Why is my friend only entitled to £16 a week tax cred??

SuziQ

missk_ensington wrote: »

Well as a single parent myself, I get £800 a month tax credits, £300 CSA, £240 DLA and child benefit, (on an assumed income of £0 workign 40 hours a week starting a new business) quote]
All I can say is that you are getting more than me and my 3 children.Perhaps I should start my own business and work 40+ hours and declare no income-I am not being nasty or anything I would seriously consider it as it would make me better off.

I am also unfortunate in that my first ex has never paid a peny maintenance for my oldest 2 (csa gave up as he is self employed) and the second is low income but anything he did pay would go to the govt.Can I ask how many children you have? My ctc has gone down now as my oldest goes to UNi next month and my ctc for me plus 2 kids is going down,to £300 less per month than you.

missk_ensington

SuziQ - I know what you mean about the 'entitleto' mentality, which I would confess I have probably got, but then when everyone else has got that mindset, why shouldnt I? If there are funds available, and I am entitled to them, why shouldn't I apply for them, cos everyone else does. By me saying 'No Im gonna take the moral highround and turn them down' what am I achieving, other than depriving myself of extra money and giving the government a bit more to spend on Iraq/MPs expenses/immigrants...

If you cant beat em, which you cant, then join em and take a slice of it yourself because turning it down wont help the country, only deprive me

bestpud

missk_ensington wrote: »

Bestpud, yes I agree they seem to have a decent salary I have absolutely no idea what she does with it. Obviously for me to get a better picture and try to help her she'd have to show me every penny coming in and out and Im not sure if she'd be comfortable doing that, I know she doesnt cook much, partly because by her own admission she's rubbish and partly cos she's so exhausted from working 55 hours a week. She's only 10 weeks pregnant, so cant get anything yet, but thanks I'll make sure she claims that grant when the time comes.

I think her overpayment is about £1,500 but not sure why, I think her hours at work fluctuate weekly so its hard to accurately say what her annual income will be, hence the overpayment.

They really need to budget! Why not offer to sit down with her and help her get started? I'm sure they could cut back considerably and without much 'pain'.

mouseymousey99

what about buying her one of Martin's books? Say you got 2 by mistake or something & hope she takes it from there??

Elle00

I know that £22kpa isn't a low income BUT they are paying very high rent compared to what some of us are paying. What is their housing situation? There's a drastic way to slash their rent in half but it depends on their specific situation.

I really sympathise with your friend. It's not like this is a single parent who's studying so I don't see how it's any different to if she was a married SAHM. If your friend ditched her studies to go to work full time, she wouldn't qualify for childcare assistance because the joint income would be too much and she'd basically just be in either the same or worse situation after paying out most of her wages in childcare!!

Has your friend tried the CAB? Sometimes there are independant or small charities in areas that will give grants to help with studies.

Also, she could try offering a childminding swap with people. Single Mums especially might jump at the offer to swap looking after her child for a day in return for her taking their little one for an overnight stay so they can get a night out!! You can't pay unqualified people to childmind (well, it's a grey area) but you can do swaps.

I definetely agree with the comments about Dad helping out though. This is a two parent family - where is his annual leave entitlement?

Also, have they not got any family they could send little one to stay with for a week as a "holiday"?

missk_ensington

SuziQ wrote: »

missk_ensington wrote: »

Well as a single parent myself, I get £800 a month tax credits, £300 CSA, £240 DLA and child benefit, (on an assumed income of £0 workign 40 hours a week starting a new business) quote]
All I can say is that you are getting more than me and my 3 children.Perhaps I should start my own business and work 40+ hours and declare no income-I am not being nasty or anything I would seriously consider it as it would make me better off.

I know your not being nasty and I completely agree with you, maybe you should start your own business and do the same thing. I am not ashamed to say I engineered my working situation, going into business because I knew it was a win/win situation - if the business fails I have a lot of guaranteed tax credits, if the business take off I can support myself from that and can come and go as I please working from home etc. I have every reason to believe my business will do very well next year and I wont get any tax credits anymore (I manufacture, wholesale and retail blouses and dresses for slim women with big boobs) and have in principal sold my stock before it has even arrived aqnd I hope then I can 100% support myself, however there was little risk taken by me to do it.

SuziQ

mouseymousey99 wrote: »

I think a lot of it is people are just not educated with money, and as a generation we have never known 'want'. Its always been buy now pay later blah blah and the credit crunch is hitting people hard. Also no one is taught very basic cooking at school, or to eat things up rather than throw it all away. Hit me hard when I hard to start budgeting!! But I think your friend needs some help to budget - yeah I agree with MsM re partner doing his bit - but most times (waiting for flying bricks here) its the woman!!
Barnesymom - if your husband is disabled why aren't you getting DLA?? Its not means tested.

Discovering this site at the same time I ended up on benefit has been a literall God-send to me. I have massively cut our grocery bill every month-I reckon I have at least halved it (although as I never kept track before-which shames ne now!). We eat better than ever,I have actually lost a bot of weight with not eating between meals and I have really enjoyed cooking again after years of using ready-made. My 3 children have also learnt loads-I will see my daughter off to Uni (hopefully-results on Thursday!:eek: ) knowing she can cook,make up and adapt recipes and knowing she will budget and bargain hunt. I pray I will get back to work asap but I will retain my moneysaving ways-I never want to go back to the waste and poitless spending I have done in the past (even though compared to a lot of people I know/read about I really wasn't that bad,just not mse!)

missk_ensington

Haha yeah I might buy her martins book, how much is it? Doesnt he have a few books out? Its her birthday September and I was wondering what I should get her! Thanks!

Elle00 - thanks, we are sort of doing the swapping thing now, I've had her son Sunday, Sunday night, Monday and today and although my daytime childcare is okay, I would really like to go to Circuit training on a Tuesday evening but I cant cos of son, so I'm hoping I can recoup the favour.....:-)

SuziQ

Missk,my only issue is that I ran a business with my ex and in many ways it has been a total disaster-hence the debt-mainly because he was disorganised,didnt price things properly (we ran transport) and never sat down and looked at where all the money was going. I had no chance to change things as he lied to me constantly and never brought receipts etc home-our accountant has the patience of a saint but did say to me recently if he ever shows signs of wanting to start another business,nail his test*cles to the floor!
Too say t has put me off is an understatemnt. I am a qualified complimentary therapist-reflexology,indian head massage and vertical therapy,and have considered restarting that as I regulalrly get requests fro appointments from my old 'regulars' but have no idea how self employed works with ctc-I have seen some posts on here that suggest to me it is a minefiled which just terrifies me!

missk_ensington

SuziQ - Well done, sounds like a triple bonus saving money, losing weight and eating better!