Staying home to look after kids - can I claim anything?

McKneff

LizzieS wrote: »

As Calley says you will qualify for wtc payments on husbands earnings alone.

Have you sat down and worked out how much better off you will be working?
Tax credits will reduce by 39% of your gross earnings.
You will have to pay the first 20% of childcare costs and any excess over £300pw (assuming at least 2 in childcare).
You will have to pay tax and NI on income above certain levels at 31%
You will probably have travel to work costs.

Overall you may still be better off working, but look at the difference and see if staying at home means you can cut some other expenses out of your budget that you would spend due to working - you may be surprised at the answers!

Excellen post LizzieS, hits the spot, well thought out :T :T

jancee_2

Don't forget you are receiving Home Responsibilities Protection which in effect pays your NI contribution towards your pension [until the youngest is 12].

mouseymousey99

or even Luke Skywalker:j

Wasn't he her long lost brother in the end?? Always fancied Darth Vader myself.............Yes, I need to get out more........

Loopy_Girl

princess_leia wrote: »

think that if single parents get funded to stay at home then this should apply to other parents too!

It's not a case of being 'funded' to stay at home, it's more that as they are alone then they need money brought into the house to buy the everyday essentials like food, fuel and nappies - if applicable - etc.

Most single parents didn't choose to be a lone parent and most would love to go out and get a job. But then you are all alone working and then doing all the chores. If you are in a couple you can share the childcare and the household work as well. When you are alone then you have to take this into consideration as well and not just the financial aspect.

Babies and children are hard work and if you have a partner to share the load financially, physically and emotionally then it's easy to think that lone parents get funded to stay at home and have it easier.

I work and have done since my daughter was 5. I come on from work and then it's full on - homework, tea, any after school things, washing, ironing, housework etc etc. Sometimes I despair and even just having someone to stick a load on or supervise the homework would be a great help - and all this after a day's work - thank god for Red Bull and Pro Plus!!!!:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

I'm not having a go either - just perhaps letting you see it from another angle and that it's not a case of having money thrown at you for having kids. If you are working you have 2 full time jobs (paid work and 'Mum' work!) and you are also being Mum and Dad and running a house. Rightly or wrongly the Government perhaps sees that and therefore gives lone parents a option of not working and not having the extra pressure that a couple don't have.

2boysmum

I was going to ask a similar question a few days ago, but decided against it as I knew that I would get a similar response as this thread has.
I am giving up work in June next year as I work part-time, husband works full time, we have two kids and practically no living relatives for childcare.
In the summer when I am at work it will cost me £90 for 3 days childcare. Out of my wages this would leave me around £30-£40. Do get some CTC but not an awful lot, so we have decided that I would be better off looking after the kids. Between now and June i am saving as much as I can, so I can pay off as many bills before I stop working.
It's not an easy decision to make and maybe some supportive messages would be better than some of the comments posted on here.

notlongnow_2

mouseymousey99 wrote: »

OP I do think its a shame that a mother cannot stay at home to raise her family and have some kind of support.

But the op has a partner with the income of 15k remember??? Not having a go..plenty of people on their own...Yes I agree it is a shame - and yet I see/ read of other people managing to do just that. Maybe its how you cut your cloth? If you forget the kitchen full of electric rubbish, the extra car, the holidays maybe just maybe you can do it? Maybe you can't I don't know??I just feel for people raising children alone...

15k is not *THAT* much money nowadays. If someone can have children and the state pay entirely for them and sometimes be claiming more than 15k when everything is added up, then why cant someone who works for not a great deal of money(when you take into consideration who/what that wage is supporting) get some kind of top up money for a couple of years whilst the children are small?

Benefits system in this country is all wrong, the working are penalised against those who dont want to work.

OP what about an Avon round? Fits in with the children and if you dont dip into the money instead of going to the bank, and then have to put it back in again, like I did..lol. You can make a nice amount for not a great deal of effort.

MrsE_2

Fonda_Cox wrote: »

The difference is a single parent does not have a husband/wife going out to work full time and bringing home a wage!

Do benefits top up the same to a single parent as a working parent?

If so that can't be right....

Two adults to feed & cloth cost double what a single parent does. Why would/should they get the same?

elisebutt65

MrsE wrote: »

Do benefits top up the same to a single parent as a working parent?

If so that can't be right....

Two adults to feed & cloth cost double what a single parent does. Why would/should they get the same?

Most of the benefits are intended for the children.


As for the OP - I agree that on 15K they should get WTC. But for heavens sake - you've had a third child recently? Surely you knew going into it that money was going to be tight??? I get these awful broody feeling still sometimes - I have 2 boys, 8 & 13, but I can't afford to do anything about it so had the Mirena put in and just squish the feelings away.

I was on IS for about 6 months after my exOH left me then started Uni -so could only get it during the summer and believe me - a life of benefits is not all it's cracked up to be despite what many posters on here might read in the Daily Mail.

I've just gone back to work and the sense of relief at having a regular paypacket is astounding - I have to pinch myself sometimes when I look at my bank account;)

If you're going to have kids you can't afford, then you just have to go out and work - Single parents do not get HUGE amounts of benefit - they get enough to live on and feed the kids - yes you may get some help with rent etc if you''re not working but as another poster already stated - 70% of all single parents work.

I am really getting annoyed at the threads popping up here now saying they can't afford this and that and what can they get??? If you can't afford it, then don't do it - whether it's kids or houses or cars!!!!

LizzieS_2

notlongnow wrote: »

15k is not *THAT* much money nowadays. If someone can have children and the state pay entirely for them and sometimes be claiming more than 15k when everything is added up, then why cant someone who works for not a great deal of money(when you take into consideration who/what that wage is supporting) get some kind of top up money for a couple of years whilst the children are small?

Benefits system in this country is all wrong, the working are penalised against those who dont want to work.

The 15K will be topped up with tax credits, for a couple with 3 children, with one parent working at least 30 hours a week, the tax credits would be around £150 per week. Overall the income will be far greater than the benefit claimant even if you add in the benefit claimants rent & council tax.

The benefit system is wrong, though I would say it is because it allows long-term claimants (todays news suggests there are changes afoot there).

OrkneyStar

Just to say to OP, good luck if you decide to go for it as a SAHM.
I only have one DS (17 months) and gave up work to look after him (was earning over £20K and working f/t). My DH earns less than yours (yes less lol!), and we get Child Ben, some WTC and CTC- obviously less than you as you have more LO's! We get by, we manage, if we did not get tax credits it would be a good bit harder, we would struggle tbh, but I would still want to give it a go. The way I see it I have paid tax since 17 years old (33 now), and am only taking a short time out to be with my son, DH still works FT of course (and bloomin' hard even with low wages!), so don't feel bad receiving tax credits at all!
Perhaps if the minimum wage was raised then tax credits could be done away with (or at least modified in some way).
I do thing long term 'sit on their bums for no good reason' need a dose of reality tbh, as someone on benefits (not including genuine unable to work- ill, disabled) should not be better off than someone (one of a couple or single) who works full time.