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Wife currently works 24hr/week. Boys go to nursery, bill is big, (£900 / month), but Childcare element of tax credit offsets some of that; so all in all life is ok. Wife works, which she likes, so we're contributing to the economy etc etc, & the Childcare tax thing takes away some of the childcare costs for us, there by giving us an incentive for the Wife to work. Its not great, but it means we are contributing instead of sponging benefits etc.
Wife's now been told her jobs redundant unless she goes full time.
Of course she'd take home more cash, which is nice, but there's no corresponding increase in the Childcare tax thing. So basically the wife does more hours, & pays more tax, but she gets nothing in return for doing it.
Actually, she will, as she will take home an extra £14 per week, of which £10 of that will go on the fuel to get there.
Don't know why we bother. Surely if people want to work, & contribute this great economy, there should be some incentive to do so.
Yours.
Dis Illusioned.
😥
pah! I've no children and subsequently get no tax credits and have to pay a staggering amount to boot!
£5 says I know exactly how this thread is going to go.
I cant quite see why the state should provide additional support to you and your wife when you yourself say that the support you already get is sufficient to leave you better off.
State support is useful to convert what would be a negative economic decision into a positive one. It isnt there to keep on adding to your household income once the economic costs of going back to work have been negated.
takisawa
Sympathise with you man
Childcare and tax credits = rip off!
We've even thought about Mrs.T starting a childcare nursery - but if not its bite-the-bullet and keep going 🙁
There really is little incentive in this country to work. Mad!
takisawa - Why not just do what we did & decided that it was a much better solution all round to have one of you not work?
My wife stopped working when our first was born 20 years ago & has never gone back - I believe we have a much better lifestyle because of this decision, & I certainly think the kids got a much improved upbringing too.
It's a win, win
I'd get some employment law advice, this sounds like it could be construed as discriminatory to your wife. I think the employer should make an effort to try to find alternative solutions- eg employing another PT to job share the Full Time equivalent post.
It isnt there to keep on adding to your household income once the economic costs of going back to work have been negated.
Agreed. Absolutely.
But in this case it will cost us more, to contribute more.!!!
Looks like the Wife will be staying at home & children coming out of childcare. So local childcare provider loses our business, govt loses the tax the wife would have paid, wife then has to re-enter work some years from now.
Just bloody frustrating.
We're not asking to be made rich from tax credits, just that we're not worse off in choosing to work more hours (& hence contribute more), which we would be.
I keep hearing rumours that Childcare allowance is to be scrapped. Can't find any evidence on the 'web to back that up though.
We just found out (yesterday) our 2nd is on the way. We just about afford the childcare costs for our daughter - bizarely we'll now be better off if Mrs Mog quits work. However, it was our decision to have children so our problem.
Don't see why your wife's employer can't fill the extra hours a week with a part time job share arrangement. I think TomB might have a point.
The fact that it costs you more is irrelevant. As long as your net income to the household doesnt fall, then the childcare credits have done their job. The ratio of net to gross income may fall, but that's what you have to decide upon. It's not the states job to maintain your net to gross income ratio.
takisawa - Why not just do what we did & decided that it was a much better solution all round to have one of you not work?
If you can afford to, +1
It can be a financial struggle sometimes but that's what we decided to do too when our 1st came along nearly 5 years ago - oddly enough we were talking about it at the weekend. Both agreed that it was one of the best decisions we ever made...
Childcare and tax credits = rip off!
Well at least you've got tax credits which weren't around when our kids were pre-school. When we had our second my wife had to give up work because we'd be worse off due to the nursery fees. BTW I'm not complaining about that as it was our decision to have another kid and we knew what the consequences would be.
Takisawa stop complaining about not getting enough government cash and get your wife to consult an employment lawyer. What they are trying to do sounds like constructive dismissal.
It used to be (or it least appear to be) the case that the man would go to work, the woman would stay at home and look after the kids, and there seemed to be little state support.
Now given that we're all meant to be financially better off then when the above was the norm, I'm wondering what's changed such that tax credits are now required. Not that I'm of the opinion that they're a bad thing, just wondering how we've reached this state. False impression of the past?, people's life expectations changing? something else?
Now given that we're all meant to be financially better off then when the above was the norm, I'm wondering what's changed such that tax credits are now required
We used to get Family Allowance & better tax codes
Tax credits are required because the government hasn't taken a progressive view on lower income taxation.
Women generally are in lower income groups (mainly through part time working) and so in theory ought to have one of the lowest overall taxation rates to encourage them to work - but they dont. Tax credits were a sticking plaster conceived by ****head balls and brown to try and bugger around enough to make lower income roles economically viable for people. They barely manage it.
The reason that its touch and go whether to work or not is that the net after tax income of a typical back to work mum rarely works out per hour more than the typical hourly cost of childcare.
The government should have introduced a £10k personal allowance (or as uplink mentions go back to family allowances) years ago to make it possible for women to get back to work on part time pay levels and still be better off after paying for childcare.
I'd be looking to find cheaper child-care!
£900 a month???? I take it you have 2 kids. So that's £450 each. I take it your wife works 3 days a week. So £450 for 12 days care?
And yes, both my kids went to Nursery as I've always worked full-time.
I nolonger get any tax credits. The whole system is a joke. Every single person I know who got paid them, ended being grossly over-paid and had to pay a lot of money back.
We really struggled financially when the kids were pre-school age but we wanted kids and just accepted it.
I really don't understand this whole "incentive" to work thing.
I've had a job of some kind since I was 13 and not working has never been an option.
My wife has to work to keep her job open. If she gave it up for a few years she would never get back in to her chosen field. When sprog#2 starts nursery we'll be paying about £1000 a month for child care.
Can you get on a childcare voucher scheme? It is saving us a small fortune.
The incentive is not so much "to work" but really an economic "correction" to make it financially positive to go to work AND pay for childcare. If that sum is not >£1 then we fall in to the world of people [i]paying[/i] for the "enjoyment" of working.
Another thing to remember is that (if you are lucky enough to get then through work) childcare vouchers are almost certain to end in 2011 - both Labour and Conservative have rumoured to be scrapping them. If you can get your application in before the closing date you can claim them until 2015 though.
Childcare vouchers are a godsend, especially if you can both claim them.
If your wife doesn't take the full-time role then someone else will (presumably currently unemployed) so they'll be contributing the tax instead (and coming off benefits) so doesn't really make a difference to the government.
Sell one of your children into slavery. It's the only solution.
I'd be looking to find cheaper child-care!
I suspect thats one thing people don't like to skimp on, as finding the cheapest people you can to look after your children could backfire.
Mind you, if it does I suppose you can always have more .....................
feel your pain mate. both ours now finished nursery and its like getting a £12k payrise all of a sudden!
my wife has just gone back to work full time so both boys are now in nursery. £1120 per month. We're basically no better off (in terms of available cash) than if she was not working and had the kids at home.
2 reasons why we're doing what we are:
1) Kids thrive on interaction with others. Development since starting nursery markedly improved
2) She's getting her pension contributions paid.
Horrible thought though of subconsciously wishing their younger years away so that you can have the extra grand a month in your pocket when they start school...