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First time mum worried about lack of benefits

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Comments

  • Aarons_mummy
    Aarons_mummy Posts: 961 Forumite
    YOu will be better off on MA rather than IS, at the moment anyway as IS is only £65 odds per week whereas MA is £124 odds per week.

    As others have said once baby is here you will be entitled to a higher LHA rate as well as child benefit and child tax credits, you will also qualify for the single persons discount on council tax as well as council tax benefit.

    Also as above poster says as soon as baby is born send off tax credit forms and once they come through you will be elidgable for the maternity grant of £500 but you have to apply within 3 months of the birth.

    I think you would also be entitled to healthy start vouchers at the moment, you can get them on a low income being pregnant and after baby is here you get £6 odds per week until the wee one is 1 and then it goes down to £3.10 per week until they are 5.
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  • Newly_retired
    Newly_retired Posts: 3,088 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    If you lived in my city the Citizens' Advice Bureau would be most helpful : we will give you an appointment within a few days, will advise on benefits, housing etc, do a calculation for you and help with anything else.
    Not all towns have such accessible CABs but it is worth a try.
    However you have had some great advice on this board already.
  • As others have said you are currently only entitled to the 1 bed LHA rate but as soon as the baby is born you will become entitled to the 2 bed LHA rate.

    You can check the rates for your area here https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Secure/LHARateSearch.aspx?SearchType=PostCode
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  • samlouise01
    samlouise01 Posts: 10 Forumite
    Hi,

    Hope you are on the way to sorting this out. but on the off chance, have you spoke to housing benefit? i am assuming you are planning to pay your rent through DSS? in which case housing benefit is income based. or in other words, they assess your housing allowance based on your total income, now i dont know where you live or if you are renting a 2 bedroom rather than a 1 but if you go down to your local council housing officer and ask to speak to them i am sure they will help you. no one can live on £27 a week and i am positive they will sort it out for you.

    from what you are saying you have only been comunicating with the DWP, from an outside point of view housing benefit and MA/IS are communicating with eachother and know the ins and outs of eachothers job as the two will go hand in hand in some instances, but this is not the case. The way in which the benefit system works is rather strange and complicated if you dont know what you are doing. you need to talk to your local council to see what can be done asap or if you haven't already tried it, speak to a lone parent advisor at the jobcentre as they are about the only people that cover both benefits and housing and they are usually very helpful. (used to work in the Jobcentre)
  • welshmoneylover
    welshmoneylover Posts: 3,324 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    OP, don't forget you will be entitled to child maintenance from the baby's daddy.
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  • allen35
    allen35 Posts: 1,516 Forumite
    Hi,

    Hope you are on the way to sorting this out. but on the off chance, have you spoke to housing benefit? i am assuming you are planning to pay your rent through DSS? in which case housing benefit is income based. or in other words, they assess your housing allowance based on your total income, now i dont know where you live or if you are renting a 2 bedroom rather than a 1 but if you go down to your local council housing officer and ask to speak to them i am sure they will help you. no one can live on £27 a week and i am positive they will sort it out for you.

    from what you are saying you have only been comunicating with the DWP, from an outside point of view housing benefit and MA/IS are communicating with eachother and know the ins and outs of eachothers job as the two will go hand in hand in some instances, but this is not the case. The way in which the benefit system works is rather strange and complicated if you dont know what you are doing. you need to talk to your local council to see what can be done asap or if you haven't already tried it, speak to a lone parent advisor at the jobcentre as they are about the only people that cover both benefits and housing and they are usually very helpful. (used to work in the Jobcentre)


    You may be enlightened to find that LHA is based on the broad rental market area and the number of rooms a claimant needs and not on your total income, there could be a case where if the OP was claiming IS/ESA at £65 ish she would be left with very little/no income at all as she would be expected to pay the excess of her rent herself. I think it's about renting what you need and living within your means.

    The OP does have a case for a discretionary housing payment as she has obviously taken this property with her child in mind and is currently suffering severe financial hardship, so the advice would be to visit your local council offices and ask for assistance with filling out the form and request backdated benefit to when you move/moved in.

    Good luck OP
    Forums can be/are a good guide to entitlement and it is good practice to back it up with clarification from the relevant department/specialist with written confirmation to safeguard yourself.
  • DaisyFlower
    DaisyFlower Posts: 2,677 Forumite
    2moonheads wrote: »
    it seems that being self-employed then becoming pregnant is THE worst combination for benefit entitlement.

    Why? Even if you were PAYE you would still only get SMP or MA (dependent upon length of employment) so you are no worse off anyway.

    Do you have to move to the expensive property? A baby takes up little space.

    Unless your circumstances have dramtically changed during pregnancy, surely you set aside money to cover your maternity leave (with being self employed) and have worked out finances anyway when planning the child?

    You'll get CB, some tax credits and 15% of the fathers wage so will easily have enough to live on during maternity leave. Dependant upon the type of self employment you may be able to return to work far earlier than a PAYE person if needs must.
  • birkee
    birkee Posts: 1,933 Forumite
    I hear where you're coming from, but an old fart like ME, always worked on the principle that, you see what you have in your pay packet, before you decide what to spend it on.
    How could you commit to a rented property BEFORE determining what your benefits would be,....... to see what you could afford?
  • xfive71
    xfive71 Posts: 285 Forumite
    2moonheads, I really feel for you and I understand how stressful this must be for you at this time.

    Firstly, as the other posters said,

    1. Double-check your housing benefits either with your local council or via Shelter.
    2. You will get Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit

    Secondly, please get back to your SSAFA contact and see whether they could point you to any other grants or discretionary payments that you could apply to for your circumstances (even if it is only for a few hundred).

    If it gets really bad, SSAFA does provide Stepping Stones Homes for ex-militia as a stop gap measure whilst you get back to your feet. This might mean a few weeks/months of respite whilst you work out what is coming in and out. There are only two locations though (Tyne Side and NW London)

    http://www.ssafa.org.uk/steppingStoneHomes.html

    Thirdly, are you getting any emotional support from anyone? This is a stressful time for you; more still with all these money worries.

    Make sure you have some support post-natal wise as well. The post natal blues can kick hard and you are vulnerable. Health Visitors are trained to note any post natal blues but don't be a hero. Tell them if you are feeling overwhelmed and if you need support. Sometimes a listening ear is all that is needed.

    Good luck, honey.
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