Six months pregnant - any help?

SarahLou

Hi there,
I'm 6 months pregnant and my place of work is only now just starting to sort out maternity pay, when I'm leaving, etc. My place has NO form of scheme in place so I'll be getting Statutory Pay. (SMP). This is currently:

90% of my weekly wage for the first 6 weeks after I leave.
Then for the rest of the 33 weeks (as I'm giving birth after April 1st), I'll be getting £108 a week (*before* tax and NI). Then after 33 weeks its unpaid to a total of 52 weeks when I have to return. (Obviously I can return before if I wish to though!)

I know nothing about tax credits/benefits or anything having never claimed for ANYTHING before. Can anyone give me a run down in nice simple terms as to what my partner and I might be able to claim to help? As obviously it'll be a bit of a drop down from a full time wage to £108 a week BEFORE tax and NI for me!! Its scary I have to bring up a child on that and live off it too! My partner is in full time work also.

Obviously I realise it'll depend on our combined incomes, etc. but does anyone have any basic info or know of any good websites where we can see what we might be entitled to? After all, "they" wont tell us we're entitled to it will "they"?? hehehe! :rotfl:

Lu_T

Hi SarahLou

I used this site

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/WorkAndFamilies/index.htm

which has some good calculators for what you're entitled to. Take a look at the MSE Pregnancy Club

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=2730269#post2730269

and, when the time comes, MSE Parents Club for more advice, info and general support.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=338252


Depending on your income you might also be entitled to a Sure Start grant. Not sure on the T&Cs on these, but worth Googling to find out.

Hope this helps and don't forget to enjoy this special time!

Lu

savingmoneynovice_2

Hiya SarahLou,
I discovered when I had my second child in 2003, that you can get a payment of £500.00 from social security (that is what I knew it was called at the time) this can be claimed from 3 months before the birth of your child and three months after, and it isn't calculated on your earnings. Apparently this has been available for quite some time, I am not too sure of the name of the form you need, I do remember you need to have it signed by your midwife on one of your ante-natal visits. You could ask your midwife about it, and she should be able to tell you what it is called, and I know you have to phone your local social security office for the relevant form. I really hope this is still available. I only found out from someone else, and I have been telling every pregnant woman ever since, as far as I remember it is a grant for you to pay towards items for your baby that have a high value.. Best of Luck and finger crossed I have helped....

Jo_R_2

savingmoneynovice wrote: »

Hiya SarahLou,
I discovered when I had my second child in 2003, that you can get a payment of £500.00 from social security (that is what I knew it was called at the time) this can be claimed from 3 months before the birth of your child and three months after, and it isn't calculated on your earnings.

I think you are talking about the Sure Start Maternity Grant, and to receive this you need to be in receipt of certain benefits, see http://www.surestart.gov.uk/surestartservices/support/helpwithchildcarecosts/maternitygrant/

AFAIK there isn't another payment that you can get that isn't means-tested -if there is I've missed out!

sarmia

HI Sarah-Lou,

Our first baby is due on the 16th and from the 1st the Maternity Pay has gone up to £112 (think £112.75), its not much but every penny helps.

I have also made enquires about CB, CTC etc and if you joint income is over £30k you dont really get anything, we had a joint income of £44,000 last year and will be entitled to £545 CTC per year with a extra £545 in the first year as the lo will be under one.

Take care and good luck.
Sarah xx

SarahLou

Thanks for the replies

I've never heard of this £500 pay out either, I can't find anything about it either unless it is the Sure Start Maternity Grant (which I doubt we'll be entitled to but will look into it further to be sure!)

Our combined income (before tax and NI) is £32,000. But of course thats with me working full time.... as I'm going to be on SMP only and no extra maternity pay from my place of work other than statutory, our annual income will drop considerably below £30,000 (combined) as I'll be on the £108 (or indeed £112!) a week - and that in itself is also before tax and NI!

I'm sure there must be something out there as I know people who've earned far more than we do and they've seemingly been able to get bits of help here and there. Its just a shame I'm no longer in touch with them as I'd have been able to ask them directly myself otherwise!

I shall definitely have to look into this further though. I've had a look on a variety of websites but none of them seem to give much away as to how much you get based on how much you earn/will be getting per week/etc. So I think a trip to Job Centre Plus is probably in order.

Is that the place you'd most recommend to call into for this sort of thing? (As I say, never claimed anything before so I haven't got a clue where to start!)

Jo_R_2

SarahLou wrote: »

So I think a trip to Job Centre Plus is probably in order.

Is that the place you'd most recommend to call into for this sort of thing? (As I say, never claimed anything before so I haven't got a clue where to start!)

You can get a claim pack for tax credits from the Job Centre, although they don't deal with it directly they still have the forms you need.

You will get child benefit forms in your Bounty pack that you get when you give birth, they give them out at hospital or you can get one from your midwife at a home birth. You can also print them out off the net I do believe.

I do think you may be sadly disappointed if you are looking for anything more... Unfortunately there's nothing to "replace" the income you lose when your employer only pays you SMP except tax credits which only really works if you are on a low income.

seraphin_2

I am due in three weeks, have finished work etc. We dont qualify for sure start grant, due to income, but you will receive tax credits etc when baby is born, as your arent on benefit I doubt you will get anything other than the standard tax credits.

have a look at govnet sites for info, they work out what tax credits you will roughly receive.

Hope this helps and good luck

sarah

tweetyshells

just to add, as for the sure start maternity grant, many people (like we were) aren't intitled to the grant before the child arrives but are afterwards, you can claim this up to 3 months after they are born.

squashy

The first £100 per week of any SMP is disregarded when calculating your joint income for Tax Credits. If you ring them up they will calculate it for you over the phone, they are very helpful.

So your weekly income would be just your partners wages plus the £8 (or £12) for yours. Child benefit is also disregarded as income.

sarahdh

Hi,

I'm also pregnant, due in May and could be wrong but I think that £108.85 (or £112 odd when it goes up) is the actual amount you will recieve per week and no further deductions will be made on it. I think I remember this being the case when I had my little boy.