Benefits for when baby is born??

V_Debt

Jomo wrote: »

If you are unable to work could you not take care of the baby and your girlfriend find a job? A lady where I work is only taking 4 months of her maternity entitlement as her partner is a stay at home dad.

yeah, thats an option mate

just wouldnt be very nice for her not to be able to stay at home with the baby after the first 9 months, something we may well do though.

Becles

V_Debt wrote: »

yeah, thats an option mate

just wouldnt be very nice for her not to be able to stay at home with the baby after the first 9 months, something we may well do though.

It's not very nice for a lot of mothers who have to work to make ends meet, but needs must.

karenx

V_Debt wrote: »

we're not sure if shes going to return to work yet, will see how it goes.

yes, I realise this but the good people at the council have a backlog of 'change of circumstances' forms to deal with. Can foresee complications as I cant see it being a case of going in and saying heres some payslips, our circumstances have changed, can you amend our HB to suit please and it gets sorted for the next pay date.

When you've waited 11+ weeks for a change of circumstances to take affect, having no money to pay your rent with the same council before, you tend not to have much optimism with them the next time round.

You make it sound so very simple, if only that was the way.

If your partner doesnt return to work she may then have to pay back the WTC she claimed, as when you are on maternity leave you are treated as going back to work hence getting a working benefit. So if she choses not to go back to work she will have to pay back that benefit. If she does go back and you dont work then she wont be entitled to claim help with childcare costs
Im afraid thats just how it works, if the council are paying you housing benefit thinking your income is £X and then it changes to £Y then obviously the amount they will pay will be different so they need to know as soon as it happens so they can ammend your award. Otherwise you risk an over/under payment

lovebugfamilly

V_Debt wrote: »

yeah, thats an option mate

just wouldnt be very nice for her not to be able to stay at home with the baby after the first 9 months, something we may well do though.

Lots of us who work don't get to stay at home after the first 9 months ! , sorry but it really pees me off that I have to go back to work before my child is 1 and can't afford to stay at home ( and before anyone says it we don't have any debts so that's not why) yet some people on benefits get to do this it's a very unfair system .

Staying on topic , your girlfriend should be able to apply for the £500 sure start maternity grant as well.

krisskross

I was back at work six weeks after the birth of my youngest. Still breastfeeding as well.

It is only fairly recently (comparatively speaking) that there has been such excellent maternity benefits to enable Mums to spend time with their children.

However whether the OP likes it or not it is the parents job to support their child not the taxpayers and it will not need 2 of them sat at home on benefits to do it.

nikki2804

karenx wrote: »

If your partner doesnt return to work she may then have to pay back the WTC she claimed, as when you are on maternity leave you are treated as going back to work hence getting a working benefit. So if she choses not to go back to work she will have to pay back that benefit. If she does go back and you dont work then she wont be entitled to claim help with childcare costs
Im afraid thats just how it works, if the council are paying you housing benefit thinking your income is £X and then it changes to £Y then obviously the amount they will pay will be different so they need to know as soon as it happens so they can ammend your award. Otherwise you risk an over/under payment

If she decides not to return then aslong a she updates the system when her maternity ends then there should be no overpayment. As you've stated being on maternity is classed as working! Many people dont return to work and receive no overpayment.

OP check her contract, if her employer is paying her maternity then she may need to return to work for a certain amount of time (as stated in her contract) to in effect pay back the maternity pay.

ice00

Hi All.
Im 29yrs old married.
I am a contractor and havent had income for the last 3 months and wife is not working.
I have used all my savings to cover rent and bills till I could do no more.
The landlord had asked me to leave the property but I manged to squeeze an extra month with my initial deposit.

During the same month I processed my first Joint jsa claim as well as fill out a housing claim as advised by citizens advice. To make things worse we also foundout the wife is 6 weeks pregnant which added pressure x 1000.

My mother decides to take us in bearing in mind our situation. I then cancelled the claim for housing believing that problems were solved.
3 weeks on my mother is not getting along with my wife and tempers have flared. My mother has now asked me to leave the property and one week is all I have or we are on the streets. Me and my wife had always dreamt of having a child but being helpless and unable to provide a roof, Im worried we are going to end up on the street. PLEASE HELP Thanks Tam

Indie_Kid

Tam - you're better off starting your own thread.

sunnyone

krisskross wrote: »

I was back at work six weeks after the birth of my youngest. Still breastfeeding as well.

It is only fairly recently (comparatively speaking) that there has been such excellent maternity benefits to enable Mums to spend time with their children.

However whether the OP likes it or not it is the parents job to support their child not the taxpayers and it will not need 2 of them sat at home on benefits to do it.

Same here and my daughter was only born in 1989, my husband was a builder and work dried up so I had to go back to work to keep us when our daughter was only 6 weeks old, his mother would look after the baby while he priced up jobs and once he found enough work our daughter went to a childminder that we paid for even when he had very little work, the only state money we got was child benefit and it was a pitance then.

There are a lot of people in for a huge shock when they are again expected to work and keep there own families without the very generous tax credit system when it is cut back to something our country can afford to pay for.

bunny999

sunnyone wrote: »

Same here and my daughter was only born in 1989, my husband was a builder and work dried up so I had to go back to work to keep us when our daughter was only 6 weeks old, his mother would look after the baby while he priced up jobs and once he found enough work our daughter went to a childminder that we paid for even when he had very little work, the only state money we got was child benefit and it was a pitance then.

There are a lot of people in for a huge shock when they are again expected to work and keep there own families without the very generous tax credit system when it is cut back to something our country can afford to pay for.

The sooner the better.