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First time mum worried about lack of benefits
Comments
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Is this an immaculate conception then ? Should I look out the myrrh ?0
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2moonheads wrote: »Nice! All I need right now is pedantry
Abbreviations, particularly without context, can cause confusion you know.
I know I'm not allowed to 'choose' which benefits (if any) I'm entitled to but as I'm new to benefits I'm asking for help to see if there's anything that I CAN do, CAN check out, CAN seek to point me in the right direction. I've worked it out and being on MA means every single pence of it would have to go towards to my rent... and then some. The difference between MA and IS is financially immense and it appears that I receive MA solely because I was self employed up until July last year.
As things stand, I will have £27.93 a week to live on.
I would goto the CAB (citizens advice) and talk through it all, though I would have thought if you are relying on someone else (ie the state) to provide for your roof anf income you would have planned in advance?
D70How about no longer being masochistic?
How about remembering your divinity?
How about unabashedly bawling your eyes out?
How about not equating death with stopping?0 -
try https://www.entitledto.co.uk and it will give you a clearer indication of what financial help you can get once your baby arrives,base it on your baby being here now to see near enough accurate figures and it includes things like rent,tax credits,etc. Hope this helps!0
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You could apply for a dhp (discretionary housing payment) to cover some of the shortfall in rent until the baby arrives and pushes up your lha rate?0
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What sort of property are you living in? Is it suitable for your needs or bigger than you need? You will be entitled to tax credits and child benefit once the baby is here and the father of the child should be paying for his impending offspring.0
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2moonheads wrote: »As things stand, I will have £27.93 a week to live on.
Are you forgetting to include child benefit of £20 per week and child tax credits of about £50 per week also. Ontop of 15% of your ex partners monthly pay. Guess so0 -
2moonheads wrote: »Nice! All I need right now is pedantry
Abbreviations, particularly without context, can cause confusion you know.
I know I'm not allowed to 'choose' which benefits (if any) I'm entitled to but as I'm new to benefits I'm asking for help to see if there's anything that I CAN do, CAN check out, CAN seek to point me in the right direction. I've worked it out and being on MA means every single pence of it would have to go towards to my rent... and then some. The difference between MA and IS is financially immense and it appears that I receive MA solely because I was self employed up until July last year.
As things stand, I will have £27.93 a week to live on.
Hiya Hun
They are actually trying to help here, right from their first answer to you. I'll try and be clearer:
You are worried as you have x amount of allowance per week, and you rent is the majority of that, so you only have £27 odd to live on.
This is where the housing bit kicks in
LHA is Local housing allowance, at the moment you're only eligible for LHA for a 1 bed home (hence the low housing benefit you mention)
When the baby is born, the LHA you will eligible for will change to a 2 bed home, obviously more money. The amount, depends on where you live. If you google LHA, you should be able to find out how much you will be entitled to for a 2 bed property.
For a single mum where I am, its approx £96 a week for mum and child. You can also apply for Discretionary housing benefit where you need to appeal and say that basically, without extra money, you and the child will be in difficulty, and essentially you need to justify why they should pay any extra. Even if this is granted, I believe it can only be for a maximum of 6 months.
What the other poster was trying to say is that as soon as the housing benefit money goes up, its puts more in the 'pot' so to speak, and you should a little more to live on a week.
Tax credits is approx 40 a week, and then child benefit is approx 20 per week.
Hope that this helps, and believe it or not, the poster you quoted was trying to help, I think you got the wrong end of the stick for someone that was trying to advise xx0 -
Thanks for all your response. Rather teary-eyed at the moment having just got off the blower to the benefits agency who confirmed I'm entitled to MA, end of! So, will read all your messages and give them the response they deserve when I've calmed down somewhat. In essence, it seems that being self-employed then becoming pregnant is THE worst combination for benefit entitlement.
Seriously, thanks and I'll digest everything that's been said and respond soon [scurries off to blow nose].0 -
Try not to worry, you will be entitled to tax credits as well as child benefit as well. Not ideal I know, but at least its a bit more cash coming in
Have you got any arrangement with the father for maintence pay. Hopefully the CSA will be able to help you if you are having any issues there x0 -
I think you should be able to get the maternity grant after baby arrives on the basis of the child tax credits you will get - but you have to apply within 3 months of the birth.0
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