wtc advice needed

nikki1978

hello
i hope somebody out there can help us !

my husband has just got home from a one to one meeting at the job centre.

the lady that he saw has told him that he should stop claim jsa (contribution) that i should work more hours(24hrs a week at the moment) and that we would then be able to claim wtc

isn't wtc based on the last tax year? i've used all the calculators and they all say £0
our earnings last tax year were
husbands wage : 17753
jsa: 385
my wage: 9909
we have 2 children 12 & 3


please help we've never been in this postion before, we don't understand the benefit system and we are so confused

Icequeen99

nikki1978 wrote: »

hello
i hope somebody out there can help us !

my husband has just got home from a one to one meeting at the job centre.

the lady that he saw has told him that he should stop claim jsa (contribution) that i should work more hours(24hrs a week at the moment) and that we would then be able to claim wtc

isn't wtc based on the last tax year? i've used all the calculators and they all say £0
our earnings last tax year were
husbands wage : 17753
jsa: 385
my wage: 9909
we have 2 children 12 & 3


please help we've never been in this postion before, we don't understand the benefit system and we are so confused

It is based on the previous tax year initially. So you would apply (if you get to 24 hours) then your first award would be Nil, but you could ring up and give an estimated income for 12-13 tax year so your award would be revised (whatever income you give, 2,500 will be added on though).

However, you would have to be careful that your husband didn't start a job later and your estimate turns out to be too low as you could be overpaid.

IQ

fogartyblue.

nikki1978 wrote: »

hello
i hope somebody out there can help us !

my husband has just got home from a one to one meeting at the job centre.

the lady that he saw has told him that he should stop claim jsa (contribution) that i should work more hours(24hrs a week at the moment) and that we would then be able to claim wtc

isn't wtc based on the last tax year? i've used all the calculators and they all say £0
our earnings last tax year were
husbands wage : 17753
jsa: 385
my wage: 9909
we have 2 children 12 & 3


please help we've never been in this postion before, we don't understand the benefit system and we are so confused

Why??

That doesn't make any sense.

nikki1978

i know, i don't get it either the only thing i can think of is that it makes job centre figures look better :think:

HappyMJ

fogartyblue. wrote: »

Why??

That doesn't make any sense.

Because they would be better off if the person working can increase their hours to 24. The person claiming JSA is probably now or soon to be on income based JSA and is getting no payment or due to get no payment soon due to the income of their partner.

Claiming WTC's would pay much more than JSA.

WTC's = £74.40 a week
JSA = £71.00 a week

nikki1978

ok another question

working 24hrs a week does the amount you earn come into it too? because i can earn more by working 20hrs over the weekend and 4 hrs in the week to what i would earn if i work 24hrs in the week?

fogartyblue.

nikki1978 wrote: »

ok another question

working 24hrs a week does the amount you earn come into it too? because i can earn more by working 20hrs over the weekend and 4 hrs in the week to what i would earn if i work 24hrs in the week?

Yes is the answer to the first part. Once you get to the 24 hour line, whatever you earn is taken into account however you earn it.

The more you earn, the less WTC is paid!

Sometimes because of the interaction of tax, nic, costs of getting to and from work etc, it does not pay to earn more as earning less can be made up with WTC to get to the same level of net income.

This happens with a lot of benefits, the cut off means that for every £1 of gross income earned, you could lose more than a £1 in benefits off your net income.

nikki1978

i rang hmrc today, wanted to wait till we had all the facts and figures. they wouldn't take final figures for last year i have to wait for my renewal pack which usually comes in july. i told the lady that the job centre had said that my husband should cliam wtc instead of jsa and she'd never heard of that before:think: but she did take an estimate of my earns for this year and told me to wait and see what comes in the post