just called them as i am now working im earning about 10k a year and we will still only get £10 a week because i dont earn enough, apparently the more you earn the more they give you. Its to encourage people to go for high flying jobs and careers and to encourage people to work full time and not part time.

also not entitled to child care benefit so we have to fork that out of my wages seriously is there any point in actually going back to work erm i think not it just makes me so mad

sorry if this offends but surely the more you earn the less you need ( not saying nothing) but if you earn 70k do you need an extra £50 in tax credits a week

and if you earn 10 - 20k you only need £10 a week

sorry i was also told that if i left my husband i would get more yeah cos thats an incentive to keep a family together and they then wonder why people fiddle them

i really do not understand how they work it out ,,,i did notice the more you earn the more you get ,,,, i find its all wrong

I don't know quite how it works but we don't get anything cause my oh earns about 33k and me 16k, we did get a bit or child tax credit but that has stopped now the limit has gone down to 41k.

it just dosnt make sense the people earning less struggle more by logic i know it wont always work like that as the more you earn the bigger the house, bigger the billsand more expensive the car etc

i know if i earned 50k i wouldnt be driving about in an 11 year old astra

How does that make sense? I knew it went up if your worked over 30 hours a week but it seems ridiculous to me

Im dreading+what
mine+will
be like. Plus
Perry did over time so owe them about two grand+as it is!

THis is exactly why I can't afford to work, if I did I would need a job that paid at least 20k just to cover full time child care! We only get 50quid a month tax credit atm, but I'm sure it will stop as Si's been promoted and if he gets all his bonus's he'll be earning over the 41k on his own, and we'll end up owing them money. we don't need me to work really, we're getting by on Si's wage, but my brain is turning to mush so I want to work, but I couldn't get a job that pay's enough for child care for 2 under 3's, plus actually giving me some money to pay for a car or bus fares etc, what would be the point? The system sucks balls, there's no incentive to get a job, no wonder so many cheat the system!

I have never had anything and would get anything if i were a single parent either so i guess there must be a limit on what you can earn xx

i know how you are feeling, i had planned on going back to work at least part time, but then they said ohhhhh but your husband is a student nurse so you don't get any help with childcare, making it actually impossible for me to go to work - my husband does fulltime placements.

sooooooo we live off his £550 bursary and ctc which tbh isn't enough!

My o/h works 16 hours a week and gets £75 tax credits a week.

We don't get anything! I didn't think we were entitled to anything. To be honest we don't need tax credits so it seems a bit bazzar that we may qualify and young families wHo do need help are been turned down

when I say we don't need it I don't mean we're rich as we most certainly aren't but we can manage on what we earn.

we don't get anything either, I only work part time, but matt is full time, so I don't think that it's that simple that the more you earn the more you get

I think the whole system is screwed up - for mums going back to work who have a partner that works it is stupid - I was paying about half my earnings on childcare on the days she went to nursery.

They want mums to go back to work, but then they end up getting virtually nothing to help.

I don't really know whats going on with ours, I haven't worked since January and gave them my whole years figures, and last week I got £42 for April - which is MORE (I know only £2) than when I was working. I don't claim benefits so I thought it would either stay the same or go down as I was now a SAHM?! Very odd!

Right now we are coping pretty well on Dans income as he has been really busy, and I can do without the hassle of childcare for the feeble amount extra we ended up with each month!

I don't understand the system at all. Last time I worked it all out I would lose out considerable if I went back to work which is just so silly. Currently we're in a bit of a rut as Matt was promoted late last yr so we've lost benefits and I'm sure tax credits are going down but his new wage doesnt really cover our needs, so we're worse off even though he got a decent promotion/pay rise. How does this work out? x

the system is an ass we would be £40 a week better off if i wasnt working x

i think personally they just pluck a figure from thin air and say yeah you can have this and you can have that, as when i wasnt working we got £10 and now im working we get £10

i work 22 hours a week and earn 9k a year and i get help with child care .although i do pay half of it and i get working tax credit and child tax!!are u sure they worked it out properly ? im better off working than not ?

Im not entirely sure why they told you that. Im over the threashold and wont get it anymore for what neil and i earn but before i was just under it and getting what they said was the minimum-10 pound a week so it sure didnt work for us that way

lise it seems that anyone you talk to at their offices tell you different stories i dont really think the know what they are doing through no fault of their own its just too bloody confusing

I get nothing and even if I was single I would get nothing.

There is a limit on what you earn and from the way the guy laughed when I phoned them to tell them I had gone back to work after mat leave I am guessing it is a lot lower than what I earn.

Here is the latest payout grid, it shows that if you have one child and earn £25k a year, you get the same as if you get £40k a year:

Annual income (£) One childTwo childrenThree children

0	6,975	9,530	12,090
5,000	6,975	9,530	12,090
9,250	6,605	9,160	11,720
10,000	6,295	8,855	11,415
15,000	4,245	6,805	9,365
20,000	2,195	4,755	7,315
25,000	545	2,705	5,265
30,000	545	655	3,215
35,000	545	545	1,165
40,000	545	545	545
45,000	0	0	0

thank you laura hun thats great il show marc later