The tutor

‘Paying £100 more in tax will take its toll’

Polly Clarke, 23, earns £14,391 as a tutor at a specialist school for autistic children in Sharpthorne, West Sussex. With the removal of the 10p tax band, Miss Clarke will pay about £100 more in tax a year. “£100 is a significant extra burden for young people at my age earning a low income,” Miss Clarke said. “We aren’t being paid very much for the job that we’re doing here anyway, but you would think that the system would allow us the benefit of paying a bit less tax.”

Her wage means that Miss Clarke has to live with her parents in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. She shares the cost of driving to work with a colleague who lives near by, but isn’t left with much money. “We are all here because we love the job that we do, but struggling for money does really take its toll.”

She says that a number of teachers have had to leave her school to find better paid jobs. “The money is not good enough in the first place. If we’re all losing even more in tax it will be very difficult to get by.” Miss Clarke graduated two years ago with a degree in psychology, and now teaches 12 different autistic children one to one. She expects to remain on a low income for at least four more years, as she gains the experience needed to become an assistant psychologist with the NHS.

The clerk

‘I lose £232 and get no help with anything’

Kevin Davia, 34, from Hitchin in Hertfordshire, works in accountancy support and earns £13,500 a year.

He was horrified to find out he will be paying up to £232 more tax this year after the abolition of the 10p rate.

“I was stunned. I find it totally reprehensible that the Government did not give a thought for people on low earnings who do not qualify for any other help,” he told The Times yesterday. “When I heard about the tax change I called up to see if I could get any tax credits, but I just miss out because the threshold is £12,853. I get no help with anything.

“As it is, I am hunting down the back of the sofa for coins at the end of the month when the rent is due.”

Already badly hit by price rises in gas and electricity, Mr Davia said he has now been forced to try to find a new job.

“I owe about £2,000 on a credit card, and have an overdraft of another £2,000. I don’t drink or smoke and have next to no social life. I just cannot make ends meet any more and so am looking for a new job. I can’t believe they would have made such a monumental decision as this without thinking through how it would hurt low-paid people. I have reached the conclusion they just do not care.”

Times Recommends

• Thalidomide is story of pain and neglect
• Mum’n’dad vote will decide the next election
• Socialite wife in a class of her own