being a house husband

dubgirl

I'm sorry if this is not quite the right place for this, anyway my OH and I have been discussing our finances and seeing where we can make cuts. One of our biggest outgoings is child care at over 698 quid a month, which works out to t2/3 of my OH wages. I've worked out that if we didnt have to pay child care we could manage on my salary alone and this led to a discussion about OH being a house husband. Obviously this is not a decision for us to take lightly, but wondering where we would stand in terms of child tax credits if OH gives up work voluntarily. At the mo we only get the bare minimum CTC.

PS having recently done a CCCS review does anyone know why child benefit is taken into account, as it is not actual earnings and is for the child?

Prudent

Use www.entitledto.com to work out how much your tax credits would increase.

spud30

Giving up work voluntarily doesnt affect tax credits, only things like job seekers.

I'd say now would be the time to do it, at the start of a tax year.

hermanmunster_3

Make sure he gets the Child Benefit in his name as this give "home responsibility protection" - ie National insurance contributions towards pensions until youngest us 16

http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/atoz/atozdetailed/homeres.asp

Spendaholic_Chick

Prudent wrote: »

Use www.entitledto.com to work out how much your tax credits would increase.

Thanks for that - according to that website I might be entitled to council tax benefit and free school meals and milk! Will look into that next week :-)

hypno06

Hi there, can't help much with the benefits and contributions side of things, but just to say that a few years ago my DH became a househusband as it was just as financially beneficial (or otherwise!) to do this as to continue paying childcare.

It worked really well for a while, but I don't think I ever came home to the dinner on the table and the wine chilling in the fridge after my hard day at work while he had "just" been looking after the children.........:rotfl:

dubgirl

thanks for all the replies, I will check out the websites mentioned and I think there is a lot to discuss still, but after talking about it today we think it could work for us.
re the child benefit and CCCS - I still think that its unfair that they include in the expenditure.

dubgirl

I've been on the entitled to site, however what we want to know is how much CTC we would get if OH was not working now, but cant seem to work that out on the site, unless I'm missing something obvious on there.

Prudent

You put the figures into the calculator minus his current wage. It will then calculate what you can get if he isn't working.

Spendless

Spendaholic_Chick wrote: »

Thanks for that - according to that website I might be entitled to council tax benefit and free school meals and milk! Will look into that next week :-)

You won't be entitled to free school dinners as your income has to be below x and you not be entitled to WTC (which if your income is low and you work 16+ hours you will be). Milk, perhaps, depends on age of child, here it is free in school nursery butnot in reception, but other areas keep it free till child reaches 5. No idea about council tax.

lil_me

Ok it's a different area but I know a few have used this calculator to estimate council tax benefit and it been accurate http://www.chester-le-street.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=8527 there may be a one more local to you if you search on your local councils website

As has been said doubtful you would be entitled to free school meals etc unless you only work part time and are claiming income support/JSA etc. I think the milk allowance has changed from under 5s to under 4s recently I remember someone mentioning it.

Good luck whichever you decide to do, it does seem like you are almost paying for you both to work.