Tax credits stopping in April 2012

MissMoneypenny

ruggedtoast wrote: »

That's not especially helpful in the context of this thread. In any case, I presume you are happy for the children to grow up, become taxpayers themselves, and then fund your pension and NHS bill?

Or is it different when they money's going the other way?

When I was growing up, my father worked a full time job and 2 part time jobs to keep his children, as most fathers did then.

Children raised on welfare, often rely on welfare payments when they start a family. Not much funding towards others "pension and the NHS bill" from welfare claimants; the money is going all one way!

A helpful comment for this thread would be look at ways to up your income and cut your outgoings; you are on the right site.

Will the NHS be able to continue? Even without the massive rise in the UK poplulation, we are likely to get the American disease of obesity in the UK and the NHS will never cope with huge ('scuse the pun) numbers of obese related costs.

The state pension age is being raised to 68 and may rise even higher so many people will never claim it.

Pensions and Tax Credits are our biggest welfare payments. We all knew that and although most people realised that the pension age had to rise, it seems some didn't think that their welfare payments would have to take cuts.

There seems to have been little thought from some, as to how the very generous welfare payments we have seen over the last decade, were financed. Even after it was announced that for the first time, the money the government took in income tax was less than our ever growing, welfare bill. Or perhaps the claimants didn't care that the government was having to borrow to finance the welfare state?

If you think your welfare cuts are unfair, then just look at what is happening to Greece and you better hope that the UK doesn't lose it's AAA rating. If it does, we will have to pay even higher interest rates on the money the last government borrowed and to service those debts, there will have to be more cuts. If we default on our massive debts, you can forget about the welfare state as there will be no money for that.

shaunsmummy

"From 6 April 2012, the income limit for you will depend on your own situation. But as a very rough guide, you might not be able to get any payments of tax credits if your income is more than around:

• £26,000 if you have one child
• £32,200 if you have two children"

Taken from Direct.gov .. could that be why they're stopping? As for families bringing in joint 40k a year, I wish! My partner got made redundant, I have a PT job and they're taking our WTC, so we will be living on roughly 9k a year.. as my company point blank refuse to up my hours and we're not entitled to any other help. Nice one.

melly1980

shedboy94 wrote: »

So what's the solution then?

The solution is quite a bit of pain for quite a lot of people (including those that you will consider to be good earners but still living beyond their means)

We need to get back to the mentality of earning things and not having a plethora of cheap credit to buy things we dont need.

zagfles

kre776 wrote: »

Hello, I wondered if one of you knowledgeable people could shed some light on this for me.

I know that from April the tax credit annual income limit for couples with one child drops to £26,000. However, the wording of the budget changes seems to suggest that it's not as clear cut as that, for example if you pay for approved childcare.

My husband and I will (all being well!) earn a joint income of around £27,600 next year and we will pay £72 per week childcare (reduced from this year as our little boy turns 3 in November and will qualify for the 15 hours free from next Jan). No disabilities and I work 22 hours, my husband 26 hours a week.

I rang the tax credit people today and they will not give me any information until 6 April but she said we wouldn't get a letter as they are using previous salary information (which is less than £26k).

Does anyone know whether the cut-off is just that at £26,000 or if paying childcare does raise it a little?

We are assuming that we will get nothing but it's so difficult to figure out what to do when you can't get any information in advance from them!

The £26k limit applies if you are entitled to EXACTLY the following elements

WTC basic
WTC couple/lone parent
WTC 30 h
CTC child element (1 of)
CTC family element

If you entitled to any other tax credits elements, then your threshold is different.

So if you get the childcare element you will have a higher threshold. Make sure they keep your claim open.

zagfles

shedboy94 wrote: »

So what's the solution then?

No means testing, citizen's income, and flat rate tax

kre776

zagfles wrote: »

The £26k limit applies if you are entitled to EXACTLY the following elements

WTC basic
WTC couple/lone parent
WTC 30 h
CTC child element (1 of)
CTC family element

If you entitled to any other tax credits elements, then your threshold is different.

So if you get the childcare element you will have a higher threshold. Make sure they keep your claim open.

Thank you very much for your help :0)

ruggedtoast

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

When I was growing up, my father worked a full time job and 2 part time jobs to keep his children, as most fathers did then.

Children raised on welfare, often rely on welfare payments when they start a family. Not much funding towards others "pension and the NHS bill" from welfare claimants; the money is going all one way!

A helpful comment for this thread would be look at ways to up your income and cut your outgoings; you are on the right site.

Will the NHS be able to continue? Even without the massive rise in the UK poplulation, we are likely to get the American disease of obesity in the UK and the NHS will never cope with huge ('scuse the pun) numbers of obese related costs.

The state pension age is being raised to 68 and may rise even higher so many people will never claim it.

Pensions and Tax Credits are our biggest welfare payments. We all knew that and although most people realised that the pension age had to rise, it seems some didn't think that their welfare payments would have to take cuts.

There seems to have been little thought from some, as to how the very generous welfare payments we have seen over the last decade, were financed. Even after it was announced that for the first time, the money the government took in income tax was less than our ever growing, welfare bill. Or perhaps the claimants didn't care that the government was having to borrow to finance the welfare state?

If you think your welfare cuts are unfair, then just look at what is happening to Greece and you better hope that the UK doesn't lose it's AAA rating. If it does, we will have to pay even higher interest rates on the money the last government borrowed and to service those debts, there will have to be more cuts. If we default on our massive debts, you can forget about the welfare state as there will be no money for that.

We were getting £40 a month in working tax credit. I don't think that really qualifies my kid as being "raised on welfare" and doomed to a lifetime of benefit dependency, especially as the pertinent part is that to get it you have to work.

It is however difficult to suddenly have to do without that money when we were previously assessed as being not well off enough to do without it.

Sorry, but it just sounds like you are bitter about other people having children. You can easily find another hobby horse to get upset about, like hundreds of billions of pounds in corporate welfare disappearing out of the economy each year to benefit a tiny percentage of, often non dom, elites.

You should probably go and discuss it in a different part of the forum, rather than hanging around the benefits board taking sanctimonious pot shots at people asking questions about benefit entitlements.

stjman

ruggedtoast wrote: »

We were getting £40 a month in working tax credit. I don't think that really qualifies my kid as being "raised on welfare" and doomed to a lifetime of benefit dependency, especially as the pertinent part is that to get it you have to work.

It is however difficult to suddenly have to do without that money when we were previously assessed as being not well off enough to do without it.

Sorry, but it just sounds like you are bitter about other people having children. You can easily find another hobby horse to get upset about, like hundreds of billions of pounds in corporate welfare disappearing out of the economy each year to benefit a tiny percentage of, often non dom, elites.

You should probably go and discuss it in a different part of the forum, rather than hanging around the benefits board taking sanctimonious pot shots at people asking questions about benefit entitlements.

well said that person :T

MissMoneypenny

ruggedtoast wrote: »

It is however difficult to suddenly have to do without that money when we were previously assessed as being not well off enough to do without it.

Sorry, but it just sounds like you are bitter about other people having children. .

Don't be sorry as I'm not bitter, but I am very surprised that you are getting so upset and angry at losing a welfare payment of £10 a week.

As I said in the post you quoted, most fathers' use to work long hours to support their children before the welfare state stepped in, so perhaps you can look at ways to make up that loss of £10 a week? Another hour at work; second job one evening a week (gives you more that the £10 loss); coupon board; up your income board; debt free wannabe board for tips on cutting down on your outgoings; old style board to cut you food bill? Earning an extra £10 a week is easily achievable and just think how much better you will feel when you don't need state help.

ruggedtoast

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

Don't be sorry as I'm not bitter, but I am very surprised that you are getting so upset and angry at losing a welfare payment of £10 a week.

As I said in the post you quoted, most fathers' use to work long hours to support their children before the welfare state stepped in, so perhaps you can look at ways to make up that loss of £10 a week? Another hour at work; second job one evening a week (gives you more that the £10 loss); coupon board; up your income board; debt free wannabe board for tips on cutting down on your outgoings; old style board to cut you food bill? Earning an extra £10 a week is easily achievable and just think how much better you will feel when you don't need state help.

Thanks, thats all very interesting. I will make it my #1 priority to act on your fascinating and important advice, predicated as it is on your lazy and presumptive assumption centred around a strange stereotype you seem to be offended by.

If you actually want to address what this thread was about, the OP is all the way back on page 1, and is actually nothing to do with my £10 a week.

Cheers.

(I suspect I probably work longer hours than you do by the way)