Household income £30k and 2 children - are we really entitled to this much?!

[mrsraggle]

I just worked out potentially what our benefits would be if I resigned from work after maternity leave in 2012...this is what the benefits calculator has thrown back at me:

Child Tax Credit: £108.29 per week
Working Tax Credit: £76.54 per week
Council Tax Benefit: £0.00

Really? Plus the £33 a week child benefit I've worked out I'll be £400 a month better off NOT working until the kids are in school...(because my child care fees are well over £1000 and my salary is only £1100 a month!).

Anyone else with the same rough stats as me, £30k household income (from DH) and two young children that can confirm if they receive anywhere near this amount? I know it's a personal question.

 

[SaraAbi]

I think the thresholds are gonna be much lower from April 2012 so you may not be entitled to that much, it may be worth phoning tax credits to ask.

 

[superbecks]

I would be surprised if that was right. My DH works full time for 21k ayear while i train to be a midwife. We don't get any working tax credits (think the cut off for that is about 16k) and we get 350 a month child tax credits x

 

[littleblonde]

we have 2 children and we have an income of 18000 a year and we dont get that much. So no i dont think its right. Its all changing in april as well so we will probably be on less agagin then to . The tax credits is about what we get (so you would get less) but working tax credits are for people on low income or people who pay nursery fees when they both work (or when a single parent works). We get £6 a week as we are classed as a low income but at the higher end of low x

 

[cassysuri2010]

thats sounds completely wrong - I would double check it

 

[emzky90]

Woah! That's heaps more than us and we're on under 20k! I'd double check that...doesn't sound right x

 

[emzky90]

Ah just seen the benefits calc bit... I would pretty much doubt that it'd be that much, think you'd be lucky to get 20 per week! x

 

[hulahoop09]

Deffo not right. We earn about 30k between us and are entitled to 45 per month ctc (not sure what diff for more than 1 child).and no wtc.
X
x

 

[Dinah93]

That really doesn't look right, my DH earns £24,000 and I played with that calculator and when our LO arrives if I didn't return to work we'd be entitled to around £760 a year child tax credit, no working tax credit, and standard child benefit.

Please also be aware that from this April no one earning over £24,000 will be eligible for child tax credit - the idea being exactly this, to make sure no one is better off staying at home than working. Not sure if that is only for new claimants or existing ones though.

 

[Loui1001]

I'd double check it, definitely doesn't sound right. When my DH was out of work we checked it out and were entitled to nothing, based on my salary alone

 

[superbecks]

That really doesn't look right, my DH earns £24,000 and I played with that calculator and when our LO arrives if I didn't return to work we'd be entitled to around £760 a year child tax credit, no working tax credit, and standard child benefit.

Please also be aware that from this April no one earning over £24,000 will be eligible for child tax credit - the idea being exactly this, to make sure no one is better off staying at home than working. Not sure if that is only for new claimants or existing ones though.

Is this right? From what I have seen on the HMRC website it says if you have one child the threshold will now be £26,000 and if you have two or more children its £32,200.

 

[mrsraggle]

That really doesn't look right, my DH earns £24,000 and I played with that calculator and when our LO arrives if I didn't return to work we'd be entitled to around £760 a year child tax credit, no working tax credit, and standard child benefit.

Please also be aware that from this April no one earning over £24,000 will be eligible for child tax credit - the idea being exactly this, to make sure no one is better off staying at home than working. Not sure if that is only for new claimants or existing ones though.

Is this right? From what I have seen on the HMRC website it says if you have one child the threshold will now be £26,000 and if you have two or more children its £32,200.

Yeah you're right, although they say "might":

From 6 April 2012, the income limit for you will depend on your own situation. But as a very rough guide, you might not be able to get Child Tax Credit from 6 April 2012 if:
you have one child, and your annual income is more than around £26,000
you have two children, and your annual income is more than around £32,200

 

[fairy1984]

what are the current thresholds for being eligible for CTC if they're lowering them to that?

sometimes I wish we had been born 10 years earlier as I could be the SAHM I wanted with all the benefits we'd prob qualify for, no talk of taking away child benefit and house prices more affordable (sorry just a sidetrack)

hope you get a straight answer on what you'll be entitled to as its so hard to budget without knowing exactly what you're entitled to

 

[mrsraggle]

what are the current thresholds for being eligible for CTC if they're lowering them to that?

sometimes I wish we had been born 10 years earlier as I could be the SAHM I wanted with all the benefits we'd prob qualify for, no talk of taking away child benefit and house prices more affordable (sorry just a sidetrack)

hope you get a straight answer on what you'll be entitled to as its so hard to budget without knowing exactly what you're entitled to

Website says: At the moment, you can usually get some Child Tax Credit, as long as your income is not over the limit of £41,300.

Quite a significant drop really.

It's so hard to know what to do... I quite like my job but obviously if working leaves us no better off then I'd rather stay at home with my children until they go to school!

 

[fairy1984]

wow that is a significant drop. some people will find it really hard.

the thing i keep thinking of is weighing up if i'd be able to get another job paying me a similar amount when my children go to school. if I thought i could then i'd seriously look into trying to generate another source of income (small business/childminding etc) so i could be a SAHM until going back to employment when children were at school.

but, I think i have a good set up a the moment (i work 3 days per week and can work from home when i want) so its hard to give that up as no employer would offer that to a new employee (i had to negotiate after having my last baby to the terms i have at the moment).

 

[oliviarose]

I very much doubt that the figure you have is right.

We are a family with two children and an anual income of around £28,000 and we get £80.66 pw and this has childcare element on it too. Before childcare was added, we used to get £25 per week.

WTC is for people on a income of £17,000 or less I think.

I would love to get out of the TC circle, purely because they swap and change so much. But it is such a big help at the moment with nursery fees to pay. I am dreading when April comes and we find out how much we will be entitled to for nursery fees.

We will be okay once LO starts school, as OH sister works at a school and she gets all of the holidays off.