new baby and benefits

Nikabella

Masterbell, Congratulations & I hope everrything goes well. As people say things can go wrong with pregnancy, however, I think it's fantastic that you are trying to get organised & prepared in advance. We were about your age when we chose to get pregnant for the first time, 20 & 22 and we spent a lot of time planning & saving for our DD's arrival.

Child benefit as said is now £20 per week & you can receive it in 4 weekly installments which means once a year you get a nice surprise & receive 2 payments in one month!

As for Child Tax Credit I think you will find that you will receive considerably more than that in the first year. We were earning a little more than you do & we received approximately £80 a month for the first year, this is because you receive the 'baby allowance' as well. This then dropped to approximately £30- 40 a month after the first year & this is even though we now earn considerably more than we were when she was born.

You will get the Health in Pregnancy Grant but I would suggest that you probably earn too much for the Sure Start Grant as we did (worth looking into though).

My biggest recommendation would be to save as hard as possible now whilst you are both still working. We saved £2000 for our DD & put it in an account which we then used to pay for any big items she needed (she is now 2 & we still have some of this left!). Babies, however, don't have to cost a fortune, lots of people use freecycle or ebay.

HTH & Good luck!

A.x

bestpud

Your joint income is too high for the surestart grant but you may well be entitled once your OH goes onto maternity leave.

You have up to three months after the birth to claim it.

PolishBigSpender

Incredible.

A joint income of 35,000 pounds and the government is still giving benefits to people? Isn't Britain supposed to be bankrupt, or so I read on the Discussion Time forum? I'm amazed at the handouts people get in the UK for these things.

Someone here, no matter what their income, would receive absolutely nothing just for having a child. In fact, the child wouldn't even get health care if the parent wasn't working.

Congratulations on the child, however.

MasterBell_2

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

Incredible.

A joint income of 35,000 pounds and the government is still giving benefits to people? Isn't Britain supposed to be bankrupt, or so I read on the Discussion Time forum? I'm amazed at the handouts people get in the UK for these things.

Someone here, no matter what their income, would receive absolutely nothing just for having a child. In fact, the child wouldn't even get health care if the parent wasn't working.

Congratulations on the child, however.

No comment

Its just trying to sort a house out aswell,
we were planning on getting a house before hand so have all of our nice pots and most of the stuff to move into a house
just got a bargain leather sofa for peanuts haha

i was thinking along the same lines as building up a little nest egg but we agreed we would both just save and try and focus a little bit on a house first

so my priorities are
1) pay my credit card off
2) get a house sorted for me new family (this feels crazy to type!!!)
3) get prepared for the baby (obviously)by the time no 2 is sorted it will probs be around the 12 wk scan?
then that gives us a bit of time to live together as a couple before the baby comes along

astonsmummy

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

Incredible.

A joint income of 35,000 pounds and the government is still giving benefits to people? Isn't Britain supposed to be bankrupt, or so I read on the Discussion Time forum? I'm amazed at the handouts people get in the UK for these things.

Someone here, no matter what their income, would receive absolutely nothing just for having a child. In fact, the child wouldn't even get health care if the parent wasn't working.

Congratulations on the child, however.

Thank god we dont live in poland....

liney

astonsmummy wrote: »

Thank god we dont live in poland....

But i wonder how many parents aren't working there, in comparison to the good ole understanding UK? Many less, would be my guess.

MrsTinks

Right without getting started on entitlements (of which we're getting none that are means tested... so much for paying taxes I guess ) then my best advice is SAVE SAVE SAVE - get frugal NOW and make sure you have budgets that are realistic for moving out together. Don't go buying new things, you don't need to in all honesty - you will be amazed at the hand-me-downs from friends and family and freecycle.
The more you can put aside now for when the baby arrives the longer your girlfriend will be able to stay at home with little one before going back to work. Also depending on her job she may need to inform work sooner rather than later for health and safety reasons...

MasterBell_2

she works in a finance office i need to double check her contract but i believe its 14 weeks???
I didnt want this to be a WHAT DO I GET THREAD, in the way that i want to rob the system but Ive paid tax for 7 years and so has my gf i just wanted to know what i was entitled to, so please dont think that.

I just want to know so that i can plan for it and get a better understanding of were we stand, I feel judged enough at the moment which is something we are both stressed about but we have to take that on the chin and deal with it

I feel we need to be under a roof as a couple asap to get us in the right place before a baby arrives

like i said we have most of the stuff for a new house from beds to tvs etc etc the only stuff we need are the odd bits and bobs, thats not a massive issue.

its just the bit i get confused about is maternity pay herside
luckily the way my work lies i will take all my accrued time for the housemove adn will then have a new holiday year for when the baby would be due.

Just like to say thanks to everyone for the advice so far, this is very stressful for us both and this website is a godsend.

MrsTinks

Maternity pay IS confusing... there is the legal minimum that she is entitled to and often depending on the company there can be company maternity pay - you really need to check her company policy though. For example I get 50% pay for a fair period which you don't on statutory maternity...

minimum maternity pay:

Statutory Maternity Pay is paid for a maximum period of 39 weeks. It is paid:

• at 90 per cent of your average gross weekly earnings with no upper limit for the first six weeks; and
• for the remaining 33 weeks at either the standard rate of £117.18 or 90 per cent of your average gross weekly earnings (if this 90 per cent rate is less than the standard rate)

This is gross however and she will have to pay tax and NI on that

McKneff

i think you are going to be a great dad, dont feel judged, it is entirely your business. If people judge you then thats their problem. You say you are both young but your sense of responsibility is brilliant and i dont think you will go far wrong.
I had my first child at 18 and my second at 22, when i think back i was just a child at 18, this was in 1968. My husband and i hve just coming up to our 41st wedding anniversay. A relationship is 100%, if each one of the couple give 60% and take 40% then things wont go too badly.
Good luck to you in the future, young man and enjoy your baby,

By the way, i was a child bride when i married at 17, or so i tell everybody:rotfl: :rotfl: