1st baby on the way please help

***AZ***_2

Hi all, iam new to the forum but have used the site before.

Anyway my girlfriend is now 23 weeks gone, we are trying to find out what we can claim. She left her carers job after finding out she was pregant and got a Xmas temp job. This contract ends at the end of Feb. Will she be able to claim jobseeks? Just asking as i cant see any employer taken her on being 23+ weeks gone.

As far as i can tell once the baby is here, she can claim Maternity Allowance not SMP as she hasnt been working there long enough. Anyone know how much this is, i have read about £124 is this weekly or monthly? I also think she can claim the sure start grant?

Is there anything else what we can claim to help us? Taken into considertion that i earn about 18K and we live in a council flat. Anyhelp with these questions would a big help.

Valli

try here

(the blue text is a link)

Tigsteroonie

The MA payment is upto £124 weekly. I found the DWP's site on MA the most informative. The MA application form also has handy calendars in the Notes section to help you work out eligibility.

If she signs on, she'll only be able to claim JSA upto 29 weeks - then she will be signed off as her MA payments can start. I hope she'll find the DWP staff as relaxed as mine were, as my pregnancy progressed, they lightened up on the jobseeking requirements as they understood it would be difficult to persuade an employer to take me so late on in my pregnancy.

Details about the SureStart Maternity Grant are here. She'll only be able to claim it before the birth if she's put on income-based JSA and not contributions-based. However, she should be able to claim it in the 3 months after the birth on the basis of receiving CTC.

After the birth, you/she can claim Child Benefit & Child Tax Credits, plus possibly also Working Tax Credit - use the link Valli posted above and pretend the baby was born on the same date last year, see what it says about entitlement.

***AZ***_2

Thanks thats the site were i got the information from. Has been the best of all the site's about benefits but is still pretty vague in places. My girlfriend has told me she's going to go the jobcentre in the next week or and ask someone.

MrsManda

She would have probably been better off staying at her job but too late now.Put your details into the benefits calculators below to see what you may be entitled to.
https://www.dwpe-services.direct.gov.uk/portal/page/portal/ba/lp?_piref278_36249_278_36248_36248.__ora_navig=action%3Dentitlement%26pageno%3D16

http://www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx

Valli

what I would suggest though is this

don't buy too much equipment - babies don't need it and you can get 'sucked in' with the beautiful things. A colleague of mine (and her son will be 18 in March) bought a beautiful Moses basket with floor length drapes, cost well over £200 quid then (18 years ago) she only had 1 baby.
My moses basket was £30 (bought later that same year). Son outgrew it after 6 weeks (saved it for DD though)
I HIGHLY recommend you check out the NCT in your area - (National Childbirth Trust).

they have nearly new sales which are brilliant for buying (and selling) clothes and other baby accoutrements; they take a cut of the sale price but most of the money goes back to the seller, so people take good care to offer nice stuff. When you bear in mind that babies grow out of clothes so quickly it really is not worth spending like mad on them.
Similarly you can buy second hand buggies etc.

***AZ***_2

Were pretty luckly realy, my partners sister had her 4th kid about a year ago and is going to give use alot of stuff. She given us the baby bath, mosses basket and a load of baby clothes. My mate is willing to give us a load of baby clothes aswell as his little girl is now 2. People seem so willing to help, what is great. The only thing we have brought our selfs so far has been the travel system, what we got in a sale. Once iv finish the room we plan to buy the furniture for the baby's room aswell.

Valli

Brilliant!

My daughter still gets clothes passed to her from her cousin, who's a little older than her. DD will be 15 this year.
I also sell her outgrown stuff (especially school uniform) on e bay. I used to pass it on to an ex colleague but when she asked me to put the last bag I took 'in the garage, I'll look through it later' I figured she either didn't appreciate, or need, the favour;)

Oh and I HIGHLY recommend sudocrem for nappy rash prevention/cure. Sounds like the baby's got what he/she needs - two parents who care. And a supportive family (and I say this as a single mum, now)