Budgeting for babies?

Karnam

I have a sure start form right here! I couldn't claim whilst pregnant (baby is 6days old) as we claim no benefits or tax credits whatsoever (we're students and dont get any) so I'm claiming now as you can claim before baby is 3 months old

I've heard online that generally don't apply until you're pretty sure you'll get it, otherwise they'll just tell you to apply later. it says here you and partner should be getting one of the following to be entitled to it

1) income support
2) pension credit
3) income based job seekers allowance
4) WTC which includesdisability or severe disability element
5) CTC at a rate higher than the family element

assuming that you filled in the entitlement calculator correctly... sounds like you're not entitled to sure start. since you're only planning, i have heard very very tenatively that the sure start might be increased but to be honest it doesnt sound like you'd get it.

and i agree with everyone here so far... child benefit is generally enough for baby. our initial out lay for baby was around £900, but we bought everything new and bought bits and pieces that you might be able to go without. for example we bought the Avent Essentials kit, even though I am breast feeding, as it has breast pump, steraliser (you will need this when you wean! im the oldest of 6 kids and you will have to steralise a lot like spoons, bowls, cups, freezing compartments etc) bottle warmer, 12 bottles, and tons of stuff for £100 from mothercare/woolies. babies are very cheap generally and money isnt too much of an issue for her, its more a question of going from dual income to single income for you. it might be worth experimenting for one month, for example transfering your wages to a savings account maybe to pay for baby things and then living on your partner's wage for a month.

jellyhead

not sure why it said that.

on an income of 24 we got the family element of tax credits of around ten per week when we had one child. it's stayed the same since we had a second child. if there's no disability and you have less than 3 children the cut-off income for getting more than the family element, plus a 500 surestart grant is somewhere between 24 and 25 i think, don't quote me on that though because we fall above the threshold due to having a company car (benefits in kind are added onto your income when they work out how much tax credit to give you). if you are over the 24/25-ish threshold but earn less than around 56 you should still get the family element of ten a week-ish (i think it's £547.50 for the year). you'll also get the baby element of an extra ten per week while the baby is less than a year old, as long as your income is under 56k.

Karnam

ok more info from the pink sure start form....

"child tax credit at a rate higher than the family element. for april 2005 - april 2006 this means a child taxcredit rate of £548 ayear or more, or £1096 a year or more if you have a baby under one"

jelly head - how quickly did you hear back and get the sure start grant? i can't apply until i've
1) got baby birth certificate - my registery office wont let me register until 1st dec!! 3 weeks of baby not officially existing!!
2) applied for CTC and then heard back from them - how long does that take?? i'm going to apply online once baby birth certificate is here but im spetical since it's nearly christmas so i figure it'll take ages
3) AND THEN i can apply for sure start once im recieving CTC....

whatcha think are my chances of getting it before christmas and paying off the credit card debts from buying baby's things?

Alfietinker

I'm only curious so we have an idea of what we can roughly expect (although it may have changed by the time we get round to it)

So, assuming we have a joint income of £22k (if no overtime), we would get child beneift at £17 a week. Would we also qualify for the family element of working tax credit if only hubby is working?

Again, only curious. £17 should be enough I was just wondering what the tax credits are?

Spendless

You would get £17 a week CB.
You would get at least £10 a week CTC (family element)
You would also get an extra £10 a week for babys 1st year (baby element).

So roughly £37 a week for babys 1st year. £27 a week after that. However as Jellyhead has said the family element kicks in around £24k so you may get a little bit more than these amounts. (This assumes at least one of you will be working 16 hours a week or more.)

Alfietinker

Thank you! That gives us a better idea of what we can expect when the time comes (if it hasn't changed by then)

jellyhead

you don't both need to be working, one of you can be a stay at home mum, or work less than 16 hours.

i haven't had the surestart grant sorry, my friend down the road has. she heard back from them within a week or two, they sent her a letter telling her what date the money would be paid into her bank account. she doesn't work at all. i read the surestart forms but because of the way they add back on a few thousand for having a company car we were not entitled to it. our income is somewhere between 24 and 25 and we pay extra tax for the company car so my husband takes home less than somebody on 25 without a company car does. somebody on nearly 25 who doesn't have a company car is entitled to the grant.

you should get the grant, and the 37 a week that spendless mentions (child benefit, tax credit and baby element), then 27 a week after baby is one. i think the threshold for getting more than the family element was 24,600 this year, something like that. so if you earn 25 thousand you won't get the grant but if it's just under 25 you'll get it. the amounts you're allowed to earn go up a bit each april. if you get more than the family element of child tax credits you can get the grant. if you have 3 children or more or some disability in the family those amounts are different, you can earn more and still get more than the family element.

tray_3

Not read all the messages but you may want to look at what your council offer in the way of cloth. For example Essex give you £30 of nappies a year for a fiver. Washing them is easy, I'm rubbish at housework, don't have a drier and I manage it. There's always elimination communication..no costs at all!

Breastfeeding saves a tonne (and not just on milk costs either..but sanitary wear too..although I use a mooncup which saves me about a grand!). You don't need half the stuff they sell. Never bought a thing down a baby aisle. Make sure you know the numbers for NCT,LLL, BfN or ABM cos on the whole health visitors are purely educated in breastfeeding support. Not to say you may have a problem. I never had trouble at all.
Baby led weaning (letting the baby decide its ready for solids as recommended by UNICEF, signs being sitting up, no tongue thrust, grabbing a banana off you and eating it!) means they go straight to proper food.
A good sling (like a pouch,ring or wrap not a bjorn) is very cheap (or you can make youself) compared to a pram, healthier, can breastfeed in it, no need for expensive baby swings and the like (not good for spinal or brain development either). Personally how anyone copes without a sling I don't know!

I find babies very cheap, it's when they get to school it starts costing money!

Basically boob, cloth and a sling and you are done!

carpool72

quick question - where do you get the sure start form? Didn't bother last time as thought we didn't qualify - now v. annoyed as it seems we would have, not going to make that mistake again! Am 18 weeks pg - will the form appear with all the other bumf we get or do I have to seek it out?

Also, I agree with the other posters about the cost of a baby - we bought most things 2nd hand & what was new was bought as presents by relatives. This time round the only thing I've thought of that we need is somewhere to keep baby's clothes! When you're figuring out how much you need to live on, bear in mind that you'll drink / go out a lot less once the anklebiters are around - we used to get through 4/5 bottles of wine a week and go out every weekend. Now it's 4/5 glasses and I'm lucky if I go out every month (and then I'm a cheap date lol)! And I don't buy nearly as much stuff for myself either - partly a factor of old-styling, but also coz my priorities are different now. We've gone from £30k+ to £20k+ without really noticing a big difference, and are now thinking we could manage on one wage when #2 comes along, which would have been unthinkable a few years ago.

jellyhead

i think you have to hunt down the form for yourself, it wasn't included in the bounty pack in hospital (the pack that includes a child benefit form). you can apply when pregnant under certain circumstances or up to 3 months after baby is born. it took me ages to find because every site tells you to ask your jobcentre you can get the form online, claim forms can be printed from here http://www.dwp.gov.uk/resourcecentre/claim_forms.asp#s

it's SF100 you need, under S for surestart.

i printed my maternity allowance form from the web, i didn't have a clue where else to get it from.