working family Tax Credit is this right???

doodler_2 · 27 October 2004 at 4:07PM

Can anyone pelase explain this.

My wife and I have a joint annual income before tax of around 44k.

Monthly we pay around £6-700 in stopages through tax and NI.

My wife is on maternity leave and she is taking her full 1 year leave allowance.

we have calculated our family tax credit allowance and had it agreed today.

we are entitled to £88 per month while she is on maternity leave and wait for it £44 a month when she returns to work next august...

How are you supposed to afford childcare on that, when our cheapest childcare nusery is £25 per day and our preferred place of care is £35 pound per day...

This is just plain crazy...can you claim back any sort of moneys to help towad Childcare? adn if so does a relative who would look after our baby count as a child minder, and allow us to claim said benefit?

If not then I think we will become a one working parent family....

why does this country victimise the working population yet feeds and breeds a lazy non working population.where is the justice?

clairec79 · 27 October 2004 at 5:34PM

If you are both working for at least 16 hours a week (I don't know if your wife is planning to go back full time or not) then when her maternity leave has finished you should get some childcare costs (must be a registered childcare - nurseries are ok as will be registered with the local authority, but unless your relative is also a registered child minder they won't be) you can get up to 75% of the costs paid

Spendless · 27 October 2004 at 7:15PM

I made exactly this point recently. Once your income gets to around £25,000 you are only entitled to £10.40 a week after your baby gets to 12 months old. The £44 a month that you are taking about. You currently get £88 cos your child is under 1 year old.

This is the same whether you have 1, 2 or 3 kids. I can't comment on what would happen if you have nore than 3 children as the income chart does not show that.

Though it doesn't apply to me another member has said it also means you don't get help towards childcare costs.

leftieM · 27 October 2004 at 7:57PM

Your email struck a chord. Myself and my husband earn roughly what you earn and pay childcare for our daughter. We've another child on the way so we may end up paying over £900 a month. Horror!
Our creche accepts nursery vouchers. It's an odd set-up, but basically your childcare costs get lifted from your salary so you save on the National Insurance - about 11%. It'd be worth checking whether your creche runs that scheme.
If your employer has a workplace creche you should see if they are involved in a salary sacrifice scheme. Basically your childcare costs get lifted from your salary (different system to above) and you save on tax and NI (it amounts to about 24%). Also workplace nurseries costs are tax-deductible so make sure they are keeping fees as low as possible by availing of all the tax loopholes that they can.
As for WTC, it's a way for the government to coax people into low-paid jobs. I thought we'd qualify if I stopped work. No chance! The economy needs women working. If there's an economic downturn they'll shove us back into the kitchens!

Spendless · 27 October 2004 at 8:04PM

Cos there's been a bit of interest about this i will bump up the thread I did on child benefit which has a link in it to the income chart of child tax credit.

doodler_2 · 27 October 2004 at 8:55PM

Thanks for your replys.

We really want another baby within two years of our new baby, but, and its this that really hurts..

we cant afford another baby, you cant stop your present standard of living because you decide to start a family, but you are so victimised in this country because of this. You work to build up a career then because you dont fall into the low income family bracket and lets face it no working person does, you get nothing....

Im sick to death of not getting a fair crack in this Country, we pay plenty in and when we need it its not available...

Annie47 · 25 March 2008 at 11:13PM

No disrespect but if you have children and you have a reasonable income coming in then I can't see what your problem is. I for one looked after my own children because child care was too expensive and as it was mine and hubbies decision to have children it was no problem for me to take care of them myself. Which I might add was a very enjoyable time ever. I returned to work part time when my children started school which proved to benefit myself in getting back into the workplace and my children in that I took them to school and picked them up from school. No regrets here. We may have had to tighten our belts in some ways. We only holidayed in England for some years (lovely country) and 1 holiday abroad when we could. You say you pay plenty in... how much do you expect to get out. The people who don't work and get benefits ... some dont want to work I agree. Some are widowed and some are women who prefer to bring up their own children and don't ask the government for childcare costs. I think these days people expect too much and want everything for themselves. Whats wrong with bringing your own children up they are a full time job anyway.

krisskross · 25 March 2008 at 11:30PM

doodler

It is your choice to have children. It would have been better if you had looked at the financial implications first. Perhaps you will need to look at where you can make economies. Certainly things will be a lot tougher financially with a child than when there were just 2 people with a high disposable income. You'll manage, everyone does.

dmg24 · 25 March 2008 at 11:44PM

This thread is from 2004?!?!?! x

krisskross · 25 March 2008 at 11:46PM

dmg24 wrote: »

This thread is from 2004?!?!?! x

Never noticed that. I reckon he may have sorted it out by now then.:rotfl::rotfl:

working family Tax Credit is this right???

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