Tax Credit Briefing discussion

vhodgson · 6 April 2011 at 9:51AM

Has anyone heard about the new working hour rules coming into affect next April? I have heard that couples will have to work 24 hours between them instead of 16. I am currently on maternity leave (was working full time school hours which total 25 hours a week). I was wanting to return to work on a part time basis because I'll have a young baby at home. My partner is a full time student (in his first year of a degree) and is finding it absolutely impossible to find work, around university, in the area where we live. Does this mean it will fall on me to work the 24 hours which means I will have to return to work for the full 5 days?

DX2 · 6 April 2011 at 9:58AM

robbsafc wrote: »

As I have had no prior warning to the drop £149.16 in Tax Credits this will now cause some problems as I have just managed to get my finances in order and removed my overdraft facility. I am currently in the process of writing a formal complaint to the Tax Credits office in the hope it may resolve something.

Rob.

What exactly does your tax credit award say? The one that runs from 06/04/2010 - 05/04/2011 try page 5 from your award notice, also read the section payments in 2011 - 2012 where they provisionally make payments.

mrsspendalot · 6 April 2011 at 9:58AM

vhodgson wrote: »

Has anyone heard about the new working hour rules coming into affect next April? I have heard that couples will have to work 24 hours between them instead of 16. I am currently on maternity leave (was working full time school hours which total 25 hours a week). I was wanting to return to work on a part time basis because I'll have a young baby at home. My partner is a full time student (in his first year of a degree) and is finding it absolutely impossible to find work, around university, in the area where we live. Does this mean it will fall on me to work the 24 hours which means I will have to return to work for the full 5 days?

Yes, this is us too! I work 22.5hrs a week (I was full time before Xmas but they dropped my hours to 'save money') and am going on maternity in a few weeks. My husband is a student too (2nd year). I am going to have to ask for 1.5hrs extra to make up the hours, as I don't see how he will fit in a job round his study and childcare whilst I'm at work, and even though the older kids can go in wrap-around care before and after school, the baby can't and finding baby nursery spaces is hard. It was already tight and very finely worked out around each other.

DX2 · 6 April 2011 at 9:59AM

vhodgson wrote: »

Does this mean it will fall on me to work the 24 hours which means I will have to return to work for the full 5 days?

Yes............

vhodgson · 6 April 2011 at 10:05AM

hey mrsspendalot,
I was willing to take a pay cut in order to have more time at home with our little one but looks like I won't have a choice. As school hours are 5 hours a day I would have to work 5 days a week. Another problem is do I start September 2011 on fewer days hoping to god that my partner finds a job anywhere he can before April 2012? But if he doesn't find a job I can't get the school to up my hours because it's all based on funding (the school can't find money out of thin air to pay extra hours) so we would loose our working tax of £280 a month!!

mrsspendalot · 6 April 2011 at 10:12AM

vhodgson wrote: »

hey mrsspendalot,
I was willing to take a pay cut in order to have more time at home with our little one but looks like I won't have a choice. As school hours are 5 hours a day I would have to work 5 days a week. Another problem is do I start September 2011 on fewer days hoping to god that my partner finds a job anywhere he can before April 2012? But if he doesn't find a job I can't get the school to up my hours because it's all based on funding (the school can't find money out of thin air to pay extra hours) so we would loose our working tax of £280 a month!!

I don't know really. I start maternity leave next month and am returning Feb 2012. I am planning on speaking to my manager in July/August as they set the new budget for the following financial year, and see if I can increase my hours from as soon as I go back to work after maternity leave. If they say there isn't the money, then I've got time to try and find a couple of hours in another department (unlikely as the whole place has had to cut back on hours) or ask permission to take on a second job (they are strict about exclusivity of service, so not guaranteed) and hope I can get something which fits around my existing job. That said, there would have to be a job to take - and we live in a small town with high unemployment. If I can't do any of the above by April, then we will have to take the hit financially until hubby can find something to fit around me.

vhodgson · 6 April 2011 at 10:20AM

I bet there will be a lot of families or suddenly need extra hours in order to not loose their working tax. I don't see where these hours are meant to come from as companies won't have the budget to pay for them.
Your situation sounds very similar to ours, we also live in a small town with extremely high unemployment rates. Lots full of people on benefits who seem to be financially better of than us. In fact I have a family member with 2 children on benefits who has money thrown at her, she actually gives her milk and fresh food vouchers to others because she says she just doesn't need them!

mrsspendalot · 6 April 2011 at 10:28AM

I'm trying not to worry about it too much, not good for my blood pressure in late pregnancy! It's a year away yet. Nothing we can do about it, just need to plan around it.

What I don't understand is how they plan to treat people who work less than 24 hours a week, but more than 16, when the benefits cap comes into force. They say that is aimed at workless households, so that no one on out of work benefits will be better off than a working family, and that those claiming WTC will be exempt (along with DLA claimants). Well I won't qualify for WTC from April as my hours currently stand, but I'm not claiming out of work benefits, or in a workless household .....

Hopefully it won't matter as hopefully I will get the extra hours I need, and it will all be just hypothetical ....

vhodgson · 6 April 2011 at 10:38AM

I was hoping that students would be exempt from the rule as they are not entitled to benefits anyway (job seekers etc). I'm not convinced the government are helping young families in any way, I think the child care element has been reduced to 70% and the baby element of child tax has been removed completely. We didn't have a baby so we could give it to someone else for 5 days of the week to look after (and have to pay for it!!)
I hope all works out for you, hopefully our partners will graduate with flying colours and scrimping and scrapping will be a thing of the past.

iceage3 · 6 April 2011 at 7:43PM

i have just found out about this does anyone know the rules of this,as i am part of a couple but my other half looks after the kids but i work more than 30 hrs a week ?
so do i still get working tax credit

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