want to work more than 16 hours as you get less benefits and things if you work over that amount of hours. When I've calculated tax credits then it's exactly the same working 16 hours as if I was working 25 hours and I'm pretty sure child benefit is the same amount no matter how many hours you work.

Can anyone help me on what you did going back to work and if what the girl in my work has said is right as I'm finding it quite difficult to find information on this specific subject online.

Thanks in advance! Lyndsey

 

[aly888]

I THINK its based on your income rather than the number of hours!! But dont quote me on that coz I could be totally wrong.lol

 

[MrsRH]

I THINK its based on your income rather than the number of hours!! But dont quote me on that coz I could be totally wrong.lol

Extra money for people in work
If you are working, you may still be able to get benefits or tax credits if you are on a low income. It does not matter whether you are working for someone else or self-employed. The benefits you can get depend on your circumstances, your earnings and other money you have coming in, and on how many hours you work each week. There are different benefits for people who work less than 16 hours a week and for people who work 16 hours or more.

There is also information about help if you work less than 16 hours, and if you get certain benefits and then start work or increase your hours or wages.

look at direct.gov.uk website
x

 

[GossipGirl]

I see, the girl in my work must have calculated it on our wages then coz I assume we make the same. I'll take a good look at the direct gov website, thanks both!

 

[Lynz16]

I worked out that its better for me to go back 16 hours after my maternity leave finished, but it would depend on how much you earn...its better for me because it would take me under the tax threshold so I wouldn't pay tax on my earnings and also it would mean only putting LO into childcare 2 days a week as opposed to more (depending on OH's work we might not need to pay childcare at all).
It all seems a bit like its the wrong way around, you would think they would be encouraging mothers to go back to work but for me to go back fulltime I would be working for around £6 a day by the time I paid for childcare!

 

[aly888]

I worked out that its better for me to go back 16 hours after my maternity leave finished, but it would depend on how much you earn...its better for me because it would take me under the tax threshold so I wouldn't pay tax on my earnings and also it would mean only putting LO into childcare 2 days a week as opposed to more (depending on OH's work we might not need to pay childcare at all).
It all seems a bit like its the wrong way around, you would think they would be encouraging mothers to go back to work but for me to go back fulltime I would be working for around £6 a day by the time I paid for childcare!

can i ask how you worked it out? i dont know where to start to work out what is going to work out best for us

 

[Rebaby]

That's really interesting. I am hoping to go back on 20 hours per week too but obviously if i would be financially better off doing 16 hours then i would re-think!

I wouldn't know where to start with calculating it though, when i rang the child tax credit people they asked me a few basic questions then told me that based on the info i'd given them we'd get "roughly £20 per week" and they sent us the claim pack (which we've just sent back) but they didn't say what that £20 would be (like working tax credit or child tax credit or what ) And obviously the claim form we've filled in is based on what hours i was working pre-maternity leave...so it's all a bit confusing

 

[aly888]

Rebaby,that 20 a week sounds like basic child tax credit.when they confirm your entitlement you can ring them up and say that your income has changed due to maternity leave etc and they will adjust it!!if you dont ring then they just calculate it in april when you update your details and they add what your owed to next years payments!!if and when you go back to work you should be entitled to the childcare element and probably working tax credit,but thats the bit I dont know how they bed work out

 

[GossipGirl]

Yes I don't understand how they work out the tax credits based on last years income when the current income is obviously much less due to working part time, so Aly you're saying that if you phone them as soon as your hours go down they will change what you're due?

And that's really interesting about not paying tax if you'll be working under a certain amount of hours Lynz (good name by the way ), there's so much to have to look into isn't there!

I'm just waiting for the budget to come out and to get my P60 then I'll be looking into claiming from September then, I'm glad there's some time left before having to decide.

Do you have to tell your work you're going back part time when you finish for mat leave or can you tell them a bit later on towards the end of your mat leave? There's so much you need to know it's so mind boggling!

 

[laura3103]

its based on what you earn each year and they go by the tax year before you claim.

i work 17.5 hours a week and i get both child tax and working tax but i'm also a single parent.

also a good thing to know is when you claim april if you have been on maternity leave last year you take off £100 for every week you week you were on maternity leave.

also when you are on maternity you will be paid as working the hours you did before you went on maternity then when you are due to go back and arranged your hours with work then you have to ring them and tell them that you are going back your new hours and salary.

hope this helps if you have any questions i dont mind if your pm me.x

 

[Lynz16]

I worked it out by taking my earnings before tax and working out how much I would get per month if I were working say 16 hours then I took away the cost of childcare for the amount of hours that I would be working, I then looked into tax credits etc and got a rough idea what I would get depending on how many hours I worked/money I earned which gave me a monthly figure.
I then done the same for if I was working full-time based on my wage that I get just now and taking away the childcare costs for the full week and there was only a difference of about £100 per month so for working 20 full days in the month I would only be gaining £100 which is just under £6 a day.
It seems really silly but I have had my OH and my mum check it over incase I had missed anything and I figure that for the sake of £100 a month that LO is better of with me than in full time childcare.
I found that working the 16 hours is better for me as well because working the 20 would take me over the tax threshold whereas working only the 16 keeps me under it so I don't need to pay the extra out of my wages for that either.

There really is so much to look into but its definitely worth sitting down and writing it all out!