MSE News: Are you a child benefit loser? Full Q&A

EvieSaver

Has anyone received a letter yet? We haven't, but I'm not sure that we will.

zagubov

pthompson wrote: »

I'm wondering why you need 2 cars in London? We live in London too but get by quite well with just public transport.

Happens all the time. My job is only reachable by crossing countryside, DS's school is miles in the other direction so DW drives that way and then uses public transport to commute to work from there.
My last job needed a fifteen minute walk and four train/tube journeys to reach -100 minutes minimum each way (or a 75 minute car race).

Naughty_Noonoo

zagfles wrote: »

:rotfl:You really think so? This policy is massively popular, over 80% support in most polls. It will gain them votes, not lose them.

That will be the 80% who are not set to lose out on Child Benefit (or too rich to care).

A fair and simple way to reduce the net cost to the government of Child Benefit would be to restrict all payments to 2 children per family.

redmikekite

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

Because some parts of the country are more expensive than Devon.

please tell me where we have some of the lowest wages and one of the highest council tax in the country and the highest water rates in the country because we have to pay for the clean up of the beaches and dont get why people think Devon is cheaper we have to pay for the privlage of living in such a beautiful area, the food is no different in price to anywhere else, petrol and diesel are the same price and utility bills are the same apart from water which is higher, even the house prices are not lower, so please tell me where do you get this idea that devon is cheaper because its not

redmikekite

Babycakes wrote: »

I earn £73000 per year and I pay £23000 into a pension scheme - we still get Child Benefit!

My wife earns £58,000 per year and pays £8000 into a pension scheme - we still get Child Benefit.

We live in a £900,000 house with no mortgage - its energy efficient so outgoings are low. My wife and I work from home so there are no travel costs. Life is good.

We have four children which is great. Maybe we will have another one this year.

My neighbour earns £50,000. He can't afford to pay into a pension scheme because his rent for a two bedroom house outside London is £1900 plus he pays £4000 to commute into London. His wife earns nothing because they have one young child and cannot afford childcare. After bills they save nothing.

Who says the tories don't look after the well off.

Well said myself and my wife earn around £25,000 we live in a rented accomodation we have 2 kids and I work 50 hours per week and live in Devon but for some reason people think its cheaper down here when it is not my water rates are higher than my dads and he lives in berkshire soon there will only be rich and poor and nothing in between and what you have said is totally right

sarahg1969

They would save so much more money if they absolished child benefit, and simply added the savings to tax credits or whatever. They'd save the salaries of however many people they employ; they could get rid of their offices - the savings would be vast. And there would be no extra administration costs at all.

danielanthony

redmikekite wrote: »

please tell me where we have some of the lowest wages and one of the highest council tax in the country and the highest water rates in the country because we have to pay for the clean up of the beaches and dont get why people think Devon is cheaper we have to pay for the privlage of living in such a beautiful area, the food is no different in price to anywhere else, petrol and diesel are the same price and utility bills are the same apart from water which is higher, even the house prices are not lower, so please tell me where do you get this idea that devon is cheaper because its not

If you think that living in Devon costs the same as living in or around London then you are sadly delusional. Why do you think employers have a London Weighting? This CB policy does not take into account that £60k will go further in places like Devon and Cumbria, but will not have the same buying power in the SE. People on benefits are protected by these regional variations as HB is calculated on local rates, so someone in London will get more HB than someone in Manchester. Not so for this stupid CB policy.

JimmyTheWig

redmikekite wrote: »

so please tell me where do you get this idea that devon is cheaper because its not

Ok, I picked a random town from the map in Devon (Alphington) and a random town in SW London (Chessington). Don't know anything about Alphington, but Chessington is a fairly cheap town for the area - certainly nothing like the prices you get in central London.
I did a right move search for 2 bedroom houses to rent on Rightmove in a three mile radius from the town in question. The cheapest I could find in the SW London location was £1095 pcm (http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-24426162.html) while the cheapest I could find in the Devon location was £575 pcm (http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-36349942.html).

That's why I say it is cheaper to live in Devon than other parts of the country.

nostromo20

Anyone know what legal status of separation I need to achieve to enable the mother of my children (earning below 50K threshold) to continue to claim child benefit (ie is informing HMRC of informal separation sufficient)

philj22

I'm astounded in this age, to be asked to provide details of my wife's personal financial affairs - surely this can't be right?

The CB helpline tells me "I have to find out" whether my wife claims CB or not, what happens if she chooses to decline to share that information?

Can anyone advise me on how to proceed if I cannot provide an answer?