Wow £50 a week worse off from today

mrsspendalot

I would probably try and tough it out. Your eldest will be going to school before long, and you'll save on childcare then. Your youngest will then also soon qualify for 15hrs a week free, like your eldest, so that will help again. Once they are both in school you will really gain. I would seriously think about whether giving up a job is the best option, especially if you pay into a pension scheme etc.

faithcecilia

My total income will be dropping over £1k a year, from £8380 to £7230. By nature of my work, its not really possible to get a second job to top up. But I will cope because I have to, its just the way it is.

shaftola

The system needs a good overall,
Must admit though,
I do love the idea of coming home to the missus and kids after a days work if she gave up,

Blue22

TighterThanTwoCoatsOfPain wrote: »

Got fed up after the first page....

Whilst its going to hurt losing that much income, why on earth was someone on that wage getting anything!? Somethings got to give, and benefits like this are a sensible place to start in my opinion. Wait a sec, we could just tax higher earners more so the middle earners can live to the same standard off the benefits right?

Because on that wage they would bring home about £25K. So after paying childcare would be left with £10k a year to house, feed and clothe a family of 4

Blue22

shaftola wrote: »

The system needs a good overall,
Must admit though,
I do love the idea of coming home to the missus and kids after a days work if she gave up,

Or maybe she would like to come home to her Hubby, kids and dinner on the table?

catfish50

shaftola wrote: »

The system needs a good overall,
Must admit though,
I do love the idea of coming home to the missus and kids after a days work if she gave up,

I used to love the idea of coming home to the mister and kids after a day's work, but could not persuade him it was a good idea.

shaftola

catfish50 wrote: »

I guess it depends how you look at work. The partner who quit work would still be working, looking after the children who would no longer be in nursery. Plus that partner would lose all the other worthwhile things about going to work outside the home. Such as independence etc.

On the other hand, it sounds as if they would not be entitled to any benefits if one of them quit work, except for child benefit. Is that right? I could be mistaken.

If by quitting work they would not be entitled to any benefits except child benefits, maybe it would work out better for taxpayers if one of them did quit work.

The tax credits chap did some calculations for me,

If I carried on working and the missus stopped, we'd get about £117 tax credits + child benefit,

If the missus carried on working and I stopped we'd get £146 tax credits + child benefit a week

catfish50

shaftola wrote: »

The tax credits chap did some calculations for me,

If I carried on working and the missus stopped, we'd get about £117 tax credits + child benefit,

If the missus carried on working and I stopped we'd get £146 tax credits + child benefit a week

So from the taxpayers' point of view it works out better if both of you keep working.

I guess you just need to both of you weigh up which situation you would prefer (both working or one working), and work out whether or not you can afford to do it. Good luck.

liam8282

catfish50 wrote: »

I guess it depends how you look at work. The partner who quit work would still be working, looking after the children who would no longer be in nursery. Plus that partner would lose all the other worthwhile things about going to work outside the home. Such as independence etc.

Your points are valid, but I am just trying to give my view of why people in this position choose benefits over work.

catfish50 wrote: »

On the other hand, it sounds as if they would not be entitled to any benefits if one of them quit work, except for child benefit. Is that right? I could be mistaken.

If by quitting work they would not be entitled to any benefits except child benefits, maybe it would work out better for taxpayers if one of them did quit work.

If one person quit there job they would not be entitled to benefits.

But I am sure it could be argued that they have to stop working in order to provide childcare for their children, rather than just quitting their jobs to go on benefits. So then the family will still be entitled to benefits as a whole, without that persons income included.

I am no expert on this, but I can see it from both points of view.

I may not agree with it, but I can understand it.

Why work 35 hours per week, just to be £200 pm better off, for some people it is just not worth it.

It is the entire system that is at fault.

woozyfloozy

we are in a similar situation to the OP. I work 21 hours and my husband works 40 hours, we earn 27k between us and pay childcare of £338 a month for two kids of school age as we work later than school finishes. Until now, we were getting 100 a week in TC, has just been reduced to 50 because of childcare cuts and the fact we worked overtime last year. Although in principle i agree the system is crackers, we should be able to manage on 27k. the truth is we just cant, i dont see how the government can expect famlies to sudenly find the extra money. After all our expenses have been met, and we dont live luxuriously, we dont go on holiday and we are not party animals, we barely have a buffer of 24 quid! My kids are not my husbands but we dont get any cash from their 'real' dad, when are the government gonna stop wastes of space producing kid after kid and not paying for them? He has had two further kids since with two other women and doesnt pay for them either! If i had what i should from him i wouldnt need to rely on tax credits to make it through. its about time they revolutionised the CSA too.