part time working

[bazzacr]

My company has suggested optional part time working, as the company is not busy at present.I normally work 40 hours a week and i receive working tax credit and my wife claims childrens tax credit and child benefit, she does not work, we have two children aged 5 and 3.I was wondering if i did part time work 3 days a week instead of 5 working 24 hours instead of 40 weather my working tax credit would be topped up.Does anyone know how many hours i need to work?

[WendyS]

I'm afraid I can't answer your specific question but just be aware that if you do opt for part-time working which goes on for a considerable period of time, your annual holiday entitlement could be reduced pro-rata. The best place to check is probably your local Benefits Office (if you can actually find a real person to answer the telephone).

[themas]

Have a look at www.entitledto.co.uk - it may help but be careful. Tax credits are normally based on the previous tax year's income until an annual reconcilation is done after the tax year end. To get a change in your payments now (if you were entitled to one) you would have to notify the Tax Credit people of your estimated 2005-06 income. For some reason doing this sometimes seems to throw their computer into a flat spin and people end up being overpaid and later being asked to repay. You might be entitled to some extra (although reducing your hours below 30 per week has an adverse effect on WTC) but if they suddenly give you a large dollop of money don't spend it - it won't be yours!

You need to get some advice about the employment effects of reducing your hours - eg what will the effect be on any redundancy payment if this happens while you are on reduced hours; will you be able to go back to FT after a fixed period etc?