Sure Start Maternity Grant

lucyabc

Hi there. I have just had a baby and wondered whethr I can claim this grant. I know you have to earn more than the family element (ie £1096 per year), which we do. But last time we were refused even though we got higher than this as 'we didnt get the right element'. We have a two year old in nursery, a new baby and my husband earns £20000 and me £8500 (but on maternity now so will probably earn around £3700 this year).

Thanks a lot x

lady_stardust

This grant seems to be pretty complex, which is a real shame as it could deter those who really need it. It's always worth a try.

sineadgraham

lucyabc wrote: »

Hi there. I have just had a baby and wondered whethr I can claim this grant. I know you have to earn more than the family element (ie £1096 per year), which we do. But last time we were refused even though we got higher than this as 'we didnt get the right element'. We have a two year old in nursery, a new baby and my husband earns £20000 and me £8500 (but on maternity now so will probably earn around £3700 this year).

Thanks a lot x

hi lucy. i dont think you are entitled to it as you and your husbands wages total over £21500. i applied for it in april and was knocked back on the grounds of us earning more than the lower threshold.Our combined wages were £26500 and we still didnt get it. i asked this through CAB and applied anyway (if you dont try, you dont get) and still got knocked back.someone else might be able to give you more info.as i would be interested to see i have been given the wrong decision.

mitchaa

This is a complicated 1.

Before your baby was born, you had a 07/08 income of £28500 which would/should have only entitled you to the basic family £545 element. If you were receiving more than this, it will have been for childcare costs.

This does not mean that you are receiving an award higher than that of the basic family though, it just shows you get a little help with childcare. The 2 are completely independent of each other.

Now that you have a 2nd child, you should now be receiving the extra £545 baby element.

So this puts your award at £1090 per year + childcare costs.

If this is the case,(I suspect it will be with declared £28500) then no you will not be entitled to SMG.

Now, the tricky bit here is the timeframes. Your income has dropped so next years P60's should be showing £20k for your hubby and £3700 for you. This £23,700 income would be enough for an award higher than family (i think)

If you can phone up and give an estimated award of say £24k for this year (always over estimate a little) changed before the 3 month deadline for the SMG then it may just work out.

But on a £28500 income you should not be receiving more than the basic awards. (disregarding childcare)

Hope this helps

JoJoB

If you are on maternity leave now they will disregard your maternity pay, so that may bring your earning level down. Are you going back to work after maternity? If you are going back to work in this tax year then they will take into account your wages for the period you are actually working. If you are not going back to work then your earnings for this year should be counted as practically nil.

My husband's income is 18 500 and I was on about 9000, but this year I will just be earning maternity and then nothing, so my income came out about £48, which then entitled us to the grant.

mitchaa

JoJoB wrote: »

If you are on maternity leave now they will disregard your maternity pay, so that may bring your earning level down. Are you going back to work after maternity? If you are going back to work in this tax year then they will take into account your wages for the period you are actually working. If you are not going back to work then your earnings for this year should be counted as practically nil.

My husband's income is 18 500 and I was on about 9000, but this year I will just be earning maternity and then nothing, so my income came out about £48, which then entitled us to the grant.

Not strictly true, you dont have to declare the 1st £100 of the £118pw received.

However 26wks SMP @ £18 is far more than £48

Also, money earned within the TY up to the point of maternity leave and after when you finish SMP has to be declared as does the 6wks at 90% income that you received.

If you were having a baby right now, you would have to declare April/May/June/July earned income, then the 6wks at 90% income and then the £18pw x 26 and if you were to return to work before April 09, money earned from when you go back until then.

lucyabc

Thanks for all your replies. Until my baby was born we did only get the 545 as even though we have a child in childcare, my husband claims the childcare vouchers from his work so we were paying very little in childcare (and I only work three days a week). Now that our new baby is here our new award works out at about 3300. I think last time I should have tried to claim after my baby was born when my income dropped but they said I wasnt entitled and I just left it. Well there is no harm in applying I suppose!

I havent told the tax credits about the drop in my income yet as I have only just had the breakdown off my work so have only just been able to work out how much I am going to earn approx this year ( I tok hols up to my due date then my work pays me half pay for eighteen weeks), and also my husband is being promoted and will be geting a payrise from September so we though we would just ring then and inform them of my new estimate and my husbands. Is this the best way or just leave it til April when we get our renewal packs and confirm the figures on our P60's? My husbands income is lkely to go up by about £4000 and my is going down by a similar amount so I dont expect we will be over or underpaid too much.

Thanks again

mitchaa

You should not be getting a £3300 award with new baby on a declared income of £28500.

Enter your details into the HMRC/Entitled to website.

I suspect this £3300 will result in an overpayment

lucyabc

Hiya thats what we thought but my husband rang them to confirm and on the award all the details are correct. They are adamant its right. We too thought it was too much especially since we only got 545 before my daughter was born.

mitchaa

lucyabc wrote: »

Hiya thats what we thought but my husband rang them to confirm and on the award all the details are correct. They are adamant its right. We too thought it was too much especially since we only got 545 before my daughter was born.

Unfortunately the above does not mean a thing, you will still end up with arrears, it is not correct.

If i were you, i would type my details into the HMRC do i qualify website and then type them into the entitled to website (declaring £28500 income)

And then phone them up and ask them why there is such a massive difference. There is, i have just put your example into their calculators and they agreed you should be receiving £1090. I dont know what your husband has done but he has entered something incorrectly.

When you receive the paperwork through, scrutinise every single detail on it, there will be a mistake somewhere.

You should at the moment be receiving £1090. £83.84 paid every 4wks.

Are you sure the extra is not for childcare? Are you getting any help at all for childcare apart from the vouchers?

Are any of your children disabled?

lucyabc

Hiya mitchaa. Thanks for that working out. I would aree and this is what we expected to receive. But I phone them up when we received the award when they said it was correct (I know not to trust them though!) but I checked and rechecked the award. Everything seems to be correct. The hours worked, the childcare (£17 per week is all we pay). our incomes 08 to 09. OUr joint income for this year is stated as £26000 because they dont know my income has dropped and my husbands income is actually £18600 sorry because he claims the vouchers (this is why we only pay £17 per week towards childcare, the vouchrs covers the difference. We went onto HMRC to the claculator that works out whether we are better off claiming vouchers or not ans in our current situation we are). So on the award it says we are not entitled to WRTD or Childcare element but we are entitled to CTC which works out as follows:-

1 child