Pregnant and benefits

suzybear

I've been unemployed and on IS since June and iv just found out im pregnant (not sure how far.) What benefits can i get? Maternity allowence says i need to have been employed during my pregnancy to qualify.

embob74

You won't be entitled to Maternity Allowance.
I believe you stay on IS until about 6 weeks before your due date and will then be entitled to ESA.
After baby is born you can get IS, HB, benefit and child tax credit. Plus any maintenance from the father is not taken into account when calculating HB or tax credits so it pays to make sure you get something off him!
Oh you will probably be eligible for the SureStart Maternity Grant which is £500 to buy baby essentials.

I'm not an expert in benefits though so you should probably clarify with the JobCentre or Citizens Advice

suzybear

ok thanks. About the sure start grant.....iv already got a 4yr old and i dont think i got the grant for him because i was working at the time of pregnancy so would i get it this time round or not?

cosmic-dust

suzybear wrote: »

ok thanks. About the sure start grant.....iv already got a 4yr old and i dont think i got the grant for him because i was working at the time of pregnancy so would i get it this time round or not?

No you wouldn't get this time round as the rules changed, you get it for first child only.

suzybear

ahhh that's poo so is there anything else to replace it? obviously i'll get milk and veggie vouchers....

cosmic-dust

suzybear wrote: »

ahhh that's poo so is there anything else to replace it? obviously i'll get milk and veggie vouchers....

Nothing to replace it.

suzybear

ok i dont want to upset people or judge but iv always worked and paid my way so how come certain people can not work, not care, pop out as many kids as they can and they get money thrown at them!??!

cosmic-dust

suzybear wrote: »

ok i dont want to upset people or judge but iv always worked and paid my way so how come certain people can not work, not care, pop out as many kids as they can and they get money thrown at them!??!

Do they?
I suppose you could ask the father to your second child to help out, or is he out of the picture already?

vroombroom

isn't that a bit of a sweeping statement, considering you have come on here first to ask what you can get and you don't even know how far gone you are?

suzybear

This is why i said at the beginning im not judging or wanting to upset but there's alot of people who live near me who have been given a nice house fully paid, bills all paid for, money they spend on alcohol etc and they have several children because they think the more kids they have the more money they are given (one of them actually said this!) As im only a few weeks pregnant im talking to the dad to sort things out because he's in a sticky situation at the moment too.

suzybear

The reason iv been out of work for 4 months is because my employer wouldn't give me flexible working hours to cover taking my youngest to and from school so i had to leave. I've applied for a few jobs before finding out im pregnant so just trying to get as much information as i can before deciding what to do.