Benefits & a baby!

Jo4

I am currently in receipt of income support and was wondering if I had a child would the amount change? I phoned CAB and they said if I had a child I would get £17 Child Benefit and £38 for Child Tax Credit a week. She never mentioned any other entitlements so I asked her about the Sure Start Maternity Grant. She said if I was in receipt of the same benefits as I am now then I would be entitled to the £500 grant. The advisor was in a hurry and didn't have much time to speak.

Is £55 a week the total I would get a week or is this wrong? Hope the figures recently published on the television about the cost of a child in their first 5 years, maybe it was 4 years, is wrong!

Fran

Have a look at the maternity alliance website.

Scarlett1

Jo you would get your income support + child tax credit + child benefit, which should total around £107 per week or round abouts

Cause you are in receipt of income support you should be entitled to the sure start maternity grant , £500.

You not wanting to have a child to get extra benefits are you

Spendless

Jo - am i confusing you with someone else. I thought you were married? Does your husband not work? Did you mean icome support or did you mean incapacity benefit?
(apologies if i've mixed up who you are)

jellyhead

doesn't the £107 include the money for your own upkeep? when i was on income support around 4 years ago i'm pretty sure the total was less than a hundred a week for us both. there's also the housing benefit, council tax benefit, free healthcare etc. that you're already getting if you're on IS. you'd get the £500 maternity grant (it's gone up a lot, it was only a hundred when i claimed lol!) and would also get milk tokens, i think it starts about halfway through the pregnancy and continues until the child is 5 but until a baby is 1 you could swap the token for a tin of formula at the clinic if you were bottlefeeding, otherwise it's 7 pints of milk a week (to be bought in one go, unless you're using a milkman then you'll get one pint a day). it's certainly nowhere near the £50 odd thousand we're told a baby costs but babies don't have to be expensive, i used to buy clothes/equipment etc. from charity shops, walk everywhere, etc. etc. breastfeeding is cheaper (unless you're on benefits in which case the tins of milk are free), washable nappies cost less than disposables (and if you're not working you'll have the time to spend on laundry), babies don't need jars of babyfood, puree your own (but don't add salt). maternity clothes can be bought on ebay quite cheaply. etc. etc. as long as you're not extravagant and don't smoke you should be able to afford a baby on income support but it's not easy and you won't be able to buy everything new.

Jo4

Scarlett1 wrote:

Jo you would get your income support + child tax credit + child benefit, which should total around £107 per week or round abouts

Cause you are in receipt of income support you should be entitled to the sure start maternity grant , £500.

You not wanting to have a child to get extra benefits are you

CERTAINLY NOT! If you look in the families board you will see that I posted about "Our First Baby" which I said hubby & I were thinking of trying for later this year! We are still hoping to try for a baby later this year!

How did you come up with the figure £107 per week or round abouts?

Jo4

Spendless wrote:

Jo - am i confusing you with someone else. I thought you were married? Does your husband not work? Did you mean icome support or did you mean incapacity benefit?
(apologies if i've mixed up who you are)

Yes I am married, I never deny that!! My hubby is my carer so does he work?? I meant income support. Hard to remember who everyone is!

Curry_Queen

Jo4 wrote:

How did you come up with the figure £107 per week or round abouts?

That is roughly the figure for one adult and one child on IS. What the CAB told you is correct in the extra amount you get for a child.

Spendless

Jo4 wrote:

Yes I am married, I never deny that!! My hubby is my carer so does he work?? I meant income support. Hard to remember who everyone is!

Jo i have send you a PM explaining what i meant and i apologise if i've upset you in any way.

As to amounts i have no idea but babies needn't cost the earth.

We had 2 mortgages when i was pregnant with my first (only selling one place shortly before) and no spare cash. Only my pram (present from my parents), a car-seat (present from SIL) and bottles (i only breastfed for a short while) were new. Everything else was 2nd hand, either donated or bought.

You get tons of clothes from visitors. As some-one else has said breast-feeding is free though its highly likely you'd get milk token for formula until baby is 1 then you'd get ordinary milk till your baby was 5.

Assuming you were still on IS when child went to school you'd get free school milk and free school dinners.

I have 2 kids and the most expensive things i've found are shoes (daughters first 2 pairs cost a staggering £40+ as she has small feet) and activities, which is your choice as to what they do and don't do.

Jo4

Spendless wrote:

Jo i have send you a PM explaining what i meant and i apologise if i've upset you in any way.

As to amounts i have no idea but babies needn't cost the earth.

We had 2 mortgages when i was pregnant with my first (only selling one place shortly before) and no spare cash. Only my pram (present from my parents), a car-seat (present from SIL) and bottles (i only breastfed for a short while) were new. Everything else was 2nd hand, either donated or bought.

You get tons of clothes from visitors. As some-one else has said breast-feeding is free though its highly likely you'd get milk token for formula until baby is 1 then you'd get ordinary milk till your baby was 5.

Assuming you were still on IS when child went to school you'd get free school milk and free school dinners.

I have 2 kids and the most expensive things i've found are shoes (daughters first 2 pairs cost a staggering £40+ as she has small feet) and activities, which is your choice as to what they do and don't do.

No, you have not upset me, just glad we got things cleared up. I think I am getting too worried about getting pregnant, like I have been told before. I suppose this is just the worry of the unknown, first time parenthood. Hopefully everything will go alright!!

Scarlett1

Jo4 wrote:

CERTAINLY NOT! If you look in the families board you will see that I posted about "Our First Baby" which I said hubby & I were thinking of trying for later this year! We are still hoping to try for a baby later this year!

How did you come up with the figure £107 per week or round abouts?

Oh I didnt know you were married, it was the use of the letter 'I' that you used quite a few times in once sentence that made me think you were going it alone, rather that using 'we'

As curry_queen explained the £107 figure would be what a single parent got

Got luck in your plans, relax and it will all fall into place :T