Benefits after having a baby?

kelly_jo_2

Need some advice please. I’ve just had a baby and I'm on 26-week maternity leave, which ends in 10 weeks. I really want to stay at home to bring up the baby and not go back to work for a year or so. I’m desperately trying to work out what I’ll be entitled to. I have a partner who earns £27,000 a year but I do not think we can pay the mortgage and all the bills with this alone. If I give up work will I be entitled to any benefits other than Child Tax Credit of approx £500 per year and the statutory child Benefit of £17.45 a week? Would I be entitled to Job seekers allowance? A friend told me I might be after 6 months? Or anything else?
Many Thanks in advance!

seven-day-weekend

To receive JSA you have to be actively looking for and available for work.

Don't know anything about other benefits, sorry, but maybe you could get an evening job or something so that your partner could be there for the baby?

inkie

I doubt it very much with a parter who earns that - the reason I am saying so is that my OH earns less than that and we wouldn't be entitled to anything other that the CTC £500. If you want to stay at home, why not register to be a childminde and then you can have the best of both worlds?

immoral_angeluk

I would say that no you wouldn't. Reason I say that is I looked into it as well for when my maternity leave is over and even with my Dh earning about 13k we would only be entitled to tax credits and child benefit.

Becles

kelly_jo wrote:

I have a partner who earns £27,000 a year but I do not think we can pay the mortgage and all the bills with this alone.

Don't take this the wrong way but lots of families on here manage on less than that a year.

As you wouldn't get any more income from benefits, is there anyway you can change your spending so your family can live on your husbands salary alone?

Maybe remortaging to a better deal could save money but do consider any early repayment penalties that might apply to you.

Write down a list of all your other outgoings. Maybe you can save money by switching utilities, insurances and cancelling anything you don't actually use or need anymore.

Have a look at the Old Style forum for ways to make cheaper meals and how to save money on cleaning stuff. You'll need to learn to be thrifty, but it's easy once you get into it!

skylight

We have 4 kids in the house and another on the way.

We do manage on less (My OH earns £20K including Over/time) and we do get help in Tax Credits/child benefit and no other benefits. (I'm not mentioning this for martydom, but to show that people do live on a LOT less)!!!!!!!!!

You are not entitled to anything else, so if you want to stay at home, then the only course of action is to cut those bills back or get a part-time job. Evenig work when OH is back home? Or a few hours a day, can Nan babysit??

The debt free board is a good place to start, good advice with cutting back on bills, sorting debts out into managable chunks - its not just for those in dire straits! Then Old Style - almost a guarantee to cut your grocery bill by half!

black-saturn

Yep I manage on £9,200 a year and I have 2 children and no partner.

Becles

black-saturn wrote:

Yep I manage on £9,200 a year and I have 2 children and no partner.

Sorry to hear that it didn't work out, especially when you were so excited about your forthcoming wedding Take care.

Spendless

You'll get the baby element of CTC till baby is 1 year old also, which is an additional £545p.a.

You can have a year off maternity wise but part of it is unpaid (6 months???). Could you afford to do this and go back when baby is older?

Is it the size of your mortgage that makes it hard for you to manage. Down-sizing/re-mortgaging an option?

Prudent

Babies don't cost as much as the hype in the newspapers. You will be given loads and other than basics like nappies, you will need to buy very little. The first real expense I had with my dd was when she started needing shoes, but found ways round that too.

Is it possible for you to remortage at a better rate?

Also have a look at the old style board for great tips on cutting household costs.

rich_in_norwich

>Need some advice please. I’ve just had a baby and I'm on 26-week maternity >leave, which ends in 10 weeks. I really want to stay at home to bring up the >baby and not go back to work for a year or so. I’m desperately trying to work >out what I’ll be entitled to. I have a partner who earns £27,000 a year but I do >not think we can pay the mortgage and all the bills with this alone. If I give up >work will I be entitled to any benefits other than Child Tax Credit of approx >£500 per year and the statutory child Benefit of £17.45 a week? Would I be >entitled to Job seekers allowance? A friend told me I might be after 6 months? >Or anything else?
>Many Thanks in advance!

What a lot of families do now is have the main income earner move out of the household - say to live with his mum. You do not have to get divorced or break up or anything. Then the tax credit calculation is based on the income of the remaining parent, which is obviously nearer to zero. Now if that person could then manage to do a 16 hour a week job, they would be entitled to working tax credits and payments towards childcare costs as well as full child tax credits. Then the partner who has moved out could still 'visit' if you know what I mean.

Hope this helps.