20 weeks pregnant & need to figure out finances

iwillbedebtfree_2

Hello all,

I am really hoping somebody can help me as I have a serious case of 'baby brain' and need to start figuring out what money will be coming in once I have the baby.

Here is my story in brief....

I am pregnant with my first baby, which is due on 19th December.

I currently work full time & so does my husband. I earn £23,000 a year and he earns £33,000 a year.
We are chipping away at debt which the snowball informs us will be cleared in 2 years if we keep up a set payment.

Afte a look at my work place maternity policy, it states they will top-up SMP for 2 weeks. I am understanding that this effectivly gives me 2 months at full pay once the baby arrives.

After a quick trip across to Direct Gov, I read that you will get the higher rate of SMP for the first 6 weeks at £128.73 and then for the remaining 33 I couldnt quite figure it out. Can anybody help me with this?????

Do you know if we would be entitled to anything else at all? Not trying to be money grabbing at all here, just need to know what we are entitled to as I am totally clueless!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much x

karenx

On a joint income of 56k you will get nothing apart from child benefit of £20 per week and a small amount of child tax credits which will be about £10 per week

dafyguy

karenx wrote: »

On a joint income of 56k you will get nothing apart from child benefit of £20 per week and a small amount of child tax credits which will be about £10 per week

I think what the poster is asking is that she will NOT be earning her salary, but be in receipt of maternity benefits, I would assume for a year.

Given that, she possibly is looking to find out what financial help is available to get her income up to a reasonable level whilst not working so that they can carry on clearing their debts.

CTC & WTC would be a big help with the loss of her wage.

It used to be the case in the civil service that she would have had a full years salary paid for the year she is taking off, but like everything else that has finished now.

DaisyFlower

You'll not get a lot of help even without your salary. Just CB of £20 a month once the baby is born. Tax credits are pretty much zero for earnings over £40k so you'll probably be over the limit for them even with your SMP.

csh_2

iwillbedebtfree wrote: »

Afte a look at my work place maternity policy, it states they will top-up SMP for 2 weeks. I am understanding that this effectivly gives me 2 months at full pay once the baby arrives.

After a quick trip across to Direct Gov, I read that you will get the higher rate of SMP for the first 6 weeks at £128.73 and then for the remaining 33 I couldnt quite figure it out. Can anybody help me with this?????

The first 6 weeks of SMP are paid at 90% of your salary for the qualifiying weeks of your pregnancy. The other 33 weeks are paid at £128.73.

kst101

CB is £20 a week rather than a month. Not a lot of help but a bit.

Some companies will pay extra maternity pay in addition to SMP which may be what your company will do for two weeks.

In terms of CTC you will be able to disregard the amount of SMP for each week you receive it when you come to do your return for July 2012, so you will probably receive some CTC from April 2012 as your income will be lower then. Although it does depend on how much you earn during this tax year - when are you planning to start maternity leave?

karenx

dafyguy wrote: »

CTC & WTC would be a big help with the loss of her wage.

No WTC as income too high

iwillbedebtfree_2

Wow, thank you all so much for your replies, I really appreciate it.

Karenx- as baby is due on December 19th, I was thinking of working up until the first or Second week of December.

Better start tightening the belt even more now!!!!!!!!