What's the Future of Child Benefit?

onlyroz

ringo_24601 wrote: »

I can't afford to have less money coming in each month! I'm already claiming childcare vouchers but I need a certain income to afford to live where I do, in the lifestyle I have (Which isn't massively extravagant).

Sounds like perhaps you should work a bit less and your wife should work a bit more

I suspect we are similar - our household income is around £80k and I earn just shy of £50k. I manage to keep my income hovering around the 40% tax threshold by claiming childcare vouchers, paying into the company share incentive plan, and putting a decent chunk each month into my pension.

I often wonder why my colleagues who earn more than me seem to struggle with money - no foreign holidays and living with two kids in a two-bed property. On the whole it seems like their problem is that their partners either don't work or are in low-paid jobs like teaching assistants etc. However, both of us work in reasonably well-paid jobs and our lifestyle is pretty good - in spite of a large mortgage and ongoing childcare costs (I pay around £3k a year for after-school and holiday childcare).

remorseless

Blue22 wrote: »

I probably only used the example of harvesting because I live in an agricultural area and think its ridiculous that Farmers need to advertise for Eastern European students when there are so many local people that are underemployed.

why do you think it's the case?
Could it be that maybe the local unemployed feel like they should be paid more but consumers don't want to pay more for things?
Or could it be that maybe they are not so keen in working full stop?
Eastern Europeans are like most of Western countries used to be before this BS benefit system and just used to get on with things.

This problem is not just British, but it's happening everywhere. As locals get more comfortable and it's socially acceptable to be on some benefit, the more this problem will get bigger.

I am not saying that life should be harder but I think it's just too easy now. It's going to be hard to wean people out of benefits...

CLAPTON

remorseless wrote: »

here we go, it's as usual always the fault of those immigrants who despite the odds seems to be able to steal jobs from the locals...

What's is with this 'British workers' bonanza? Are you implying that the non-British workers do not pay taxes?

British workers can do seasonal or temporary work now if they wish so by accepting the wage offered which is driven by the amount you're willing to pay for what's offered.

I was at Sainsbury yesterday and a punnet of British strawberries was £2, the person who picks them cannot be paid £30/hour unless consumers are willing to pay a tad more for the punnet. Cannot have it both way. Let me guess, every 'British worker' should be a collar job earning at least double an immigrant right? BS!

It is easier (and often more lucrative) more likely to stay home, don't blame the 'non-British workers', it's a culture shift, I remember times not long ago when getting benefits was not the glamorous choice, though now it seems like it's more acceptable and mainstream!

what a lot of manufactured faux outrage.

no-one is blaming the British worker but rather our mad system of benefits that discourages work in favour of benefits.

A worker doesn't just need to consider the wage offered by the employer but the impact on their benefits.

20 years ago casual labour was worthwhile but now the benefits system makes it a no-no for many potential workers.

Nothing to do with a culture shift : but hard cash.

onlyroz

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Oh i'm sure if we swapped shopping at M&S Food/Sainsburys to Lidl, and cancelled Netflix/sky/British Gas HomeCare, the gardeners and cleaner.. we'd knock £400-500 off the monthly bills in order to put more in a pension, and retrieve more tax-payer supplied child benefits... Frankly - i've educated myself, i've worked hard to build a career - i'm not forgoing my lifestyle just to scheme the taxpayer out of a grand or two.

I'll 'get by' by working harder, earning promotions and raising my salary.

If you do most of your shopping at M&S and Sainsbury's then it's hardly surprising you don't have a lot left at the end of the month.

I now do 80% of my shopping at Aldi. I save a fortune and still manage to put a tasty home-cooked meal on the table each day, with no compromises on quality.

But if I had a bit more spare each month a cleaner would be the first thing I'd spend it on :A

[Deleted User]

onlyroz wrote: »

Sounds like perhaps you should work a bit less and your wife should work a bit more

I suspect we are similar - our household income is around £80k and I earn just shy of £50k. I manage to keep my income hovering around the 40% tax threshold by claiming childcare vouchers, paying into the company share incentive plan, and putting a decent chunk each month into my pension.

I often wonder why my colleagues who earn more than me seem to struggle with money - no foreign holidays and living with two kids in a two-bed property. On the whole it seems like their problem is that their partners either don't work or are in low-paid jobs like teaching assistants etc. However, both of us work in reasonably well-paid jobs and our lifestyle is pretty good - in spite of a large mortgage and ongoing childcare costs (I pay around £3k a year for after-school and holiday childcare).

I wouldn't say that to her face.. she does 25hrs a week as a an A&E Senior Sister... Yep, I also pay out ~£3k a year in nursery fees (one more year to go, woop). I guess our household income is around £75-80k also.

Crossing my fingers on a payrise if the 'promotion panel' goes in my favour. I can then afford to up my pension payments! The sooner i'm into the £60-70k pay band the sooner I can cancel the child benefit payments.

The wife won't step foot in Lidl/Aldi - not to mention it's nowhere near as close as M&S/Sainsburys is - and they've got much better parking.

We don't struggle with money especially, we've got the kids in a good state school, 3 bed house near St Albans, foreign holiday and a UK break every year.. we've just not got much savings and a bit of debt on a 0% card. Life could be worse. It helps that I have no commuting costs, and we keep only 1 car.

wotsthat

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Oh i'm sure if we swapped shopping at M&S Food/Sainsburys to Lidl, and cancelled Netflix/sky/British Gas HomeCare, the gardeners and cleaner.. we'd knock £400-500 off the monthly bills in order to put more in a pension, and retrieve more tax-payer supplied child benefits... Frankly - i've educated myself, i've worked hard to build a career - i'm not forgoing my lifestyle just to scheme the taxpayer out of a grand or two.

I'll 'get by' by working harder, earning promotions and raising my salary.

I joke about my rent seeking but the reality is all I'm doing is reducing my overall tax burden so I can invest in my future or spend elsewhere. That hasn't been incompatible with working hard, getting promoted and doesn't seem to have interfered with getting pay rises and bonuses.

On your salary I'd consider myself irresponsible for buying fripperies from income taxed at 40% when I could be a basic rate taxpayer and the impact on my lifestyle would be, let's face it, close to zero.

We look at things differently - I'm dry heaving at the thought of paying a gardener from income taxed at 40% whilst having unused pension tax relief.

tara747

Blue22 wrote: »

...Surely every family in the country needs more money than a similar childless family regardless of income. At the moment we have the ridiculous situation for higher earners that when mortgage affordability is looked at, a family may be able to borrow enough for a 2 bedroomed flat whilst the childless couple can afford the detached house with garden.

Children cost money so there needs to be a differential between families with and without children and a universal CB is the fairest way to do it.

Are you serious???

Yes, children cost money. That's why having (or not having) children is a choice.

I like holidays. Holidays cost money, should I expect other taxpayers to subsidise mine???

Blue22

remorseless wrote: »

why do you think it's the case?
Could it be that maybe the local unemployed feel like they should be paid more but consumers don't want to pay more for things?

No I think the pay is fine if unemployed/underemployed received that amount. Unfortunately because of the interaction with means tested benefits, many people end up with considerably less.

Generali

tara747 wrote: »

Are you serious???

Yes, children cost money. That's why having (or not having) children is a choice.

I like holidays. Holidays cost money, should I expect other taxpayers to subsidise mine???

Holidays aren't a biological imperative, babies are.

I'm not sure why Britons hate children so much. I believe it to be a unique trait. The rest of the world see children as being a necessary part of the continuation of society, culture and the species, the British see them as a petty annoyance to be pushed out of the way.

[Deleted User]

wotsthat wrote: »

We look at things differently - I'm dry heaving at the thought of paying a gardener from income taxed at 40% whilst having unused pension tax relief.

I'm dry heaving about doing my own gardening.. . It's only £30 a month, or £15 in the winter.

Now, i don't commute (work from home, or if I travel work pays the expenses); that saves me £3k a year.

We need our working-age population to be reproducing and creating new worker bees. We can't rely on the under-classes to create productive members of society. I think reducing the cost of nursery care is one of the most significant things the government can (and is) do.

The idea that 'children are a choice' negates the requirement to continue our own species. Should we only allow those who can 'afford' it to continue our society?