MSE Pregnancy Club 21

iceicebaby

twi1ight wrote: »

Afternoon ladies and bumps!

I've been really busy the past few days so not kept up to date with all your news but try to check and read when I can.

Just a quickie from me today. Seen a 20% off new look online voucher and I'm after some maternity jeans. How is the sizing? With gap I can manage with size 12 maternity trousers but I know gap are usually big anyway and think I'm probably more like 14 in real sizes. I'm pear shaped anyway so bum, hips and thighs seem to be taking the brunt of my pregnancy weight gain. Please share your experiences of new look maternity sizing!

Fankoo

I have some New Look Maternity clothes and just bought my normal size. I'm 38 weeks on Thursday and they all still fit me fine. The over bump jeans are slightly more generous than the under bump jeans. I'm normally a pre preg size 14 and am tall.

LabLover

mrsspendalot what are the new hours? My SIL said it used to be 16 hours ? What is it going up to? When I come back from maternity leave i will be doing 27 hours , but dont get paid for my lunch , so will be 24 hours. Do you think I will get any help ? Benefits are just so confusing to me.

mrsspendalot

LabLover wrote: »

mrsspendalot what are the new hours? My SIL said it used to be 16 hours ? What is it going up to? When I come back from maternity leave i will be doing 27 hours , but dont get paid for my lunch , so will be 24 hours. Do you think I will get any help ? Benefits are just so confusing to me.

The new rate for couples is going up to 24 hrs (between you, one must be doing more than 16), staying 16 hrs for lone parents. This will be from April 2012. I only found out last week.

I was on 37 before Xmas, dropped down to 22.5 from January to 'save money' in my department, so now I'm going to be 1.5hrs short :mad: I'm hoping my manager will have enough in the budget to give me that 1.5hrs back next year, or I might have look into going term time only so I have the same salary but spread my hours differently and work more each week term time only. They are really strict about second jobs, so not sure that will be an option for me. Hubby could find something round study & childcare, but as he will be the childcare for me to be in work, he will be restricted by what I work. He'll have to do a Saturday in a shop or something I suppose, that's assuming he can find a job as we're in a small town with high unemployment

smileyface26

LabLover wrote: »

mrsspendalot what are the new hours? My SIL said it used to be 16 hours ? What is it going up to? When I come back from maternity leave i will be doing 27 hours , but dont get paid for my lunch , so will be 24 hours. Do you think I will get any help ? Benefits are just so confusing to me.

Ditto - I have no idea how to claim, what to claim, even if I can claim..... even when the websites try and simplify things, there are so many rules and blah. When do you start to claim. For example CTC and WTC? As soon as baby arrives??? aaargh!

mrsspendalot

smileyface26 wrote: »

Ditto - I have no idea how to claim, what to claim, even if I can claim..... even when the websites try and simplify things, there are so many rules and blah. When do you start to claim. For example CTC and WTC? As soon as baby arrives??? aaargh!

Yep, ring them as soon as baby arrives, although you can backdate 3 months with tax credits at the moment.

I think https://www.turn2us.org.uk is the best one to use

pigpen

If in doubt.. apply anyway the worst they can say is no you aren't eligible..

And yes apply asap after baby arrives

iceicebaby

I rang the Tax credits helpline and explained to them I was having a baby soon. The lady on the phone said she would send me out a form ready (which I have received) but she explained I cannot fill in and return the the form until the baby is here. She did a quick assessment on the phone with me to give me an idea of what I can claim and if it is indeed worth bothering to claim but made it clear that was just an indication and that the award would be decided once the form is received.

She also said that I need to fill in the form based on last years income (april 2010 - april 2011) and then as soon as I have been told what I will get based on that, ring them up and advise them of a change of circumstance for this year as what I will be earning will be a lot less as I'll be on SMP.

Hope that all makes sense!

mrsspendalot

iceicebaby wrote: »

I rang the Tax credits helpline and explained to them I was having a baby soon. The lady on the phone said she would send me out a form ready (which I have received) but she explained I cannot fill in and return the the form until the baby is here. She did a quick assessment on the phone with me to give me an idea of what I can claim and if it is indeed worth bothering to claim but made it clear that was just an indication and that the award would be decided once the form is received.

She also said that I need to fill in the form based on last years income (april 2011 - april 2011) and then as soon as I have been told what I will get based on that, ring them up and advise them of a change of circumstance for this year as what I will be earning will be a lot less as I'll be on SMP.

Hope that all makes sense!

... and don't forget that you deduct £100 a week from your income for every week you are on maternity pay ... so if you take 39 weeks paid maternity leave, you deduct £3900 off your income for tax credit purposes

LabLover

Thanks Pigpen, ice baby and mrsspendalot. It doesnt make that much sense to me , but I finish work on the 13th June so will ring them then and get forms sent out , then once bubs is born I will fill in and send away. The thing that scares me is that they say inform us as soon as anything changes , We will need to fill in based on last years earnings,mine are just normal but OH was self employed and earned peanuts . So I would imagine we will get something in the form of benefits . OH's financial year runs april to april (arent I a smart book keeper,lol) so from april 2011-2012 we would hope he will earn more than pervious year . Will that mean I would need to pay back benefits when I fill in forms again in April 2012 ?:o Does that make sense ?

iceicebaby

Oh blimey I'm not sure? I "think" your award for this year will be based on last years income, next years on this years etc.

She just told me to ring them about my change for this year as when I go back to work next January OH and I will be earning too much to claim anything the following year for it to be "adjusted" if that makes sense?