I hope that this might be useful to at least one person. I consider our family a working one, my job provides for us and that for us is how we thought things were. We only looked at Working Families Tax Credit to see how far short of qualification we would fall. We were surprised and shocked at the same time, surprised that we qualified and shocked because it means that the money (wages) coming into our household were not as good as we thought.

Now there are two ways of looking at this. One is you fall short of the criteria and do not get any assistance, that being so, it is fair to say that you might just have a reasonable standard of living, in which case nothing ventured nothing gained. The other is you do qualify, although money is tight you have always managed to pay your way, well if you do qualify then take the help offered, after all it is there for you and your family, it will make the bill juggling game a little easier.

Here is a short breakdown of what you can get and who qualifies.

First as the title suggests it is for families - either couples or lone parents,
These families must have at least one child under 16 (or under 19 if in full-time education).
One or both partners must work at least 16 hours a week, whether as an employee or a self-employed person.
Are resident in the United Kingdom, and entitled to work here
Have savings of £8,000 or less (excluding any business assets, the family home and possessions).

How much you can get

Basic adult credit (only one per household) - £60.00
30-hour credit (if one of you are working over 30 hours per week) - £11.65

A credit for each child as follows-
Age: 0 to 15 - £26.45
Age: 16 to 18 - £27.20

Other additional credits
Adult enhanced disability credit - £16.25
Disabled child credit - £35.50
Child enhanced disability credit - £46.75

These are the maximum amounts that you can get, they will
be reduced the more you earn, but not pound for pound, they deduct 55% for every pound you earn above £94.40 per week.

You can also get help with childcare costs, provided either you are a working lone parent or both parents are working 16hrs a week or more, unless on receives a disability benefit.

The childminder cannot be a neighbour or family friend, the guidelines are as follows. A registered childminder, nursery or play scheme
An out of hours club on school premises run by a school or a local authority
An out of hours scheme run by an approved provider
A childcare scheme run on Crown Property

The amount you can get will be 70% of the childcare costs up to a maximum of £135.00 for one child and £200.00 for two or more children.

The award lasts for six months.

Another plus for those in receipt of WFTC is you get assistance with babies formula milk, free dental treatment and free prescriptions.
Then you can get help with your council tax bill
It also opens you up to apply for a grant for improving the warmth of your house as well as reducing draughts; this is called the warmfront grant.
In fact it opens up a whole host of different types of help.

The best thing to do is visit, here you will find all the information you need.
http://www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/wftc/
Have a look at this well laid out and helpful site. It even has an online calculator so you can get an instant idea of if you might qualify. Give it a go, you have nothing to lose and you just might gain.