It's all too confusing!!!

spammy29

Yesterday my husband and I had a bit of a shock, we found out that I'm 4 weeks pregnant with baby number 4 after I'd convinced myself that those days had ended (had op for uterine prolapse repair last year and periods pretty much stopped afterwards).

Baby number 3 is now 11 and I'm not as young and healthy as I used to be, I'm 38 and the gestational diabetes turned into full blown type 2 and I'm no longer a stay at home mum like in the old days, I work full time as a nurse. The first three were moderate pre-terms, so I expect this one to be too.

Added to that hubby has been pretty much unemployed for the past 2 years apart from the odd bit of temp work, so I pay for everything by doing overtime on top, however the way I feel at the moment I think I'm going to struggle doing my normal shifts let alone overtime. I've just been trying to work out the figures for maternity pay but I seem to be getting confused as I never worked full time with my others and my brain is mush! Would I be able to claim tax credits once the first 6 weeks of being paid 90% my wages is up as I don't think we will be able to pay the mortgage and bills on £135 a week. Husband doesn't receive any benefits as he's used up his Jobseekers and we are continously applying for jobs but I think his age and lack of qualifications are against him. I'm not sure how it all works, can someone explain it to me simply!

browneyedbazzi

I'm sorry I can't answer your questions but I didn't want to read and run. You may get more responses to this on the benefits board?

Are you working as a nurse for an NHS employer? If so it's worth checking their maternity policy because they may offer additional maternity benefits on top of the statutory minimum.

I hope your pregnancy goes well and everything works out for you.

neneromanova

For the first 6 weeks to will get 90% of your pay. Then for the next 33 weeks you will get £135. Child benefit kicks in the moment baby is born, so does child tax credits. Having 4 children means your tax credit threshold will be over £38,800 so if you earn less than that you'll get CTC.

Hope that helps.

Sparkles87

Don't forget when you claim tax credits that you can take off the first £100 of maternity pay each week so you should get quite a good amount