Son left education- losing large percentage tax credits

Notmyrealname

burmesejack wrote: »

It was just the tax credits system I don't understand, couldn't see why we lose the full amount for 1 child when we don't actually get paid the full amount for him that's all.

Seriously? Because you are one child less.

If you've lost £90 a week then £90 a week is what he needs to be contributing towards the household. Get any grief about it then point out it'll cost twice that to live on his own and he'll not get meals cooked or clothes washed for that.

He is working that's why he gave up college, didn't really want to but seemed sensible to grab the chance of a job whilst he had the chance.

That will be something that will come back and bite him in the backside, trust me. He would have been better off finishing the course. This is the only time he would get it for free and you'd get covered by tax credits. If he goes back even next year when he's 19, no more tax credits and he'll have to pay for the course. What will likely happen is that he will probably never go back so will be less qualified with less opportunities in the future.
He's shooting himself in the foot for the sake of a few quid. He could've got a part time job to fit around college.

krisskross

Notmyrealname wrote: »

Seriously? Because you are one child less.

If you've lost £90 a week then £90 a week is what he needs to be contributing towards the household. Get any grief about it then point out it'll cost twice that to live on his own and he'll not get meals cooked or clothes washed for that.


That will be something that will come back and bite him in the backside, trust me. He would have been better off finishing the course. This is the only time he would get it for free and you'd get covered by tax credits. If he goes back even next year when he's 19, no more tax credits and he'll have to pay for the course. What will likely happen is that he will probably never go back so will be less qualified with less opportunities in the future.
He's shooting himself in the foot for the sake of a few quid. He could've got a part time job to fit around college.

Thank goodness we were not so greedy or so reliant on handouts when our children left education and started work. We worked on a 1/3rd system after they had taken out travel costs and we were miles better off as a family with the contribution from the now working adult.

Child benefit was fairly negligible compared to today's rates so not missed, neither was the tax free allowance that my husband received.

Governments do no favours to families when the children are seen as money generators.

burmesejack

Notmyrealname wrote: »

Seriously? Because you are one child less.

If you've lost £90 a week then £90 a week is what he needs to be contributing towards the household. Get any grief about it then point out it'll cost twice that to live on his own and he'll not get meals cooked or clothes washed for that.


That will be something that will come back and bite him in the backside, trust me. He would have been better off finishing the course. This is the only time he would get it for free and you'd get covered by tax credits. If he goes back even next year when he's 19, no more tax credits and he'll have to pay for the course. What will likely happen is that he will probably never go back so will be less qualified with less opportunities in the future.
He's shooting himself in the foot for the sake of a few quid. He could've got a part time job to fit around college.

It's not that he's not finishing a course- he was registered to start a new one, but after being offered a supervisor job full time he is doing the sensible thing for now, he was already working there part time around college. Although it's not what he wants for the rest of his life it seemed too risky with so much unemployment, as he could have ended up out of work all together in 12 months time or with very few hours. I'd love to say to him give up work and do your course but who knows if he'd get a job at the end of it.

burmesejack

krisskross wrote: »

Thank goodness we were not so greedy or so reliant on handouts when our children left education and started work. We worked on a 1/3rd system after they had taken out travel costs and we were miles better off as a family with the contribution from the now working adult.

Child benefit was fairly negligible compared to today's rates so not missed, neither was the tax free allowance that my husband received.

Governments do no favours to families when the children are seen as money generators.

It's not a case of being a money generator, I just didn't see how we could have been getting £90 for one child, but clearly tax credits is a complicated system and that's not the case. I thought they would deduct a percentage of the total when you're only getting part of the maximum payable but it's not the case.

burmesejack

Icequeen99 wrote: »

Why do you think you are not getting the full amount for him. If you are getting help with childcare costs (i.e being paid part of the childcare element) then you will get full CTC (because childcare is taken away before CTC when they take into account income)

Even if your income is too high to get childcare costs, with 4 children you will be getting maximum for some of them therefore taking 1 off the claim means you lose the maximum. It would only be if 1 child was left on the claim and you were only getting say 3/4 of the child element for them due to income that you wouldn't lose the full amount.

IQ

I asked tax credits if we are getting help with our childcare as we don't get the childcare element of working tax credit according to the award notice, they told me it's incorporated within child tax credit. Looks like we don't get any on the notice but if I do 2 online reckoners, with and without childcare it does come out with different figures.

nannytone_2

you werent getting £90 for one child.

you were getting £x for 4 children based on your total income.

now you have the same income but only 3 children, so your whole claim has been reassessed, not just the portion you got for your son removed.

you may not lose as much hb as you think. there will only be a non dependant deducyion, which may be as little as £10 a week

Icequeen99

burmesejack wrote: »

I asked tax credits if we are getting help with our childcare as we don't get the childcare element of working tax credit according to the award notice, they told me it's incorporated within child tax credit. Looks like we don't get any on the notice but if I do 2 online reckoners, with and without childcare it does come out with different figures.

Right, so that means your income is high enough to taper your WTC childcare element and some of your CTC.

In your case you are getting more CTC That you would without the childcare costs, and that is why 1 child = full loss of the £2690 child element.

IQ

Notmyrealname

burmesejack wrote: »

Although it's not what he wants for the rest of his life it seemed too risky with so much unemployment, as he could have ended up out of work all together in 12 months time or with very few hours.

So its not really a job he likes. And he's going to not do a course that is something he wants to do? He may still end up out of work in 12 months time...

I played that game, wore that T-Shirt and regretted it.

dktreesea

For low income families with a child going into advanced higher education, where the child follows a traditional path and moves to another city to study, losing the various benefits elements isn't such a problem. The child in question has vacated their room and gone away to study. They can get a grant, due to having low income parents, plus, if necessary, a student loan. Little or no burden to support the said student falls upon the parents, and they are free to let the now vacated bedroom if they want to replace some or all of the lost benefits income.

For children of limited means who stay at home, the problem seems to me to be not that the parents lose things like part of the HB, CTB, CTC and CB, but that the child cannot claim some or all elements of the support in their own right. For instance, they still need to be accommodated, but if they choose to stay at home housing benefit for the household falls. They may not get JSA, if they are under 18. Even if they do get JSA, it is nowhere near the combined amount of CB and CTB that their parents previously received for them.

There's plenty of advice on here for parents who are not prepared to make their child homeless to earn more. It's not that easy to either get a job or to up your hours, let alone get a second job.

No wonder so many low income parents are still having children, even though their eldest one has reached 16. it's the only way they can afford to support their 16 year old. What a sad indictment of today's Britain!

skintmacflint

dktreesea wrote: »

No wonder so many low income parents are still having children, even though their eldest one has reached 16. it's the only way they can afford to support their 16 year old. What a sad indictment of today's Britain!

And what a sad indictment of a benefit system so generous which over the years has encouraged people to have kids they can't financially support, as well as encouraging private industries to pay their workers buttons and private landlords to charge the earth for inferior housing.