Stay at home Mum help?

Miss_Mindstrike

Hi there, I wonder if there are any other Stay at Home Mums (SAHMs) out there?

We are really struggling despite the fact my husband earns a reasonable salary. Our Child Tax credit was removed in April due to hubbys income. Because my husband works awkward shifts and can be kept on at work without notice, I have had to give up work to look after our 4 year old son. Even if I did go back to work I have no child care as my Mum and Dad are unwell, and my brother works.

Although my son starts reception at Primary school in September I will find it hard to work a lot of hours a week as I will be required to do all the school drop offs/pick ups as hubbys shifts are not the same every week.

I have used the benefits checker here and the direct.gov one. The one on here reckons we are entitled to a council tax reduction, the direct.gov one says we are entitled to tax credits and working tax credit even though the former was stopped in April and we have never received the second.

Can anyone let me know if any of these sound reasonable, seeing as I am a SAHM due to my husband's job rather than a single Mum?

Many thanks everybody, happy moneysaving!

zagfles

You'll be assessed jointly for tax credits and benefits, so it depends what your husband earns.

paddedjohn

When your son starts school you will be able to look for work during school hours.

epitome

If you have a mortgage the council tax benefit only sounds plausible, you should contact the council to apply for council taxbenefit.

Can't comment on the tax credits.

Anubis_2

What does your husband earn?

karenx

There's no benefits for being a stay at home mum.
A lot of single mums work while kids are at school, so I don't see how it's much difference with yourself. There's after school clubs etc too

MrsManda

As Zagflies said, your eligibility for benefits including tax credits will be based on your husband's income. There are no benefits specifically for you being a SAHM.
You will need to speak to your council to see if you qualify for council tax benefit.

Why do you think you'd not be able to find any work to fit around school hours?
Many parents go to work once their children start school and most of these don't have family around to pickup/drop off the children at school. They make use of breakfast and afterschool clubs.

Have you tried using the tax credits calculator on the HMRC website to model different situations to see if you'd receive childcare tax credits if you went to work?
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxcredits/payments-entitlement/entitlement/question-how-much.htm

Unfortunately being a SAHM is not a choice for many due to income/outgoings. If you cannot survive on your husband's income then you need to either decrease your outgoings - there are a lot of good ideas on the Debtfreewannabe board, or increase your income by going to work.

I hope you find a solution suitable for your family.

Miss_Mindstrike

Evening everyone.

To get to the point here, I believe my question was if these benefits sounded right as they did not to me.

I am NOT asking if I should go back to work, I know I NEED to work I was merely asking if I am missing out on anything I should be claiming as there is no point applying if the online checkers are mistaken. Yes my son will start school in September, it's just finding money for food for the remaining June July and August Is the issue.

My husband earns 1800 per month but loses 300 in compulsory pension subs, but I am pretty sure isn't eligible for child tax, I don't know anything about working tax credit if I were to work on the hours I stated, not that I could do that anyway unless anyone has any ideas as I have ran out.

My comment of not being a single Mum was merely stating the reasons I couldn't work and that I felt I had less entitlement than a single mum. I have already stated on my original post that I have not made a choice not to work, I CANNOT WORK around hubbys emergency services wage. For instance my husband has just got off work at 1am which is 3 hours late- do you not think I would be in Tesco stacking shelves if these overruns didn't happen on a regular basis? (unpaid as well for the first hour)And no he can't just walk out so I can go to work.one of my best friends is a lovely single mum and her mum and sister help her work- I have no familial support and it's pointless finding childcare for a minimum wage job as I won't take anything home! Not good moneysaving...

I'm not sure why some here have decided to snipe at me? Nice work, hope you don't treat everyone like that.I don't care what you think you know about me, but someone with less thick skin might get really upset. So it would be really nice to dwell on that, not to judge less ye be judged and all that?

Anyway, to all the helpful people- thank you and look forward to more replies for ideas as it's eat out of cans week here!

bestpud

After the pension contribution, your OH brings home slightly more than me and my OH bring home between us (me part time and him full time). We also have one dependent child and receive around £30 a week Child Tax Credits...

I am pretty sure tax credits disregard pension contributions so I'm not sure why you aren't receiving anything?

It may be worth calling them and checking what's going on. Have they given a reason for stopping your claim? Have you checked they have the correct details on your award notice?

Other than that, it's a case of cutting back where you can. Check out the old style board for help with budgeting and the debt free wannabe board if you have debts (or just for some more budgeting advice).

When your son starts school, get him into the habit of taking cheaper packed lunches as school meals are very expensive for what they are. Also check out breakfast and after school clubs as these will help you with childcare.

Once he is at school, you may find other parents who are in the same predicament and will happily share the school runs. A lot of parents did that at dd's school.

Miss_Mindstrike

Thanks bestpud, this is the kind of comparison I am looking for.

The tax credits letter stated our income was too high (the year before we received credits as we were below 50k but then they halved the threshold to 25k) but I don't recall them asking about the pension contribution. We aren't allowed to reduce that pension contribution and it is equivalent to half of our mortgage payment so it is quite a big expense.

I've cut back as much as I can without stopping contents insurance etc, food comes from discounter shops etc. The only other thing I could do is ask for a mortgage holiday but it would involve a credit score which may not work out, and would add to the term of the mortgage although I guess we could deal with that when we ate better off.I've even started growing food

Times like this make you realise how much money you used to waste when you were young!

Spendless

How much did you lose when the child credit amounts changed? Is it just that that has made you struggle or were you before? You could do a SOA (incomings and outgoings) and post it on debt free wannabe board. Once your son goes to reception and you find work, you'd need to look at paying for childcare. Some providers will work round shift patterns.