I will call mothers, to vote for Labour, Labour care about,Family,God save Labour.

They should cut it for those earning 50 thousand, why would they need it they earn pleanty, me and my partner only earn around 25 a year and that is together!

Im a mum working part time and tax credits really help me and my family. Me and my husband bring in about £25000 a year combined. I agree, if conservatives get rid of this vital help for families, then i will be joining to vote for bringing back labour. They care for the working class.

Tax credits are unfair, it seems the more you claim the more they give. For us people that can be bothered to educate ourselves and get better jobs, there is no reward. We have good jobs because we can be bothered to get them.

EDITOR REPLY: You really don’t seem to understand Tax Credits, but I’m sure you’ll be at home in the new Conservative/Lib Dem Britain.

My partner works full time and brings home in a GOOD year 24k BEFORE TAX, we have 3 children to look after and are unable to get any help with anything such as Council tax/Rent, or even child care if I was to return to work (which is hard enough as it is)We live week to week on tax credits( child element only, he earns too much for working element (yeah right)). If we lose Tax credits then things will become even more difficult than they are already, I guess we are lower class rather than middle so suppose I should get used to it, it seems the unemployed( who really can’t be bothered to get a job) get everything paid for them even driving lessons!!!!

Marie Rissetto has a valid point, the fact that Labour class those earning £50,000 as not well off is crazy.

To give earners in that bracket child tax credits is a little obsurd and I think the Conservatives are more fairly representing working class people with their proposal. The IFS critisised all parties and at least the Conservatives had made constructive criticism of those findings.

The question should be why on earth are Labour giving those people tax credits??

Marie Rissettoo – I bothered to get an education and I have a nursing degree. My partner left me and two small children. Without tax credits I would not be able to afford child care or to feed my children come to that. You must have been born with a silver spoon in your mouth. Not everyone can afford a university education. What a snob you must be.

DC/NC have no idea of what responsible parents are, after taking many years to become committed/married couples, providing a home for themselves and their future family and paying their own bills and training, despite the difficulties with redundancies etc. They now have children and try to combine good safe childcare with a small income to pay their mortgages. A joint income of £31,000 less tax and insurance, commuting and paying their own bills,without tax credit, which is not a benefit only a reduction of tax for working, will leave no money to allow them to work, and without it they will lose their homes. Perhaps these are the people Nick Clegg is going to build council homes for, I doubt it. Where is the incentive for people not to stay at home but take responsibility for themselves, when they can get everything for free if they dont have a partner or 2nd parent. Nick and Dave think they should stay at home and look after their children until they are over eighteen, whilst the workers with joint incomes of over £31,000 will keep them and their children in luxury goods and free training and childcare as and when they want.

me and my husband bring in about 18 k a year and we dont get much tax credits and if they cut the little bit we do get even that bit will make a big difference i depend on this money for childcare and we get non left over after that .i dont know what we would do

I feel the cameron and clegg need to consider this more intensely. They won’t take tax credits from only familys with an income of over 50k (I will believe this when I see it, it doesn’t add up) they can’t just rip away money that families have come to rely on no matter how large or small an amount, plus many people on tax credits get free precriptions and free or help with paying for dentist, free school meals, childcare and other benefits. Will this be taken too? There are thousands of implications, and hundreds of thousands of familys currently worrying about this? I suggest mr cameron reconsiders because I’m not sure the working or lower-middle classes will take this laying down?

I am a single mum working part-time (30 hours a week)partly due to slipped discs and arthritis in my spine (for which i do not claim any benefits) and partly because I cannot work the shift patterns that my work demands (no child care until 9pm!!) and the tax credits that I receive are paramount to me keeping my mortgage going, feeding/clothing my daughter and providing me with the medication I need. All these women who say that tax credits are unfair must have husbands with good jobs to support them, i’d like to see them try and cope on their own with one wage and all the bills/childcare costs.

Theresa I totally agree! I am a civil servant working 30 per week, I am a lone parent with 1 child aged 2 and receive no financial support from the other parent. My daughters nursery costs £700 per month. I earn £850 per month. (And i work for the government!! )Without tax credits I wouldn’t actually be able to go to work. As a result i would lose my house and struggle to earn enough to survive. I too have a degree but that makes no difference when circumstances beyond your control force you to make certain choices, including taking the 1st job you can to put food on the table. I just wish they would hurry up and tell us the real decisions they have made regarding tax credits so those of us dependant on it can start to plan for the repercussions!

I have an education and work hard for a living as a teacher as well as trying to run a small home business to provide for my family. I have no luxeries and all I earn is used to pay for a roof over our heads and keep bread on the table -that’s it. There is nothing else. The idea of not neediung help to support children is ridiculous. I do question any family that supports a Conservative policy to remove this aid, especially if they are of the working class. Yes Britain is in debt and a lot, but this will only lead to social unrest and support being payed elsewhere. How much more will the NHS be inundated with people suffering depression, emergency services will be called to more suicide attempts, crime will increase in the peoples attempt to provide for their family, alcoholim and habitual drug use will rise. This may well make figures look good on paper but at what cost to the people of Britain?

I am a single mum of two boys age 11 and 5. I work full time, which I have always done since leaving college at 18. (I’m 31 now). I received no mainteance from my ex-husband at all, (he gave up is job of 18 years so he didnt have to pay me maintenance), and I earn £16,000 as a trainee Legal executive in a Solicitors firm. I have studied part time by correspondence for the last 5 years and hope to finally qulify as a lawyer next Summer. I gat child tax credits and working tax credits which assist me with after school chlidcare and holiday club. Without this, I would be unable to work at all. I do not get any other financial assistance. Do people seriously expect me to give upmy job, sign on and claim hosuing, council tax and whatever else i cam while I see at home watching Jeremy Kyle? Labour allowed me to leave an abusive husband, and continue to work full time and be able to pay into the pot. Some poeple make me sick…..they obviously have never had to struggle!

Several people here are saying they earn £25k a year, well if you read the article it says you will not be affected by the Tories’ child tax credit cuts.

However I think it is unfair that a household with an income of £31,000 should get tax credits and a household on £31,100 should not. A complete cut-off point is too harsh, I would rather this new government introduced a sliding scale where the amount of tax credits decreases for every extra £1000 you earn.

I am a single parent and I work 17hours a week. I also bothered to get an education. Unfortunately where I live is relatively remote and we do not have the resources that are available in the cities and bigger towns, i.e. childcare, public transport that runs regularly. With fuel so expensive I cannot afford to work far from home and have to do what I can locally as the nearest decent sized town is 28 miles away! My total income for a year is less than £10k and thats WITH the tax credits I receive. Its a real struggle trying to keep up the mortgage AND feed and clothe us. How could it even be suggested that tax credits are cut?

i am a full time student that works full-time as part of my training, my husband works 50 hrs a week, we have 4 children we are on less that 20k a year….if the cost of everything wasn’t so steep we wouldn’t need tax credits so until they sort that out this country has a duty to its people to provide basic things like food which is what most families use tax credits for.

The Conservative party are narrow minded and unrealistic in their views on how us ‘working class’ families need to survive, they have no clue about hardship and all the points raised so far go to show how much stress and worry this is already causing families. I have no idea why people choose to vote conservative when they will be affected by so many of the conservatives future plans. Anyone that says people that are unemployed or rely on certain financial assistance are lazy, then they to are arrogant to hardship and narrow minded to life’s uncontrollable situations and to say such stupid comments just makes me mad. I am a working mother both me and my partner have very good jobs but sometimes that just is not enough there are other factors that can come along out of your control where you will need some financial assistance to support your family.

After being in care all my life, I chose to work always full time, I am 36 now. I bought my home, bring up 2 children single handed. On low income, and WFTC is my food on the table. I am hoping that this Government dont take away the money we so badly need. I want to continue to work always and survive. I could not manage without WFTC………

I am now married to a husband who earns Just over 40k a year.This to alot of people sounds alot but when tax and National insurance has been taken it leaves us with less money than a family member on benefits with 3 children, we Have 4 children 2 of whom are disabled.
He defends the rights of our country day in and day out.
Of course he is just moving into the higher Tax band meaning a further decreased wage.
We would be unable to proide for our family without some support from Tax credits.It is a little amount back of what we pay in !
My concern is for the few people out there with little pride left who are classed as middle classed but like I have worked out that Pride under any government in the Uk doesnt work as a single mum with 3 children is better of on full benefits than your family are for having a member in it who risks his life.

I am a single mum of 3. I depend on tax credits to pay my bills, feed and clothe my children. My youngest child is 14 mths and I have been seeking employment for the last 3mths, if they are going to cut tax credits I might as well not bother looking as I will depend on childcare. some of us can actually work but are too lazy and some see no point as they will be gettin LESS. If I start work I’ll have to pay for the kids school meals, dentist, full bus fare, rent,and the list goes on. Its like you cant get anything UNLESS your’re claiming INCOME SUPPORT. and if your not , you dont get anything anyway. Im confussed, scared, lost. I already have so much outstanding bills to pay and all this is getting more depressing..put us out of our misery and LEAVE the TAX CREDITS alone!!

I think people are missing the point…the tories are not getting rid of tax credits only if you have a joint income or single income of 50k plus!!… my wife and I have a combined income of around 49-50k so we will lose it. Were not rich but should never have been entitled. What I cant get over is how child tax credit and child benefit keeps going up every time you have a child…thats why under labour youve got people not working having 5/6 kids and getting 30k in benefits. It should not go up after 3 kids so theres no incentives. Labour are apporling and unfortunately have become a party for the ‘not working’ not the working class

I think everyone is getting carried away. Tax credits will only be cut from families with a joint income below 31k .I don’t think 31k is a large income after rent,mortgage and food etc are paid for so it will really effect a lot of families who possibly have two parents working, which is what makes it unfair. If someone is earning 31k a year and are single or married with no children, then it is a lot of money but raising a young family is expensive and it will really put those families into poverty. The threshhold should be raised to a joint income of above 40k (minimum)befoe tax credits is cut and this should depend on the number of children they have, more children should mean a threshhold of 50k. why should those on higher incomes have to pay for everything? that is unfair……

I just wish they would tell us what is going to happen, NOW, so we can deal with it. Me & my husband earn jointly £33k & have 3 kids, 2 disabled. If they cap it at £31k we’re screwed we’d loose £117 a week. I’d work more nites but I finsh at 8am & he starts a 6:30am, can’t do days as have a pre-school child & without TC couldn’t afford child care. Maybe they should stop paying benefits to people without a UK passport, would save a fortune and we wouldn’t have to go without. But what government would be brave enough to do that???

Amazed at the ignorance and selfishness.

A) A combined income of £50,000 doesn’t make you in any way rich. It may do in some parts of the country but I can definetely tell you it doesn’t in London or many other parts of the South East where the average rent/ mortgage is already a good £1,000 (being quite conservative)

B) ‘They earn too much!’ Well, they pay taxes too so why should they pay taxes and get nothing in return. The very rich don’t pay because they evade taxes. The poorer side of society don’t pay because they simply get benefits. And the middle classes pay for everybody but live worst off than those on benefits.

C) ‘Stop paying to those without a British passport’. Yes, like you are paying benefits out of the gold reserves and the income from the colonies! What world do you live in? You are getting benefits because people in many cases thanks to those immigrants who have to work because they already don’t have access to most benefits so they don’t have your choices. In my dictionary, bringing people into the country so they work and you rip off the benefits equates to slavery.

D) We earn X, we have X amount of children… Did I ask you to have children? You could have waited as many of us feel forced to do until you were in a better off situation. Or you could have stopped when you had one child. Why should I pay for it?

i am a lone parent working full time. I have 1 child now at home. My income is considered too high to qualify for the passport benefits that come with WTC.

i have to pay out for perscriptions, dental work, glasses, etc. but without paying for these i could leave work ill.

i work 37 hours a week, tarvel 5 hours a week at a cost of over £100 per month to get to work.

my income is too high? by the time i pay tax, NI and student loan i have only £1200 a month to live on.
i then have to pay my rent etc etc.

if i was on income support etc in my situation i would be in reciept of over £1321 a month not counting free NHS, free school dinners, no petrol outlay for work. a intrest free loan of £1250 from the social fund. free music lessons and school trips for my child.

oh and i could earn a further £86 a month without it impacting on my benefit.

another thing that should eb changed.. why can soemone the same as me be working and potentially getting over £2000 a month mantinence and this income is NOT counted when working out CTC and WTC??

tell me how it pays financially to work?

something needs to change to support those working on low incomes ( low being anything that makes you better off on income support)

When an individual or a couple decide to have children, that is their choice.Why should other Tax Payers contribute in the format of Tax credits to assist them in financially supporting their offspring. There was initialy family allowance but only for the second child and that was deducted from the tax allowance. Why is WFTC paid to families with an 50K income ?. No one with an income of over national Minimum Wage once they decide to have a family should receive any financial help.
The decision to have children is not an illnes or an afliction and the cost should be born by the parents only, not other tax payers.

In reply to Von, Why did you nhave 3 children ?
You could easily afford to bring up 1 child on £33K, you would not need WFTC.
You dont say whether you receive Non Means Tested Benefits for the disabled children? . Do you want it all ways?

I think that people who earn 30k should not receive any TC. If people didn’t live beyound their means then they wouldn’t need to relie on TC. I earn 13k ayear with one child have a morgage and work f/t..without the tax credits i get i would be screwed too!!I think they should not give to those on 30k or more and give a bit more to people like me and the other millions alike. Stop giving to those that can work and stop letting others into the country that come here with nothing!!

We.re all going to be hammered with cuts. I am married with 3 children (2 of whom are disabled). Have worked since leaving school and recently had to reduce my hours of work to care for my youngest son. Our income has dropped a great deal but we are bracing ourselves for the next bombshell on 22 June. Grew up in the 80.s Thatcher ruined the country then (shut all the mines in my area). Things are not going to be any different now. The poor will be poorer and the rich richer.

I have 5 children, 4 of which are 2 sets of twins. Both me and my husband work but only bring in £28k pa. Without the CTC we wouldnt be able to pay all of the bills or buy food. We pay enough tax on practically everything we buy: ie petrol, so why should we have the small amount of CTC we are entitled to stopped or lowered. Yes it was our choice to have so many children but at the same time we are both working hard to support our children and to pay tax to this government. Shouldnt the they be looking at the people who are claiming full benefits and cutting their money, not penalizing those who work hard to support their families!

Personally I believe that its is right for those who earn 50k+ a year not recive child benefits, as 50K is alot of money to be earning a year and no matter WHAT part of London you live in it will get you through (in most cases)Also people sayin “Why should us middle class suffer” are wrong in my opinion as child benefits is the difference between food or gas in some cases and not just pocket money given out by the goverment, so DONT BE SO SELFISH, and want what you dont nessacarily need!

Do we honestly want to keep £10 a week in CTC and leave our children having to pay back for our mistakes as a country. I am working class, last year our household income was 30K. Then i was made redundant. i tooka minimum wage job and ending up getting less money than on benefits (an amazing country we have isn’t it?). recently got a new job and a semblance of a livably income once again. I say let them keep the minimum CTC if they can at least let me beleive that my children will not have to pay for our fiscal mistakes. in my own view a family on 50K simply should not be relying on a few £’s of CTC to bring up there children.

After reading comments I’d say, don’t be jealous to each other, selfish, don’t scream smbdy shouldn’t have that or another amount of children or smbdy shouldn’t get that or another benefit!!! If you never been in the situation these people are u can not judge them, cause u simply do not know, how u’ll behave or what u’ll need in your life!!!
Not all can be millionaires, not all can be directors, lawers or have any other high paid jobs. Smbdy has to clean, to work in factories and so on. So no matter what financial situation country is, everyone should be able to afford roof above their heads and food on a table. People choose government, so they have to work for us, not the other way round!!! And just one more thing, before desiding to take money from families, y not to take money u give to war!!!

I also have 3 children and yes that was my choice I am also a well educated women and for unforseen circumstance last year my husband had to give up his 47k job and is unable to go back so to the people that comment that we shouldn’t have children unless we pay for it,we waited until we were finacially settled before we had children but unfortunately none of us can see into the future, so don’t you agree that there are circumstance where there is no choice but to claim these benefits. I do also agree that there are people out there that now how to milk the system and maybe benefits should be monitored more closely and the people that are intent on not actually looking for work should get nothing. I work full time and I get a slight bit of help from ctc, which is a great help but we have paid taxes since we were both 17 why shouldn’t we get something back to.

iam confused as to what is actually going to happen with the tax credit cuts? tax credits are real life line to my family, me my husband and 3 children under 4. My husand works full time and only earns 14,000k a year, how do they expect people on this sort of income to live without help? The goverment need to be more clear as to what they are doing.I hink people live beyond their means regardless of how much they earn and then claim tax credits to help pay their over stretched mortage or 3 sports cars etc.

I cannot believe the selfishness and judgemental attitudes of some of the people who have commented on here. If you have been fortunate enough to receive higher education then good for you! Most people hate the fact that they are out of work and have to claim benefits which realistically do not pay for anything apart from basic day to day human needs – not holidays, cars etc. Most of us rely upon tax credits to get by on a daily basis. My husband has had hardly any work for the last 2 years due to work for bricklayers being scarce. He hates the fact he has been out of work on occasion and has made every attempt to seek it. I think that anyone who has children should be able to claim tax credits. As for labour encouraging people to have children so they can claim more money, what a silly remark that is. What woman out there would go through pregnancy and labour over and over for a few extra pounds sterling a week!!! Get real!!!! It would be wonderful if we could all sit at home and print our own money off as and when we needed it but until then, cant we all care for one another as human beings, accept that we are all equal and if there are people less fortunate than ourselves, care for them and their sad situation rather than condemn them as being a burden to the rest of us. What kind of world are we creating for our children that encourages us to speak of one another this way. Lets just hope that Cameron and Clegg one day lose their millionaire status and have to live the way us ordinary folk do, I think you will find that suddenly, tax credits would increase rather quickly.

how intresting would it be to see david cameron and the rest of the politicains live on a normal persons benefits without private schools and free transport and childcare .
i gave up work 3 years ago due to a difficlt birth which needed surgery after my dughter being born my partner worked full time for a sucessfull buisness but was made reduntant 2 weeks before christmas we live on job seekers allowence as a couple which pays all our bills we have £110 a fortnight as a couple to live on without child tax credits i dont know how we would survive the politicians need to come and live on a normal estate and on benefits maybe then they would realise the damage they will do by cutting this money

i think this is stupid.cutting it off.i am pregnant with my second child and am single again.i was going to go back to college to study before i got pregnant.now i get child tax credit and thats the only benefit i depend on for my bills and to feed my daughters mouth and clothe her.i get it monthly about 209 which is ok but still not enough i get income support every two weeks and child benenfit every weeks.

I’m a full time student, work part time with a 2 yr old and one on the way. My husband is a carpenter but due to the lack of work out combined income is 10K. we have both worked hard and haven’t sat and relied solely on benefits. However, without CTC we would really struggle, we’re we are we have to be 1,000 a month for a two bedroom house! our rent is more than what we earn, we can barely survive on what we have at the moment. I could work full-time, but rather than settling in to a 9-5 job I’m trying to better our financial situation through education so we won’t have to rely on benefits. I don’t think people who earn more should be penalised, they put into the tax system more than the rest of us and should get something back, something does need to change however on why you can receive more benefits by not working than the other way round. Families/individuals who bring in less than 30k should receive more tax credits on the more they earn as an incentive to those who are capable of working but don’t. At least then, members of our society wont be penalised financially for working and financed for being lazy.

I am an A&E nurse earning 25k my wife stays at home and looks after the kids. We have 7 children if tax cuts effect us we shall have to consider if living in Britain is beneficial to us. We don’t smoke we hardly drink and going out is rare, we have no credit cards don’t get benefits we can’t reduce our outgoings anymore.

my husband earns about 18k. I am a full time mum. We have 2 children. Until I had children I had never heard of tax credits, and they came as a pleasant surprise, but we`d been quite prepared to manage without them. If they cut tax credits I will still stay at home to care for the children that I CHOSE to have. In fact, maybe I`ll have another one…!Family life is about love- not money.

I disagree that Tax Credits should be cut! It’s not about people having a high status job, the fact that people who claim this benifit actually do work is sufficient enough.

I would agree that it’s unfair that people in good jobs should have to suffer the consequences of having a decent job, but i personally feel that people on lower income should be given more.

You have to understand that not all people are cut out for a degree, we can’t all be doctors and lawyers, everyone has there place in this world, and every job is important so please understand that!

Hi Sorry, just been reading quickly…single mum here, working full time, 3 kids all over 13.
Can anyone tell me if a single person earning £25k would be classed as like a couple bringing in £50k…just a thought that maybe me being single and earning £25k would have my credits stopped too?

As for the anonymous person way above on the chat log..I had my children and yes would love to have made things work with their father – but being in an abusive relationship afraid to break free for years kind of makes me happy that I am independant and working, doing the best for them…they see their dad and he doesn’t even pay maintenance – maybe the Mr Cameron should be thinking about chasing those ” absent ” fathers that have dogded the CSA system for years by working self employed…I HAVE BROUGHT MY KIDS UP, PAID FOR THEM, STRUGGLED FOR THEM…DAMN EVEN DOING MY OWN DIY..OWN A CAR TOO…QUITE A NICE ONE..so I consider myself to have done well so do not judge single mothers cause like evryone else ..most are doing their best!

Some people go on about education and make out people who claim tax credits havent got it.Some people dont have the chance to go to college in life they at to work as soon as they left school.We dont all have the luxury to find study time and have to pay our way straight away!! students bum around for ages i at to pay for all my education,work,and bring up two children alone..my childrens father doesnt pay a penny so why dont they make fathers pay so they dont have to.Tax credits have been brilliant to help myself and many others!! they should stay because trust me alot of people will come out of work and turn to crime the rich havent got a clue about the real world.

well i work as alollipop lady and dinner lady i have 2 small children 2 and 5yrsold.my hubby is 54 and has back problems so took a reduced work pension and works part time.with his work and pension he takes home under £10.000 and with my jobs i take home £5.000 i am an older mum and a trained nneb nursery nurse 30yrs ago if i went back to nursery nursing i would have to go back to college and i chose to work around my kids so i can be home with them.yes i do get help with nursery but that is because my 2yrold has disabilities so we get funding for him.we live in private rented home a 3bed terraced home and pay over £600 a month for it .im sure if we lived in council accomadation we would have less rent to pay but we have been on a list and not enough points to bid.so we rely on tax credits to help us out and our luxury is a modest car and a caravan holiday if i had to work more i would be exhausted im 48 and want to spend my time with my kids ,please dont take tax credits away from us working families we wouldnt be able to live unless like someones comment will the PM build us a cheap house to live in.In fact this is sad but my mum is 80 and says perhaps its time for me to die so you can live in my flat !please mum dont go there!!

cuts should be on those earning over £40000 why should they recieve it . my husband and i earn around 16,500 a year and struggle without tax credits we wouldnt manage as we have two children under 8

Sheila, after reading your comment I really relate to you and the points that you raised.
I too am a qualified nursery nurse and after looking for work for ages was grateful to get a minimum wage position in a local private nursery for 16 hours per week. I have three children, 13,11 and 9. The oldest two are too old for the local afterschool provision (not that I could afford it!!!)but still too young to be safely allowed to be ‘latch key kids.’ My husband works permanent nights, out of neccesity, as his night shift payments brings his wages up to 24K. Our joint income is just below 29k and we just exist on this income.
By the time we’ve paid our mortgage and bills we have very little left over and have to budget for everything. Even having to buy new kids shoes means we’re having to cut back on food shopping on that week. Like Sheila, our one luxury is a caravan holiday.
And if anyone thinks we have huge mortgage payments due to living in a lovely home out of our means:- We have a small 3 bed 1930’s home with a leaky roof, windows all condensed up inside the panes and damp in several rooms. We have no means to pay for any of these things to be fixed and I am living in fear now of any cuts Cameron will be making to the children’s tax credits. I notice he’s already taken free swimming off under 16’s, this was a treat that I wont be able to afford to continue for them. He’s hitting both lower and middle income families and as is the norm with the tories the rich continue to live their privlidged lives.

To the people who think that some people should not have had children if they cant afford them in the first place did it ever at any point occur to you that maybe when these people decided to have children they could afford it and that maybe they may have along the lines lost a job and had to take a lesser paying one or even as time has gone by and the economy collapsed and prices in everything went up, what was once a good wage now just isn’t enough think about that before slagging these people off.

I don’t understand how any one can say that £30000 joint income is a middle class wage. We have two pre-school aged children. My partner is a hospital porter on £12500 a year. I am a social worker and work three days a week earning £18000 a year! However what no one is taking into consideration is how much families spend on childcare to sustain being able to earn. We pay £650 (£7500 a year) a month on childcare. So then our income is reduced to £23000. That is the same as both of us bringing home £11,500 each. This is barely a living wage for one person never mind also supporting two children.

Tax credits pay a significant proportion of our childcare costs. Without this help there is no point my partner going to work as he would be working to bring home £300 a month. I already struggle to manage my role as caregiver and breadwinner and I would not manage working full time and being a mum of such young children.

Tax credits are given to ordinary hard working families who are struggling to balance the demands of parenting, work and making ends meet. We do not have prents or family to help out with childcare and we do not have the option of flexible working. Cutting these benefits will force many families to stop working as financially it will just not add up ! This is surely not progressive politics. We cannot survive without tax credits and I am furious that this coalition government have chosen to concentrate their ill thought out cuts on hard working decent families and innocent children who will not only miss out financially but will have very stressed out exhausted and miserable parents! This is such social injustice when those with real wealth remain untouched

David Cameron’s doing that on purpose. He just wants us ‘poor’ people (according to him) to have a really bad life and wants the rich people to get richer.
apparently he is going to make every secondary school private. I’m 13 by the way.

Never has there been a more arrogant selfish minority Government halfing the income with their coalition partners, after winning thousands of votes from working parents who are not even getting the average wage of £24,000 as quoted by yourselves and now find this is supposed to be middle income workers with a joint salary and one child. No table or manifest stated this, Nick Clegg and yourself obviously have a complete disregard for working women unless they are your wifes and colleagues who earn hundreds of thousands per year, A fair living wage is all they want not luxuries, this people have been cutting corners in the last two years that you just do not have a clue and have not spent any time looking at the reality, how on earth can you so blatantly enforce this while continuing to make these people inferior to the non working element who will continue to be superior to them by stating being at home makes them better mothers, it will certainly be the only job they want in life as by the time they stop giving birth they will be incapable of trying. To go back to the old Conservative years we are set to have thousands of latch key kids whose parents cannot afford childcare, and Sure Start Nurseries and private nurseries, just there to provide for the rich and unemployed paid for by the state. Low paid working people are proud responsibile and being treated as outcasts. Do not be such hypocrites. Whilst pretending to ask the people you have no intension of listening, but carry on regardless dividing up our wonderful society. People have pride no matter what their jobs the majority of public service workers are way below the living wage and deserve some security for their retirement. They also have a lot more committment and long term service than the mps that are not in any way cutting their own pensions.

The conservatives make me laugh im a single mom who works 30 hours a week and hard at that I look after health and safety and the H.R department on a minimum wage earning 8,500 a year come on without tax credits how can we afford to live, I dont do this job because I am un educated I do it so that I can work and spend time with my daughter. Some people need to re think their snobby behaviour and comments about us on lower earnings not working hard enough and being un educated. I will be voting labour.

it is a worry for thoses of us that only earn £16000 a yr, lets hope we get to keep it nd the scroungers with 7 kids get a kick up the ass…..i would’nt be able to survive without it….

Alot of families will suffer if tax credits are cut. I have just recently left college after 2yrs. My son has just turned 2. My partner works 25hrs a week as postman and takes home £170pw after tax. We receive child tax credits and a small amount of working tax credits as my partners after tax income is under £10000. I want to be a stay at home mum as I want to spend time with my son. It is not financially possible for me to work as tax credits would be reduced and i would have to pay childcare, travelling etc! My partners hours can be unpredictable. When I was at college, I was receiving a bursary which helped but now we can barely afford basic bills so cutting tax credits will mean we cant keep our council flat.

My brother in laws sister lives in England and earns over £50000 a year. She has 1 daughter at 8 and a baby due this month. Her partner doesnt live with them yet but he earns over £70000..so a total of £120000 between them. She received £200 a month child tax credit. Where is the fairness in that???

reading some of these comments i was totaly shocked i am a 25 year old female and both myself and my partner are serving in HM armed forces. we are expecting our first child and have a total income of 31,000 now we both work over 40 hour a week and without working tax credits we could not afford to put our child in to full time nursery and one of us would have to leave to look after the baby. my partner has been blown up in afganistan and been away on deployment in war zones and will have many more in the future and i will also be deploying to sea for months on end. we both fight and defend for our country put our lives at risk because we want to beacause we care about our loved ones and our country and some of you people sit here and tell us to get a better education you tell that to single parent in the armed forces who are currently in war zones or have lost loved ones to war who earn very poor wages you have no idea what is going on in the real world open your eyes makes you think why do we bother risking our lives for this county and some of its people

I live in a rural area, when the company my husband worked for decided to relocate to Europe due to high costs of this country he went from a good wage to nothing.
In these rural areas there are not many jobs, but like many people will do whatever work is available. His wage dropped from £30k per year to £13,500 per year.
We have 3 children and can honestly say afforded all we needed to with his wage. Now we are struggling, we do not want to uproot the kids and move them to another school, not that it would be easy finding work just now anywhere, but tax credits are what is ensuring we eat just now as sad as it is. I am relieved to find out they have a cut off point and we will not be affected, however I genuinely feel for those families who will be affected. With the prices we have to pay in this country for food, services, utilities etc its amazing anyone can survive with children.

For those of you saying we didn’t ask you to have children, can I just point out that they soon will be working and paying into a system to cover nhs bills for an ever increasing ageing population, or they may be the ones to provide you rescue services when you fall down the stairs or fall asleep with your oven on, you did not ask us to have children, but you might find yourself very grateful some of us did.

What’s the problem with immigrants in the UK? Thanks to EU, it has destroyed thousands of workplaces in poorest countries of EU, sugar factories, ships, fishing factories, limited with abnormal quotas with a mandatory wish to be NR1 in EU market. Author’s of the comments and citizens of UK doesn’t have any idea how painful life has been since joining to EU exactly with getting a job. There wasn’t option to join or not to, because we were forced to. So if you don’t have enough grey mass to understand then stay quiet about telling that you must cut all kind of TAX CREDITS AND BENEFITS. Immigrants don’t get them just for nothing, the have to qualify with being employed for a reasonable time and have to respond to different questions. We are all citizens and we have to live friendly instead of trying to live and think of ourselves.

I have experienced also on the streets that people are pointing one me and asking – ar you Polish? Even Lothian Bus driver, what’s the problem with you? None of us gets any benefits just for thank you immigrant for coming to this country. We have to experience twice as much bureaucracy than any other citizen of UK! This is the problem going aroung all over the UK that people without any good argument are telling that immigrants are benefit people which I admit as part of racism.

i am a ICU nurse who earns 24.5K per year before tax and National insurance and pension contributions,my hubby works in a warehose drives a forklift and earns 13K so between us we earn 38K. after 2011 we will no longer recieve CTC we have 3 children and recieve CTC to pay for childcare ect as my youngest is 2 yr old childcare cost me almost 1K a month without it we will be screwed after reading some of these posts some of you are selfish and obnoctious, every body has different circumstances yes i went to university had a nursing grant off the government ( so yes they paid for my education which is means tested)to do my nursing to give my family a better life and we have mortgage, i am not a snob live in normal semi detached house have one family car and can just about afford what we need too to make ends meet. CTC helps mainly with chilcare only option we got is when we stop getting it is for husband to come out of work to look after children as we will not be able to afford to pay for childcare, i am on a payfreeze now as work in public sector(NHS and making stupid cuts to NHS crap cheap equipment less nurses no overtime ect as hospital has to save 3 million in this next year people being sacked to make save money and taking reduction in hours ect) and child benefit frezze this is all we get plus wages as i am hit heavy with tax and national insurance which is wrong so i am going to be penalized for having a decent job and a family by this new governemnt thanks a bunch…

After being married for 17 years with a joint income of approx £36,000 and three school aged children I have to say we were very comfortable affording a nice car, clubs for kids and one to two holidays a year. I am now a single parent to my three children and my income has reduced dramatically as expected with only one income to hand. The tax credits have helped me immensely and I too agree that people earning above £40,000 should not need child tax credits but maybe lessons in budgeting and living to ones means. Child benefit is fine as this aids extra ciricular acitivities but that should, on those kind of earnings, be sufficient. Its those at the lower scale of earnings that need the help. Oh and I also tried everything to make my marriage work but after 17 years of unhappiness I thought I deserved a break!!!!

I just wanted to respond to the comment below:

The decision to have children is not an illnes or an afliction and the cost should be born by the parents only, not other tax payers.

Posted by Peter G | May 25, 2010, 3:50 pm

Peter you are absolutely right; however the point you fail to grasp is that those children did not ask to be born into poverty and did not ask to have little or no food etc. Are you honestly advocating that the “sins” of the parents should be borne by their children?” Tax Credits are there to keep families not just the parents out of poverty. I don’t receive any form of tax credits out family income is too high. I on the other hand am happy to support those who are less fortunate. I think its part of being a decent human being and caring for your fellow “man”. Unfortunately the Tory party have already demonstated decency has no role to play in their policies. Not that the importance of tax credits would be understood by the 16 millionaires or multi millionaires in the New CONDEM Cabinet!