Pregnant with 1st baby. Do we get anything? what about the £190 grant?

michelle1506

Good post DeeMarie89!

DeeMarie89 wrote: »

Funny, because when my husband and I earned 14k between us, we most certainly did not have more than 40k coming in!

I agree that certain people will abuse the system by having children purely for benefits, but for those of us who aren't like that, it's darn irritating when we're being told not to have kids because we're on a low income.

Yes, I claim tax credits. They're very helpful, and mean that, along with the salary coming in, I can afford to give my son a decent standard of life while not running up CC debts etc. I could probably scrape by without them, but they're a great help.
However, despite also being entitled to council tax benefit, housing benefit, and probably some form of disability benefits, I don't claim any of them, as I genuinely do not need that extra money, and therefore feel it would be better left in the pot for those who do, rather than filling my pockets and adding to the economic debt.

So please, stop treating us poorer people like criminals because we accept some help, because you'll often find that those of us who accept it feel ashamed enough without you whinging about how you feed our kids.

Also, don't say poor people shouldn't have kids. Yes, I accept some of the help available, but I can tell you now that I love my son an my little bump more than the world, and saying that because I accept help that I shouldn't reproduce is ridiculous, and stupid to deprive me or my children of the happiness and love we have.

Lets be fair, if someone offered you this help back in the day, you'd have bitten their arm off. Just because my husband and I do the crap, low-paid jobs, doesn't mean we should be punished. Someone has to flipping do them, and it's better than living on JSA, HB, CTC, CTB and never trying! Have some darn respect for the fact that we at least try.

michelle1506

Fair enough - I have no problem with that :-)

sarflee wrote: »

Me personally, 2 children, on the middle income bracket (only because company car is classed as an income and between us we have 4 jobs and work 84hrs) Think the new tax credits limits are better than the old and will be even better when the next limits are introduced,have no problem with help for families but think benefits for children should be capped to 3 children max.

DeeMarie89

AnxiousMum wrote: »

See, maybe though, THAT is just what is different between some high/low earners.

Both my eldest boys wanted to go to university - to do that they require A levels. They didn't qualify for EMA (which, if on a low income you would, or the Adult Learning Grant depending on your age), but both of my boys held down part time jobo -s as well throughout A levels - though, as a parent, it was still my responsibility to house, feed them etc. as they were still my dependents. however, if they wanted latest gadgets etc., then they had to work for that - they did, and saved their money for uni. So maybe instead of coming up with reasons why you cannot do what you want to do, find a way of doing what you want to do. We can all sit around and moan that we aren't able to do such and such, but in reality - i'd bet you can. Just change the mindset.

Whoop-de-f**ing-doo. £30 a week EMA. I can raise two kids on that. What was I thinking, not going to do my A-levels?! Jeez, even without husband and kids in the picture, I could not pay my rent, feed myself, travel to/from college, buy the necessary course materials and pay all the bills on £30 a week.
I had to leave home at 16, no-one would feed me and pay my bills so I could study. I tried for a year, but because I had to work full time and study full time, my grades were pants because I didn't have the time to study.
If you look, I'm actually planning to go back to college in a few years, but not everyone is privileged enough to have someone support them.

meds12_2

DeeMarie - where are you based? I've just googled physics degrees with foundation year and loads come up. Trust me - you don't need a-levels (I had none, and got on the course easily - and this was 11-12 years ago). All I had was a good set of GCSE's and management experience (I worked my way up, and worked literally 100hours per week - on my 1 week's holiday I worked 36 hours - I was a workaholic! How pathetic;)), and could show that I had used my time away from education wisely. Again there were lots of parents on the course, and women who had been housewives / single Mum's - who could show they had been spending their time wisely by raising their lovely kids.

meluvnext

diolch wrote: »

So what you want is the childcare providers to reduce their charges, at the same time as having the Tax Credits removed - yes that makes sense - you won't need the TC's anymore as the cost has gone down, but to top that you want an increase in your take home pay as well!!! You don't want a lot do you?

I need childcare as my daughter is ill, she requires medication throughout the school day that I am unable to get school to administer so I have a full time childminder for when I work who can go in and administer medication, she is also on hand if due to her illness she is unwelll for school so she will stay with the cminder.

Things are not all as black and white as they seem, I could choose to sit and do nothing aside be her carer, but in th elong run she may improve and I do not want to be sat around waiting for that time then have no employable skills and find it hard to get a job.

michelle1506

Good luck with your studies DeeMarie89!

DeeMarie89 wrote: »

Whoop-de-f**ing-doo. £30 a week EMA. I can raise two kids on that. What was I thinking, not going to do my A-levels?! Jeez, even without husband and kids in the picture, I could not pay my rent, feed myself, travel to/from college, buy the necessary course materials and pay all the bills on £30 a week.
I had to leave home at 16, no-one would feed me and pay my bills so I could study. I tried for a year, but because I had to work full time and study full time, my grades were pants because I didn't have the time to study.
If you look, I'm actually planning to go back to college in a few years, but not everyone is privileged enough to have someone support them.

DeeMarie89

meds12 wrote: »

DeeMarie - where are you based? I've just googled physics degrees with foundation year and loads come up. Trust me - you don't need a-levels (I had none, and got on the course easily - and this was 11-12 years ago). All I had was a good set of GCSE's and management experience (I worked my way up, and worked literally 100hours per week - on my 1 week's holiday I worked 36 hours - I was a workaholic! How pathetic;)), and could show that I had used my time away from education wisely. Again there were lots of parents on the course, and women who had been housewives / single Mum's - who could show they had been spending their time wisely by raising their lovely kids.

Really?! I'm in Birmingham. When I researched Birmingham Uni, their particle physics and cosmology entry requirements were A, B, B minimum

moomoomama27

melly1980 wrote: »

no no no you have it all wrong.

Us 40K earners are much richer and we only dont have any left because we spend it all on 4x4's and paying the mortgage on a contry mannor :rotfl:

Yes but having children to rely on benefits is short sighted! You will always have a higher take home pay on 40k when your children are grown up, the couple on 14K will not!

And then people laugh when other claim children are meal tickets......

meds12_2

DeeMarie89 wrote: »

Really?! I'm in Birmingham. When I researched Birmingham Uni, their particle physics and cosmology entry requirements were A, B, B minimum

I'm just outside of Birmingham. I went to Aston - chose the city as I used to come up clubbing to the Q (?) Que (?) Queue(?) Club (worked hard, partied hard!).

A Foundation degree is an extra year added to the start of your degree (so 4 years instead of 3), it covers different subjects in a-level depth but not breadth (so I did biochem, maths, adv maths, physiology, cell biol, chemistry, research methods and psychology). The most important thing is that you definitely, definitely have full student status. I wouldn't have been able to afford to do a-levels either.

Bham Uni offers an international foundation to their course - this is aimed at foreign students, but maybe you could email them informally and describe your circumstances, accentuating the positives, and ask if their is any chance you can apply?

Otherwise (from a very quick scan!) Nottingham Trent appear to do a normal one, and Loughborough. Look up "Foundation courses physics" and see what comes up.

DeeMarie89

meds12 wrote: »

I'm just outside of Birmingham. I went to Aston - chose the city as I used to come up clubbing to the Q (?) Que (?) Queue(?) Club (worked hard, partied hard!).

A Foundation degree is an extra year added to the start of your degree (so 4 years instead of 3), it covers different subjects in a-level depth but not bredth (so I did biochem, maths, adv maths, physiology, cell biol, chemistry, research methods and psychology). The most important thing is that you definitely, definitely have full student status. I wouldn't have been able to afford to do a-levels either.

Thanks so much! I'm going to go look into it now