The tax credits change 16hrs to 24hrs min

[Floralaura]

Did anyone even know about this change or was it just me? I saw today that from 6th April couples will have to work 24hrs (either one doing 24hrs or one doing 16 and one doing 8) in order to get WTC whereas now its only 16hrs that you have to work!
Luckily it doesnt affect me but it will do a Friend who only does 16hrs and will struggle to get 8 extra hours so will lose her WTC!
To be honest I am not sure the change is a good thing-lots will now lose money as theres not enough jobs as it is-so wont be easy for people who are on 16hrs now to get up to 24hrs..
https://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxcreditsbudget/index.htm

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

It all confuses me! Thats me out because I cant work more than 16hrs due to childcare so I might aswell not bother! Ridiculous!

 

[lhancock90]

I hate the conservatives, they punish families..

 

[Twister]

This is ridiculous, how is this meant to work when there are people who struggle to get more hours as it is? You can't just expect everyone working 16 hours to suddenly up their workload to 24 hours, what if those extra hours don't exist? What are they supposed to do then find another job? Bit hard atm since well there aren't any jobs!

 

[KayBea]

my job doesnt have those spare 8 hours floating around. seeing as theres 3 of us with kids so 3 of us need 8 extra hours. so our boss needs to find us 24 hours of work... its stupid!!!
means i cant work as i cant find childcare for these extra hours.. x

 

[Abz1982]

God, thats kinda crap then as if your single and do a job share thats half a week you are screwed! Also given that you only get 15 hours free childcare a week, that means that really, if you are struggling financially its just going to be worse having to pay nursery fees as well.

I work 3 days a week, thats 24 hours. usually for PT folk work 20 hours or 2.5 days .

 

[Floralaura]

God, thats kinda crap then as if your single and do a job share thats half a week you are screwed! Also given that you only get 15 hours free childcare a week, that means that really, if you are struggling financially its just going to be worse having to pay nursery fees as well.

I work 3 days a week, thats 24 hours. usually for PT folk work 20 hours or 2.5 days .

It doesn't affect single claimants-just couples doing a joint claim. With couple it has to be one working 24 or more hours or one doing 16 hours and the other person making it up to 24hrs+

Unless those who will have they WTC removed on the 6th April will be 'topped up' by other benifits then I can see it going horribly wrong and leaving a whole load of a families in a load of shit.. especially as its not been widely publicised that this will happen so not much notice to get another job/extra hours!

 

[teal]

Going to affect a lot of people Especially in times like this when companies are trying to save money etc, they won't have extra hours available xx

 

[Elli21]

What pisses me off is if you ring to talk to them about it they come out with "sorry, we havent been given training on this change yet" wtf?! Then how come we know about it?
My hubby recieves middle rate dla and i wanna know if im entitled to still work only 16 hours but i wont know until they get training!
Why send out letters and not fucking know the answers to our questions?

 

[feeble]

I agree with it actually, at the moment people can do a 16 hour week and will be paid the same as someone doing a much longer week which is actually quite unfair.

We shouldn't be paying people to choose to be part time employed, plus if your a single person it doesnt affect you so the chiidcare aspect is moot.

 

[Laura2919]

The changes only come into affect for couples. It doesn't affect single parents. A lot of people are going to be affected by this change

 

[tinkerbelle2]

This is frustrating, my OH was recently offered a job which is only 20 hrs we thought we would be ok, we did a lot working out and with the WTC we would have been able to afford the rent etc, but now reworking it out we will be worse off! There is no higher hours in the job, need to seriously rethink now, maybe make him take it and start saving now before the changes fully kick in, then start looking for a different job
Feeble its not about getting the same amount as someone who works longer hours, Or I don't think anyway, for us the wtc we would have got would have helped with the rent we would be paying leaving us only £10 a week better off then we are now!! but its a job so we wouldn't complain.

 

[suzib76]

actually i agree as well, i dont think it unreasonable to expect between 2 people that they work 24 hours between them

as for childcare surely if one parent is working then in the majority of situations the other could look after children

 

[suzib76]

This is frustrating, my OH was recently offered a job which is only 20 hrs we thought we would be ok, we did a lot working out and with the WTC we would have been able to afford the rent etc, but now reworking it out we will be worse off! There is no higher hours in the job, need to seriously rethink now, maybe make him take it and start saving now before the changes fully kick in, then start looking for a different job
Feeble its not about getting the same amount as someone who works longer hours, Or I don't think anyway, for us the wtc we would have got would have helped with the rent we would be paying leaving us only £10 a week better off then we are now!! but its a job so we wouldn't complain.

but the people who work longer hours for the same money also have to pay rent

 

[feeble]

This is frustrating, my OH was recently offered a job which is only 20 hrs we thought we would be ok, we did a lot working out and with the WTC we would have been able to afford the rent etc, but now reworking it out we will be worse off! There is no higher hours in the job, need to seriously rethink now, maybe make him take it and start saving now before the changes fully kick in, then start looking for a different job
Feeble its not about getting the same amount as someone who works longer hours, Or I don't think anyway, for us the wtc we would have got would have helped with the rent we would be paying leaving us only £10 a week better off then we are now!! but its a job so we wouldn't complain.

Could one of you take a second job? Just 4 hours a week? Could be anything, could even be self employed doing a spot of cleaning for the lady down the road...

 

[tinkerbelle2]

but the people who work longer hours for the same money also have to pay rent

Were did I say they didn't? I know that, what I am saying is without the wtc on less hours we would be £10 a month better off, but I am not complaining its a job!! I have looked if he was working more and it would be better for us but there is no work out there at the moment

 

[feeble]

It could even be 4 hours a week cleaning for less than minimum wage, self employed...

 

[LegoHouse]

I think it's easy to sit on the outside and give your opinion but unless your family is the family losing WTC then you don't know how much it's going to affect people.

Most places make part-time 16 hour jobs for a reason as that's the cut off between coming off of IS and being entitled to WTC to help you get into work.

I used to think the sun shone out of David Cameron's arse, now I wish I had listened to other people because he is a moron. He thinks women don't go back to work because they can't afford a cleaner..... LOL

 

[suzib76]

but the people who work longer hours for the same money also have to pay rent

Were did I say they didn't? I know that, what I am saying is without the wtc on less hours we would be £10 a month better off, but I am not complaining its a job!! I have looked if he was working more and it would be better for us but there is no work out there at the moment

i think you may have read more into my post than i wrote....

 

[tinkerbelle2]

i think you may have read more into my post than i wrote....

Sorry reading whilst dealing with a stroppy child!!
Feeble he is already looking on the net and has mailed a couple friends!