Single parent benefits.

no-oneknowsme

I am asking this question for my Friend who lives next door to me.

She has a child who is 10 weeks old . She tells me that she wasnt entitled to SMP from her Employer and so while she is out on maternity leave she is receiving MATERNITY ALLOWANCE. Now this isnt much because she only worked a few hours a week before she had the baby as her partner had a good job.

I think she says that the maternity allowance is £55 a week.

Her partner has now left her and she is so confused about benefits and such.

To be honest I dont think she had even applied for ctc before he left.

I am clueless about benefits for single parents so cannot offer a lot of help but I imagine that someone on here would be able to help?

Basically we know that once she returns to work she has been offered 16 hours (at least) by her boss and so we know that she will then be able to apply for wtc.

In the meantime she only has a weekly income of the £55 maternity allowance and £20 cb. What else would she be entitled to? Just to help her until she returns to work.

If it makes any difference , she will be moving back in with her parents as the house is owned by her (ex) partner.

I am thinking she would be able to claim :

Child benefit - £20.30 per week (already being paid)
Her maternity allowance £55 per week (already being paid)
Child tax credits (which she will apply for- any idea how much this is per week for 1 child?)

Then of course there will (should) be maintenance from the father but at this point she doesnt know how much this will be.

Is there anything I am missing?

Thanks

DX2

MA is a lot more than £55 a week.

AimeesMum_2

Maternity allowance is 90% of your gross weekly earnings. So if she wasn't earning much before this could be why she is only getting £55.

She needs to apply for child tax credits, working tax credits (I believe that if you are recieving a maternity allowance then you are still classified as in work), housing benefit and council tax benefit.

If she is only getting £55 per week MA, then she should perhaps look at switching to income support as she would recieve more and then she would qualify for the maximum amounts of the other benefits. I think this is correct, but someone correct me if I am wrong x

no-oneknowsme

Dx2 , SSP is a lot more than £55 but Maternity allowance isnt.

Maternity allowance is calculated by finding the average of 13 weeks of earnings in the weeks prior to leaving employment to give birth.

My mate only worked (very) part time prior to her Son being born. Infact I would say she only worked 6-8 hours per week . Her partner worked and supported her and so she didnt work as she helped her parents as they are ill (but she never claimed any carers allowance or anything for doign this)

Given that her average weekly wage was only around £36 you could really expect her to receive full SMP from her employer , hence the reason she is claiming MA from DWP.

Is it maybe SMP you are thinking of DX2?

no-oneknowsme

AimeesMum wrote: »

Maternity allowance is 90% of your gross weekly earnings. So if she wasn't earning much before this could be why she is only getting £55.

She needs to apply for child tax credits, working tax credits (I believe that if you are recieving a maternity allowance then you are still classified as in work), housing benefit and council tax benefit.

If she is only getting £55 per week MA, then she should perhaps look at switching to income support as she would recieve more and then she would qualify for the maximum amounts of the other benefits. I think this is correct, but someone correct me if I am wrong x

Any idea how much income support for single parent , one child would be ?

misssmcc

i think income support for a lone parent with 1 child is around £65, plus she would get around £60 CTC, plus HB, CTB and CB.

AimeesMum_2

I believe the current rate for income support is £67.50 xx

AimeesMum_2

It would though be worth weighing up how much working tax credits she would get combined with her maternity allowance. As on income support she won't get this xx

no-oneknowsme

AimeesMum wrote: »

It would though be worth weighing up how much working tax credits she would get combined with her maternity allowance. As on income support she won't get this xx

She has another few months left of her maternity leave so at the min she wouldnt be able to claim wtc as to claim that during maternity leave you have to have been working at least 16 hours prior to your maternity leave beginning.

She is planning to telephone the helpline tomorrow to put in her claim for ctc.

She will also have to visit the jcp to enquire about her entitlement to the difference between what she receives now as MA and what she WOULD be entitled to if she ended her MA (can you even DO that?) and signed on to income support. It is probably only a few pounds of a difference but every little will help until she gets back to work and can claim wtc.

Thanks for all the help. I have passed the info onto her.