new child tax credits for 2012!!!!!

[Tasha]

I do think that there isnt more help avaliable to encourage women/one parent to stay at home, that frees up jobs for others and makes the unemployment rate better. Dont think its right but do believe thats why.

Not cynical at all

 

[babyhopesxx]

I do think that there isnt more help avaliable to encourage women/one parent to stay at home, that frees up jobs for others and makes the unemployment rate better. Dont think its right but do believe thats why.

Not cynical at all

Hmmm not thought of that. I do believe the government like to make living as difficult as they can for everyone. Now thats cynical, lol

 

[Tasha]

cynical but true

 

[fairy1984]

agree with lots of what others have said.

in order to put my two children in nursery full time i would need to earn 50K. this would JUST cover childcare so i'd be working full time for say around 100 per month even earning that amount

 

[babyhopesxx]

Why don't the government just pay the WTC/CTC towards registered child minders. That way families can afford to go to work and not have to pay extortionate amounts for child care and the child minders still get a wage

Il vote for you if you put yourself up!!!

I think mothers who return to work should be congratulated. I don't think people should get money for having children, but I think making it easier for the mother to go back to work after having children would save money in the long run. I have a very well educated friend who has 2 children under 3, she was a pharmacist on a good wage before having children and she doesnt work now. She would have to earn about £40'000 in order to make it worth her going back to work as the cost of child care is so incredibly high! On average, most of the nurseries around here want over £60 a day (sometimes up to £90!)....who can afford that?! That would annihilate the majority of a days work!

Lol, thanks. The thing about your friend sadly happens for most women but who can blame them for not going back to work. I although have a friend whose mum does not work so she looks after her grandaughter while my friend goes out to work. How lucky is my friend!

 

[Ozzieshunni]

I might get some flack for this, but if I had a choice between working and staying home with Alex, I would pick Alex every time. I think that what needs to be done is make sure women have support for the first five years and then start encouraging them to go back to work. That way, they can be home for the first crucial years and then once the child is school aged, they can get back into the work force. This is a more logical approach to me. I would rather be raising my son than sticking him in nursery M-F 8am-6pm. No offence intended to those that have to use nursery and childminding, but I betcha any one of those women would give anything to be home with their babies instead of working.

 

[hulahoop09]

If i didnt work we would be at a loss. Going back to work we will be left with about 80 amonth but if ctc decide not to pay the 200 towards childcare they would at the mo then we are totally screwed and I cant afford to work or not work! Xx

 

[Linzi]

^^I agree, tax credits are to help working families. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have high income jobs, especially in the current climate and I suspect that we will be on the borderline under the new arrangements and may just lose out. I am the main breadwinner but I am returning to work part time as I can't stand to be away from my kids all day every day. My DH doesn't earn much and the way things are at the moment there is little prospect of him getting a better paid job. If we waited until we were well off we would never have had kids before I hit the menopause. We both work but things are tight and the extra money from tax credits is a big help.

Exactly this. Some of you are very lucky to have high earning OHs. (I'm not saying the OHs themselves are fortunate to be high earners, as that is usuallyt he result of hard work etc,) It doesn't make you any more deserving of children than someone whose OH is a lower earner and therefore benefits from tax credits to help ends meet, especially with childcare.

I agree with this, our tax credits helped us a lot when seth was a baby. we both wanted to work full time with the view to have a career and hopefully earn more in the future. We wont qualify anymore but if we hadnt claimed them short term while one of us stayed at home we wouldn't have been as well off as we are now. We used them as a short term measure to help us along and get a better life for our families and also in the longer term we'll be paying more in tax anyway so win win.

But we deserve both of our children, we are hard working and we love our kids to death. They dont have designer clothes and shoes or all the latest toys, but they ask for nothing in love and thats all they care about. So would we not have been entitled to give children a good, loving home because we dont earn a lot of money?

 

[freckleonear]

I might get some flack for this, but if I had a choice between working and staying home with Alex, I would pick Alex every time. I think that what needs to be done is make sure women have support for the first five years and then start encouraging them to go back to work. That way, they can be home for the first crucial years and then once the child is school aged, they can get back into the work force. This is a more logical approach to me. I would rather be raising my son than sticking him in nursery M-F 8am-6pm. No offence intended to those that have to use nursery and childminding, but I betcha any one of those women would give anything to be home with their babies instead of working.

I agree with this. The first five years are so important. I think if more mothers (or fathers) were able to stay home with their young children then it would improve a lot of problems in society and the economy. So I don't like the idea of tax credits being used to fund free childcare instead of being paid to parents.

 

[Emmy1987]

Thinking about it, the only way I can go back to work and still make money is if I worked all weekend every weekend, as OH has weekends off so can look after LO. So to do the 'proper' thing and go to work and pay my taxes I'd have to give up any contact with my OH, which would no doubt put an incredible strain on our relationship and we could end up splitting up, meaning I would have to go on benefits as I couldn't work and afford childcare and I'd probably be better off as a single jobless mum than working and living with my OH.



I just don't know what to do tbh.

 

[georgebaby1]

Thinking about it, the only way I can go back to work and still make money is if I worked all weekend every weekend, as OH has weekends off so can look after LO. So to do the 'proper' thing and go to work and pay my taxes I'd have to give up any contact with my OH, which would no doubt put an incredible strain on our relationship and we could end up splitting up, meaning I would have to go on benefits as I couldn't work and afford childcare and I'd probably be better off as a single jobless mum than working and living with my OH.



I just don't know what to do tbh.

This is the situation im in, due to return to work in feb and if i paid for full time childcare to go back full time, with my travel expenses id walk away with £35 per calendar month????? how is that right??? its crazy, the only way i can afford to work is to work when oh is at home and can care for lo so i dont have to pay chilcare. so come feb il be doing my part by probably working nights & weekends. to the high earners i agree with your opinions on benefit scroungers, but for ppl like me who earn just under the breadline but have worked from being 16, we should get help I want to return to work im no scrounger (nly part time as seeing my lo is more important than money)

 

[chysantheMUM]

Thinking about it, the only way I can go back to work and still make money is if I worked all weekend every weekend, as OH has weekends off so can look after LO. So to do the 'proper' thing and go to work and pay my taxes I'd have to give up any contact with my OH, which would no doubt put an incredible strain on our relationship and we could end up splitting up, meaning I would have to go on benefits as I couldn't work and afford childcare and I'd probably be better off as a single jobless mum than working and living with my OH.



I just don't know what to do tbh.

This is the situation im in, due to return to work in feb and if i paid for full time childcare to go back full time, with my travel expenses id walk away with £35 per calendar month????? how is that right??? its crazy, the only way i can afford to work is to work when oh is at home and can care for lo so i dont have to pay chilcare. so come feb il be doing my part by probably working nights & weekends. to the high earners i agree with your opinions on benefit scroungers, but for ppl like me who earn just under the breadline but have worked from being 16, we should get help I want to return to work im no scrounger (nly part time as seeing my lo is more important than money)

This is my situation too, me and OH are ships passing in the night. Not good for the relationship I know, but its the only way we can do it because we can't afford childcare. I'm just trying to stay positive about the whole thing because it'll get better when she starts school.

 

[Aunty E]

Me and my OH are the same at the moment - doing baby handover after work for me and before work for him. But full-time childcare would cripple us financially. Luckily OH is self employed and can often look after the kids during the day and we have a very flexible childminder. If we had another one OH would have to give up work.

 

[Wildfire81]

Yup I have a family member who is a little younger than me and each time one child goes to full time school she gets pregnant. Has never worked a day in her life, was claiming as a single parent when her oh was on a decent wage and wont get married as she knows it will change benefits situation. And she has a nice car and has hols abroad etc with 3 children yet me and hubby worked all our working life and struggle and cant afford to drive! Lol. And I know of a girl who is a year older than me and has 7 children almost all my different dads and splashes the cash!!! xx

Yeah this is exactly the sort of people I was thinking about when I wrote my original reply

Arggghhh I best not get started

Lol. I reported the said family member and somehow she managed to blag her way out of it even though she had been doing it for about 7 years! And now I believe she is in a better situation!!! Shocking.

xx

I've reported the people I know are doing it but as far as i'm aware nothing has been done

Makes me angry!!!! Perhaps I wouldn't mind if they spent the money on their kids, but they don't

In my state I am a mandated state reporter for anything like this. I reported a woman once or trying to sell her food stamps to me at Walmart. You know why I did? It was not because I am a bitch, but because it is a felony. A felony for the seller and the buyer! Not everybody is as savvy as I am and might fall into their fraud. Great job at doing the right thing.

 

[Wildfire81]

It is really easy to forget that alot of times when a family earns more, they are taxed more and also usually have more expenses, better cars and houses. Therefore they do not make out much better than low income earners. I am a firm believer that before you know it you spend what you make, no matter how much.

 

[XJessicaX]

I love that we are having a proper discussion on what is quite a touchy subject. Really enjoying listening to everyone's opinions!

 

[xcharx]

I love that we are having a proper discussion on what is quite a touchy subject. Really enjoying listening to everyone's opinions!

Well said x

 

[xcharx]

It is really easy to forget that alot of times when a family earns more, they are taxed more and also usually have more expenses, better cars and houses. Therefore they do not make out much better than low income earners. I am a firm believer that before you know it you spend what you make, no matter how much.

well said.. me & OH got use to what we earned, he brought a car on finance & I got a loan to get a car, if we hadn't done this wed be £200 better off a month!! X

 

[Eve]

We live off one income. OH works around 200 hours a month. We claim common law married and all I get is 300.00 a month in child tax credits which are based on family income. We pay out around 1650.00 a month in bills. That isht invluding groceries or car repairs or medication as we do not have prescription coverage or dental/optical.
I look after kids part time to help with a few bills but its not much. Its hard but I am very thankful I can be home with my daughter until she goes to school. Some people dont get to really see their kids as they have no choice but to work

 

[ChloeBaybee]

I really think this country needs to sort out something with childcare because the amount we are having to pay is ridiculous. I, as a Dental Nurse have more disposable income than the Dentists due to the fact that at least 80% of their wage goes on childcare, but obviously they have an entirely different lifestyle to me! Not only does this country make you not want to go back to work it also makes you not want to progress in your career because as soon as you're earning over 40,000 the tax you have to pay is huge! It really is sickening the people that pay the most into our system get less/nothing out of it. I just wish one day the goverment would actually listen to people. The Government are totally out of touch with what's happening in this society, like the blind leading the blind. Isn't it fantastic how in the middle of all these cuts they still manage to raise benefits by 5%