Pregnant, off sick, being made redundant, OH has started own business will I get help

emujuice

Hi all,
I've been with my employer for 5 years and will be made redundant at the end of March. (Its actually the end of my contract, but they see it as redundancy and I've said I'll take 'enhanced' redundancy of 2 weeks per year worked).

I'm currently on sick leave with a complicated pregnancy, which doesn't mean I'm going to argue about being made redundant, as it's been coming for some time and I already got a 6 month extension to my contract. Still a pain though, as I'm very scared about money.

My husband lost his job a year ago and he's been working on starting a business since then. It's starting to be more successful (around 2000 a month turn over, maybe 1200-1500 profit). This isnt' enough to cover our mortgage and bills.

My baby is due in July, and I think I'll just qualify to get SMP based on my dates.
But I'm wondering if I can claim anything else? My husband didn't claim JSA as I was earning enough to support us, and he's been bringing in a few hundred a month for the last few months. But it would certainly make a difference if we could get council tax relief or something.

Anyone been in a similar situation and able to offer advice? I can't look for another job as I'll be off sick for the rest of the pregnancy, so I'm just feeling a bit stuck.

pmlindyloo

Are you receiving SSP?

When this runs out you will be able to claim contribution based ESA.

You may be entitled to working tax credits at the moment depending on the number of hours your husband works (he needs to be doing 30+ hours per week)

When the baby is born you can claim Child Tax credits as well as Child Benefit.

Put your details into the benefit calculator on here:

http://www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx