tax credits cut so low-advice please

shegirl

He shouldn't be leaving you with nothing if he's bringing enough in.

I take it he's at work now,can you take a look at your tax credits award?

How did things go before you started working? Did he pay what he decided to pay,keep his money to himself and tell you to keep the tax credits and pay for a list of things out of it?

Do you have a joint bank account?

Icequeen99

mumof4littleguys wrote: »

Do ypu know what, im concerned I dont know what my husband earns too. Im concerned I dont know what hes left with at the end of the month. I feel im being punished and maybe he is better off than he makes out. He wont tell me though. He handles all tax credit renewals etc.
Something doesnt add up but ill never know. I'll just have to carry on as I am, having nothing. It will be different when my children are grown up.
Thankyou so much everyone for all your help

It is possible that he has also had an income rise, that might explain why the amount has gone down so much. Either that or you have an overpayment.

Either way you need to check the award notice. As a joint claimant you are legally responsible with him for the information and claim, so you should be checking what is on the form.

Unfortunately it sounds like you need more help that just with this particular issue.

IQ

mumof4littleguys

Yes, before I started work he would pay the bills and keep the rest of his money for himself. I would keep the ctc but had to pay rent and school lunches from it and that would leave me with £10 a week which is why I decided to work.
I cant find last year's tax renewal letters but I did find an old wage of his. It says his net wage is £1300 (is net before or after tax?)
Out of his wage he pays the following:
Gas
Electricity
Council tax
Weekly food
Sky tv/broadband/phone
Loans
Credit cards
Car-petrol etc
I think thats it but I have no idea how much each individual thing is as he pays by dd.
I pay the rent and school lunches and like I say, by doing this I am going to be left with £4.
I also get child benefit and I have to use that to clothe my children and for shoes, school things, haircuts and birthdays.

Caz3121

I understood that with a joint claim, separate award letters went to both parties
OP, if your husbands income increased in 14/15 compared to 13/14 then it is likely that some of this reduction would have happened whether you had a job or not so you may have lost £38 for earning £94 per week and the other £42 of a reduction would have been happening anyway so you are actually £56 per week better off than not working and if you were not working and had the same outgoings you would not have £14 left, you would have a minus figure

Have you looked into housing benefit?

mumof4littleguys

Yes I looked into housing benefit but we don't qualify.

mumof4littleguys

If my ctc would have been reduced anyway if his wage increased then my issue is with my husband. It seems I am being left without the more he earns!

shegirl

mumof4littleguys wrote: »

Yes, before I started work he would pay the bills and keep the rest of his money for himself. I would keep the ctc but had to pay rent and school lunches from it and that would leave me with £10 a week which is why I decided to work.
I cant find last year's tax renewal letters but I did find an old wage of his. It says his net wage is £1300 (is net before or after tax?)
Out of his wage he pays the following:
Gas
Electricity
Council tax
Weekly food
Sky tv/broadband/phone
Loans
Credit cards
Car-petrol etc
I think thats it but I have no idea how much each individual thing is as he pays by dd.
I pay the rent and school lunches and like I say, by doing this I am going to be left with £4.
I also get child benefit and I have to use that to clothe my children and for shoes, school things, haircuts and birthdays.

Net is after tax and national insurance.

1300 a month for just has,electric,food, council tax and phone is a nice bundle for him. How much is the weekly food shop? Any idea how big the debts are? How old is that pay?

Looks like hubby may potentially be keeping some to himself.

How is he with everything else? Does he intentionally hide how much he earns from you?

I think he must be earning more than this now given the reductions in your child tax credit but others here would know more about the limits and reduction rates for your circumstances.

You have 4 kids,right?

pmlindyloo

It will be very difficult to budget if you do not know the ins and outs of income and expenditure.

Any chance of getting your partner on board so that you can try to work out how to reduce your expenditure (as a first step?)

There are many sheets that you can use. For example..

https://www.trafford.gov.uk/residents/benefits-and-council-tax/docs/income-and-expenditure-form.pdf

Does your OH ever moan about not having enough money for going on holiday for example?

Could you use this as a reason to have a look at your expenditure?

An immediate saving is school meals and sky.

BigAunty

Pop over to the relationship board - your partner leaves you with a disposable income of 57 pence a day, though you were seemingly happy with the dismal sum of £1.42 before , though is at least v. supportive when it comes to household bills.

That board is used to dealing with power issues around money in relationships.

They recently had a similar post from a lady that was only allowed the child benefit and had to use it for all her personal expenses, including school and clothing for what her husband called 'her child' (it was his biological child, too). He had thousands in the bank and went berserk when she spent 30 pence of the household shopping on a donation of cordial to a food bank.

Although you see this as a benefit issue, it's really a relationship one because he is controlling the household budget to such a degree that you are likely to experience personal hardship when he doesn't.

Anyway, back on topic - unfortunately tax credits do prop up low wages to such an extent that they can really disincentive some households from taking on extra employment due to the steep withdrawal of benefits, the entry into taxation and exposure to other expenses and inconveniences like transport and child care costs. Though its a very unpopular suggestion, some households really aren't better off taking on extra employment. You can model the impact of changes to your benefits by reducing/increasing work on the Turn2us online benefit calculator.

Have you checked if you qualify for Housing Benefit and council tax reduction? Unfortunately, your partner's secrecy is hindering your calculations and may expose you to accidental overpayments, etc. You need to get him to share the household budget information to help with your decision making and accurate benefit entitlement info.

Perhaps you can tell him how much you are struggling at a personal level even though the main household expenses are covered off. Download the MSE budget planner and insist that it is filled in so that you can make the necessary changes. If he resists, once you've told him that you are suffering due to his secrecy, then I don't really know what to suggest. Is he a control freak in other areas?

Do you want to/can you work full time? If so, what does the Turn2us online benefit calculator say about if/how much you are better off.

merlin68

Perhaps you could explain to him that ctc is for the children its not to pay the rent with. That is just wrong.
you both should receive a copy of the tax credit award letter. Has he hidden them from you.