goodbye family credit..forever..Now what?

krisskross

buxtonrabbitgreen wrote:

I find myself getting a bit hot under the collar with this thread. Child tax credits were brought in to eradiate child poverty, and surely they have largely done this. I have 5 children from age 12 to 33 and for most of these years we struggled to provide them with what they needed. The child tax credits were brought in quite a while after i had my last child, so i din't have more children for the credits, though they have been very useful a my OH has been made redundant 4 times over the past 5 years.

But for the most part from what I read it is not child poverty but parent poverty that is being eradicated. the OP states that they have lost £500 a month income now the last of their offspring no longer qualifies. Are you seriously suggesting it costs £500 to maintain a child?

krisskross

and I will add that it was the struggle to provide for the children we had that stopped me having anymore.

seven-day-weekend

But quite often these days poverty means they can't have a pair of £120 trainers.

I'n not getting at anyone, nor saying that people shouln't claim the tax credits if they are entitled to them.. But something that puts a wage of £240 up more than double is just crazy.

bonnie_2

my actual child tax credit is £152, child benifit which everyone gets is £40.
The rest is dla money which i would get anyway wether on child tax credit or not.
I didn't claim anything until my youngest child was 1 and was diagnosed with a rare illness, so i gave up work to look after her.

kellywelly_2

Hi, I am totally baffled Bonnie said she has 3 children and gets £152.00 ctc, I also have 3 kids and only get £110.00 ctc per week, can anyone please tell me why mine would be different to Bonnie's as I thought ctc was the same for everyone depending on the number of children ?

krisskross

kellywelly wrote:

Hi, I am totally baffled Bonnie said she has 3 children and gets £152.00 ctc, I also have 3 kids and only get £110.00 ctc per week, can anyone please tell me why mine would be different to Bonnie's as I thought ctc was the same for everyone depending on the number of children ?

Think it goes on income although I could be and probably am wrong.

bonnie_2

this is because i get a dissability premium for me and my daughter.

Scarlett1

bonnie wrote:

My point exactly, when we saw the cab for our dmp she made sure we were getting all the benifits we were entitled to.
However in 8 years time we will be back down to £241 and won't be able to claim anything apart form my dla of £15 a week, which is my point.
The government tell you to claim these benifits, i had 3 children before i got anything, i used to work at the hospital cleaning the wards form 7.30 to 11 at night. i never saw my hubby or kids.
Then i got diagnosed with di george syndrome and lupus, i also have osteoarthiritis and scoliosis so it's doubtful i could work with all the time i am ill, i could have an operation for my stomach problems but have been told i could die or end up having a bag for my poo, not nice. so i suffer on.

you dont have to explain what money you get or why, its no-one elses business but you're own

I just have this strange feeling this thread is going to turn into another benefit bashing thread :rolleyes:

*puts thumb in mouth* mum they get more than me boo hoo !!!!

Juni_3

Look at my assets (at the bottom). I can still claim tax credits!!!

Needless to say I don't, but it shows how messed up the system is when a multi-millionaire can claim what is classed as a benefit.

Short of taking another job I'm not sure what to suggest to the OP. My usual advice is to retrain for a higher paid job in your spare time but that could be trickly in your 50's.

chugalug

There has, for many years, been extra payments for children, its just been called different things. I remember Family Income Supplement which my sister qualified for in the late 70's early 80's then there was something else followed by WFTC which was paid for 6 months at a time now tax credits.

IMO the payments are more generous for 2 reasons 1) because relatively speaking wages have not risen for the majority as much as for the minority. The minimum wage is not much over a fiver an hour which isn't enough to live on when you take into account the cost of housing now. In 1990 I was working nights and earning £5.25 per hour unqualified, if I did that same job now I'd be lucky to get £6. I don't think that's keeping pace with the cost of living. The govt making up a living wage is just a way of covering up our low wage economy. 2) Labour made a commitment to end child poverty and decided tax credits were the way to do it. They might actually pay money directly to you but there have been so many tax rises and differences in calculations over the years that I don't think we're much better off.

I realised a while ago that everyone who relies on tax credits will have a nasty shock when their children leave. I suppose the idea is that if you don't have children at home you can downsize and reduce costs etc. Not that easy to do though.