Partner given up work now cant claim a penny

sarahmtly

My partner and I both had full time jobs working nights, him as a carer in a nursing home and me as a security officer. My son was born last year in July so in January this year when I returned to work after Maternity leave my partner gave up work to look after him. It made sense at the time because I earned more than him.

We was told my partner would not be able to claim anything because we earned too much jointly in 2012 - 2013 so we waited until April this year to put in a fresh claim for Child Credit or Working tax credits.
But again it seems we earned too much last year.
My partner earned £10712 and I earned £20693
This year I will earn about £24000 but my partner cant claim a single penny.

Now I know there are many many people out there who earn a lot less and I dont mean to seem ungrateful but we have both worked all our lives and now we need a little help there is none and we are really going to struggle to pay the mortgage each month.

Obviously he cant claim Jobseekers allowance because he is a stay at home Dad. He cant even get free Dental treatment because he isn't earning any benefits.

Please if anyone can give me any idea if there is anything at all out there that might help us I would be truely grateful, as I find all these different benefits very confusing.

I did try the benefits calculator already and I contacted Citizens Advice and Turn2Us. All of them said we are not entitled to anything

Caz3121

Are you claiming child benefit?
This should be in your partners name as this will give NI contributions towards state pension.

Cutoff for working tax credits is around £18k so your income alone it too high for that
Child tax credits cutoff for one child is around £26k but because of the disregards they will base your claim on £26,500 so you will not qualify

haras_nosirrah

Are there any evening jobs your partner could do?

fabforty

haras_nosirrah wrote: »

Are there any evening jobs your partner could do?

Or part-time days? Finding care work should be relatively simple, compared with other areas of work. OH and I did the same. I went back to work full-time because I earned more than him - he then found a part-time job in a hospital.

MissMoneypenny

Having a child is tightening the belt time and you can get advice for that on these following boards:-
Post a Statement of Affairs on the Debt-free wannabe board and they will advise where you can cut your outgoings.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=76

The Old Style money saving board will be able to help with cutting your food bill and you will all still be able to eat a healthy diet.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=33

Usually I would post the up your income board too, but as already said, your OH is in the right career to easily fit some work around your hours.

shop-to-drop

Isn't there a new way of transferring a little of his tax free allowance to you. Not much but better than the nothing most of us received when becoming a stay home parent.

[Deleted User]

As his career is care work he could join an agency and fit shifts around your working hours and your child.

It would not be regular or guaranteed income, but it would certainly help you both out.

Alternatively he could use this time to increase his qualifications so that when he is in a position to go back to work he will be in a position to get a better paid job - maybe nursing? Social work? - these are the types of careers that may appeal to someone who enjoys care work and there's a huge bonus that he would be applying with care experience.

If/when he decides to take this route, he would need to identify the loans, grants, and bursaries available.

dktreesea

Your income has fallen by more than £2,500 for the current year. So the HMRC should rework your tax credits for the current year, based on your lower income for the current year but ignoring the first £2,500 of the reduction.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/wtc8.pdf

And, as stated by other posters, it would be a good idea for your partner, not yourself, to claim the child benefit. That way it will count towards his NI years for pension purposes.

FluffyDuck3

Domino9 wrote: »

As his career is care work he could join an agency and fit shifts around your working hours and your child.

It would not be regular or guaranteed income, but it would certainly help you both out.

Alternatively he could use this time to increase his qualifications so that when he is in a position to go back to work he will be in a position to get a better paid job - maybe nursing? Social work? - these are the types of careers that may appeal to someone who enjoys care work and there's a huge bonus that he would be applying with care experience.

If/when he decides to take this route, he would need to identify the loans, grants, and bursaries available.

I think this is a good idea.

Next year, when you are assessed on £24,000 you won't receive that much top up. You'll still be worse off than when you were both working and there's an extra mouth to feed. Though new babies don't cost that much, children cost more as they grow. Shoes and clothes become more expensive with size.

I'd go through one of the calculators again, and enter figures as though you earned £24k last year, and £24k this year, that should give an idea of what tax credits you'll get next year. I don't think it will be more than £20 a week.

sax11

£24K and struggle to pay a mortgage

You over stretched.

sarahmtly

I really appreciate all the advise, especially about putting the child benefit in his name as we were wondering what would happen as regards to his N.I contributions.
It does seem then that we are not entitled to anything, I work 60 hours a week so when I have a day off it is nice to have family time which appears to be a luxury these days. He has been looking into Open University courses so maybe he can gain some quals for when he does go back like some of you suggested.
He hasn't worked for an agency before so maybe he can look into that.
Again I really appreciate all the advise. Thanks