please help ... married quarters (uk) ??

pippajones123

hi ...
please could anyone help me .. i have a few questions. I am currently 3 month pregnant and my partner is in based in Ipswich.
Can anyone help me by answering the follwig questions?
*How hard/easy is it to get a place on married quarters?
*How much would it be a month (2 bedroom)?
*Even though i would be living with a working partner would i be entitled to maternity pay?
Thanks so much .. this is a really big issue at the minute with our circumstances. Would really love any help and any other information anyone might have.
Thank you again x

Spring_Time

Are you guys married?

nikkiuk

The availability of married quarters depends on the area you are moving to, if there is a shortage you may have to wait a while, but if there is no shortage you should be able to get one fairly quickly.
The cost also varies depending on the standard of the quarters. The house I live in now is old and decepit(!!) but we pay a ridiculously small amount for it, where as my previous quarter was bigger, newer and with more facilities so we paid more. I think for a nice, big 3 bedroomed with a garage we were paying less than £300 a month, so it should definitely be cheaper than that for a 2 bed. For the house we are in now, I believe it is something stupid like £120 a month!
As for maternity benefit, if you are currently working and are able to work up until the earliest date you can claim maternity benefits (used to be 26 weeks, I don't know if that has changed) you should still get paid. If you give up work sooner or haven't worked for long enough there is a maternity benefit that you can claim from the govenrment. If you aren't working at all or haven't worked for a while, I don't know what the rules are.
I also don't know what the rules are regarding not being married and getting a quarter. I know it used to be a strict no, no, but believe they have changed the rules so that you are able to get a quarter but have to meet certain criteria, this may delay you getting a house if you aren't married.
Sorry I can't be more specific, but a lot does depend on your circumstances!

pippajones123

Thank you very much nikkiuk your reply is very helpful. And not married at moment no .. but would get married soon if it enables us to get a house as we are a 'family' anyway.
Cant believe it is that cheap per month for you .. its great that thanks for the help.
As for the maternity pay; i am covering a maternity position and my job finishes in july and baby is not due till the end of november. So it seems quite a hard one to work out.
I will have to look into the the criteria/rules of living together and see what is what.
Thank you very much you have been a great help x

maddymoo

Under the current rules for MQs - you need to be married to occupy service accommodation, although I understand this is being reviewed. SFA is in very short supply in a lot of places. The amount you pay for rent every month will be dependant on the size and grade of the quarter that you live in. A 2 bed quarter would be a type B and then they are graded 1-4 (1 being the better ones). You can find the rules for the allocation and occupying SFA in JSP 464 which you can find online. You'll also be able to find the current rental rates online if you have a look too.

HisDoris

As far as I know if you want to get a quater without being married you have to be able to prove you have been together for (i think it's) 3 years. Me and my OH have been together for almost 6 years but have no children and have just recently started renting our own place (Not a quater!) so I have no idea how we could prove we've been together as long as we have.

Obviously we have people who would tell them we have but how are they to trust this?
We have photos of us together from when we first got together but how do we prove this was that long ago? Or that we wernt only friends?
We haven't had a joint bank account or anything so have no idea how we'd prove this?

misstasty

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/MicroSite/DIO/WhatWeDo/Accommodation/SfaEntitlement.htm

This should help xx

bobbyann

Hi,
I am married to army corporal near Ipswich (he works in Wattisham, we live in Hadleigh).

- You do have to be married to qualify for quarters, even if you have children, unless you are both in the army.

- It is very easy to get accom', it's just a short form, available from your partners work, and you can even apply before youre married (this will be a help if you want to get in and settled as soon as poss) you can only apply a little before, and you need confirmation of your upcoming marriage (you get paperwork wen you arrange it) but is worth doing if you want to get prepared for baby etc.

- We live about 7 miles away from camp. In a village called Hadleigh, it's very nice, the houses are new and really good condition, big, with gardens. We have one child but live in a three bedroom. I think they will often allocate 3 bed houses to one child families to save them moving you again soon if you have more.

The houses here are lovely, the rate for our 3 bed is about £400 pcm. This comes straight out of dh's wage. This includes rent/water rates and c/tax, and our garage. You have to request a garage on te form, and pay a very small amount extra for this, but the nicer houses seem to have garages anyway so it works out well for us and is worth requesting, as car insurance etc is cheaper if you can secure your car offroad in a garage.

You must mention the baby on your forms even before he/she is born as accom is allocated for those with families to be close to amenities.

The houses in Hadleigh are near post office, shops, schoold etc. There are other, cheaper houses in Wattisham, right by camp. These are not as new, quite old and the area does not offer as many facilities but are much cheaper, so there are pros and cons either way. In my experience the village is worth the little extra, but it's all down to personal circumstances and choice really.
There are also houses in Ipswich, but I don't know anyone who lives there, it would be a long commute to Wattisham from there, but you don't say if this is where your partner is based?

When filling out the forms you are asked to list in order of preference where you want to be housed. (You dont always get first choice) but we knew we wanted Hadleigh, so we put 1. Hadleigh (Lower Patch) 2. Hadleigh (Upper Patch) 3. Wattisham, we got our second choice but it is lovely and by putting Hadleigh twice we at least had it on our list as both 1st and 2nd choice.

Know where you want to be. Ask around. I find the village to be terrific, there is a good mix of army folk and civilians and plenty to do nearby. Good baby groups etc. The houses closer to camp don't offer as much, but then again there is no commute to army base in morning, so weigh it up on your circumstances as to whats best for you both.


- Lastly, your Maternity pay is yours regardless of who you live with. Your work will advise you on Statutory Maternity Pay any enhancements to this your workplace may provide. Your work will be able to tell you ow much you will get, but this is based on your hours etc nothing to do with any other household income so don't worry about that.

If you work full time until you decide to start your maternity leave, you will be able to get full SMP. Less if part time, but you'd still get something.

Full SMP is about 120 p/w, for 36 weeks. The first 6 weeks of which you will be at 90% of your usual pay (or full pay if you have a generous workplace) they may then choose to enhance more of the 36 weeks, some drop you to half pay after the 90%, some straight down to the SMP of 120 pw. It depends on the company.

You are entitled to up to a year off, but they don't have to pay you anything after the 36 week mark. So if you take the full year, unless your company is exceedingly generous, you will go a few weeks with no pay at the end.

***Note!*** The SMP is yours, the 90% rate is also yours, however - if your workplace enhance it elsewhere (eg 12 weeks of half pay) they can take this back IF you dont return to work! So if you are considering not going back, ask about your works policy on this first as you could leave owing them money!

Some companies wont take it back. Others will. Know which your company does!

Another way round this is the ones that do request the half pay enhancement back if you don't return is to go back, for the minimum specified period. In my company this is three months.

So i could know that if i go back for just 3 months and then leave, the money is mine to keep and I wont owe anything. Leave before the 3 months, i'd owe them.
Some companys may say go back for just a day (my Mum's did wen she had me) others may be longer than the 3 months that mine does.
It is worth saying that you could go back but reduce your hours part time, so for example, I could go back, but cut my hours to just 1 day per week and do that for 3 months before leaving anyway and i'd still be safe with the money. But how many hours you go back for during this period has to be agreed by both your workplace and you, so bare that in mind.
Your employer has an obligation to be flexible around the fact you will be a parent and to be flexible towards your child care needs etc but some are more 'flexible' than others.

A lot of people who do chose to return, return for work 16 hrs p/w.
This is because if you receive benefits this can often be the right balance between work income and benefit income as unfortunately sometimes if you up your hours you can lose some benefits and for some people this is not financially efficient, so discuass it with the Citizens Advice Beaurau (sorry about spelling!) who will discuss with you what your entilements are.

You will definately get Child Benefit (apx £20 p.w) everyone gets this, even if you were millionaires, but even with your partner working you may still get Child Tax Credits too, be sure to check this out! The forms are long, but worth it! Even if its £10 p/w thats £520 per year, so look into it!

So be sure to find out your works policies on what they offer for Maternity Pay and with regards to going back afterwards.
You don't have to tell them whether or not you are going back until well after you have had your child, as some people don't know or change their mind. Your work will have a policy on when coming back/not coming back has to be put on paper, but it's generally not until towards the end of the leave, when you can make an informed choice about your feelings circumstances.

Hope this all helps! Best of luck! X

Fergie76

bobbyann wrote: »

- You do have to be married to qualify for quarters, even if you have children, unless you are both in the army.

No you don't. You have to be either PStat Cat 1 or 2.

PStat Cat 1 - legally married or Civil Partnership

PStat Cat 2 - Can't remember the exact wording, but it's along the lines of being the main carer/provider for a child(ren) ie. single parents.

scubaangel

Fergie76 wrote: »

No you don't. You have to be either PStat Cat 1 or 2.

PStat Cat 1 - legally married or Civil Partnership

PStat Cat 2 - Can't remember the exact wording, but it's along the lines of being the main carer/provider for a child(ren) ie. single parents.

But in this case the OP would need to be married to her partner, so the semantics about Cat2 don't apply unless she plans to hand full custody of the baby over to her partner and live apart from both of them as she would not be entitled to live in the quarter.

Fergie76

scubaangel wrote: »

But in this case the OP would need to be married to her partner, so the semantics about Cat2 don't apply unless she plans to hand full custody of the baby over to her partner and live apart from both of them as she would not be entitled to live in the quarter.

But I wasn't replying to the OP, I was correcting the incorrect information below.

bobbyann wrote: »

Hi,
- You do have to be married to qualify for quarters, even if you have children, unless you are both in the army.