Pregnant please help

princesslenore82

Hi Everyone I really need some help!

I have just found out I am pregnant with my first child. Both me and my partner work (both earning £15,000 each).

When I go on maternity leave I will be entitled to maternity pay of about £120.00 (dont know exact off top of my head) per week. meaning I have approx £480.00 a month to live on!!

Am I entitled , or my partner entitled to any financial help? Otherwise how am I gonna pay the rent and bills let alone raise a baby?! I have done some benefit calculators online and it says Im entitled to nothing cos my house hold income is £30,000. It is normally, but how can I pay for all my bills and rent when on maternity?!

Can anyone help please?

Thanks

midnight_express

Why don't you do the benefit calculation putting in what your income will be when you are not working ?

mildred1978

You'll get child benefit of £20 a week plus child tax credits too. Financial sacrifice is part of being parents.

You get several months to save money when pregnant, and you'll get 90% of your salary for the first 6 weeks of maternity leave. Your partner will still be bringing in £1k per month. I doubt you'll be that much worse off to be honest.

There's a lot of "I" in your post, when it should be "we".

MrsManda

Statutory Maternity Pay is 90% of your average gross weekly earnings for the first 6 weeks. After that you can receive SMP rate of £135.45 a week for upto 33 weeks though you don't necessarily have to take maternity leave for this long.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Expectingorbringingupchildren/DG_10018741

You'll get £20.30 a week Child Benefit and may be entitled to child tax credits.

You can model your situation on a benefits calculator for a rough idea of what you can claim.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Diol1/DoItOnline/DoItOnlineByCategory/DG_172666

princesslenore82

To Mildred1978 - I know sacrafice is part of being a parent! and I am willing to make sacrafices! I will save what I can in the mean time.

Yes my partner will still be bringing home £1,000 a month but we will still be roughly £600.00 a month down whilst Im on maternity. That is quite a big cut and we may only just about be able to cover our outgoings.(and we dont go out much, we dont drink and we dont smoke) Im not saying I want benefits forever, I just want to know if I can get any helps whilst on maternity.

McKneff

You will have £1k a month, plus your maternity pay, plus CB.

Sounds like about £1500 a month, so not a small amount.

Post up an SOA and we will try to help you with a budget.

mildred1978

You'll probably get at least £50 a week tax credit too. And you won't have the costs of going to work.

mildred1978

Mat pay plus child benefit will give you £677 per month.

LL30

OP, don't forget that the first £100 a week of your SMP is not counted for tax credit purposes - meaning that when you calculate your income for them it'll only be circa £35 a week (with the exception of the first 6 weeks). This can make a massive difference to your entitlement - go to entitled.to and do the sums xx

skintandscared_2

Have you and your partner sat down and thought about things like how long you want to take off for maternity leave? You will need to start putting money aside for that now, so you have enough to make up any shortfall after the baby arrives and before you return to work. Then there's childcare costs. Whatever benefits you are entitled to while you are off, they will not add up to what you currently earn so you need to learn to live differently/cut costs now. You can kiss goodbye to your disposable income for the next 18 years basically

I would sit down together, get the bank statements out and work out how you can shave costs wherever possible. Good luck!