I have passed through threshold two and have a teaching and learning responsibility point worth enough to just fall short of the higher tax code.

Would it be worth me applying for my next threshold point? This would tip me into the higher tax category and, as I understand it, I would not be able to claim child benefit.

I am in my early thirties, still pay a student loan and my pension contributions look likely to go up a huge amount, too. My wife teaches part time.

Would this affect my career in the long term? Would it affect my wages in a way that I have not thought of? Is it something that the powers that be have thought about? At my school, several staff of my age are in an almost identical position.

Paul Treliving, Via email.