Entitlement once baby is born

geordie_ben

My fiancee and I are having our first baby in July :j

I'm trying to find out if we will be entitled to any benefits, before and after the baby is born

At the moment we both work full time and bring in a net of about £2k a month between us

My fiancee is probably going to be off work for 6 months, with her wage dropping to 50% for the majority of that time

We've worked full time for about 8-10 years

We live in our own home (mortgaged)

At the moment we're in council tax band A

Any help would be great - let me know if you need more info

sulkisu

geordie_ben wrote: »

My fiancee and I are having our first baby in July :j

I'm trying to find out if we will be entitled to any benefits, before and after the baby is born

At the moment we both work full time and bring in a net of about £2k a month between us

My fiancee is probably going to be off work for 6 months, with her wage dropping to 50% for the majority of that time

We've worked full time for about 8-10 years

We live in our own home (mortgaged)

At the moment we're in council tax band A

Any help would be great - let me know if you need more info

How much do you both earn respectively - i.e. your individual annual salaries?

What are your childcare arrangements for when your partner returns to work - e.g. how many hours and will it be paid or unaid?

geordie_ben

sulkisu wrote: »

how much do you both earn respectively - i.e. Your individual annual salaries?

18,600

14,500

Gross

pmlindyloo

You will be entilted to Child Benefit and possibly Tax credits. The latter are quite complicated!

Here is a link for you:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/wtc2.pdf

Congratulations!

Since your finances may be stretched for a while why don't you pop over to the Debtfree Wannabe forum (not just for those in debt) and see if you can reduce your expenditure in any area?

geordie_ben

pmlindyloo wrote: »

You will be entilted to Child Benefit and possibly Tax credits. The latter are quite complicated!

Here is a link for you:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/wtc2.pdf

Congratulations!

Since your finances may be stretched for a while why don't you pop over to the Debtfree Wannabe forum (not just for those in debt) and see if you can reduce your expenditure in any area?

Thanks for that The only debt we've got is our mortgage

Horseunderwater

Your income will be along these lines: 1st 6 weeks of maternity leave is paid at 90% of gross salary and then the remaining SMP will be at £136.78 unless your OH has an enhanced SMP package with her salary. This is the new rates that will apply in July this year. You do not say which of you is on the lower salary, but you can deduct £100/week off her gross salary for 39 weeks £3.9k - so joint gross income = £33.1K less £3.9k will give income as £29.2k which if this is your first baby will mean that you would not get tax credits - the cutoff is approx £26k for one child now. So I think you will only get child benefit of £20.30 per week. Tax credits work by taking this years income to use for the next years income. Now the following year your incomes will be less as your OH had SMP for 33 weeks at a rate of £136.78 + whatever 90% of her gross salary was for 6 weeks and her normal gross salary between 6th april and when she began her Maternity leave. But you will not know that until it all kicks off. At best you can estimate it.

geordie_ben

I'm on the higher wage

My fiancee gets 90% for 6 weeks, then 50% for 20 weeks, and then SMP after that

Mojisola

geordie_ben wrote: »

Thanks for that The only debt we've got is our mortgage

The debtfree board is very useful for people who are not in debt but are having to manage on a reduced income. It's better to adapt your spending and not get into debt in the first place.

geordie_ben

Mojisola wrote: »

The debtfree board is very useful for people who are not in debt but are having to manage on a reduced income. It's better to adapt your spending and not get into debt in the first place.

We won't be getting into debt - we're very clever with money after I paid off £13k in 2 years (with for help from this site) - but thanks for the advice

Mojisola

geordie_ben wrote: »

We won't be getting into debt - we're very clever with money after I paid off £13k in 2 years (with for help from this site) - but thanks for the advice

Maybe you should have a look so you can give advice to others? It's always good to get advice from people who have actually "been there and done it" and it's reassuring for people who are in debt to see that it is possible to get back in the black.

Congratulations on the baby!