Benefits / entitlements for newborn?

MRB

Hi guys,

Got our first on the way, due in about 30 days. Dealing with mild panic and getting things organised, and finally got around to checking if we were due anything from HMG for the pleasure.

Between us, my wife and I earn £86,000 before all deductions, and it seems that we fall into that middle ground where the two of us alone can live comfortably enough but as soon as a sprog appears, things start to become fairly tight (Mortgage, nursery fees, etc).

I checked various calculators, sites, etc, and as far as I can see, we are entitled to hee and haw from HMG. Anyone got any second opinions on this or are there any 'one for all and all for one' benefits for a newborn that I've not spotted?

Cheers!

notanewuser

Depends how that £86k is carved up between you. That would determine eligibility for child benefit. You're not entitled to anything else (nor should you be on £86k household income).

Housing_Benefit_Officer

If you took a humongous cut in your salary then you would start qualifying for Tax Credits.

It must be terrible to only have £86k in salary and no entitlement to any benefits! Damn Government.

xylophone

With regard to child benefit, see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/tax/9781037/Child-benefit-how-to-beat-the-tax.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17854937

And this thread might be of interest (although you might have lost the will to live after having made it half way through..........):D https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3655837

newbutold

At most, you will qualify for child benefit which is currently paid at a rate of £20.30 per week for your eldest child. Your qualification for this will depend on what your actual individual salaries are. If one of your individual salaries is over 50k then you lose your CB on a sliding scale till your salary is over 60k & then you lose it all together. So potentially you could each earn 49k a year giving a joint income of 98k and still get full CB but if one of you earned 60k and the other nothing you'd lose entitlement to CB....fair ah?!

P.s. you will come in for some flack for your post!!



You are going to get some flack for your post.

MRB

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

It must be terrible to only have £86k in salary and no entitlement to any benefits! Damn Government.

notanewuser wrote: »

(nor should you be on £86k household income).

I know - having worked all our days and paying in a mountain of tax and not being able to get anything back instead of doing nothing and getting it thrown at us (Not aimed at you by the way) - it's a nightmare.

xylophone wrote: »

And this thread might be of interest (although you might have lost the will to live after having made it half way through..........):D https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3655837

That's what we're thinking of doing, but it involves a fair bit of mucking about and sacrifice. I'll have a read, but I lost the will to live after the first moral knights rode in.

The wife earns the lions share at £56k, I was trying to wrap my head around the CB sliding scale thing, and I think the gist is it's worth it until you're over £60k.

Our financial commitments are all fairly tight and tied down in things like pensions, mortgage, etc, so once we add on childcare, we're really left with very, very little. Due to our location, we're a bit screwed for nursery choices and they're not cheap around here.

Cheers for the heads up though, pretty much what I thought. Excuse me whilst I go for a dip in my non-existent swimming pool full of cash. :rotfl:

midnight_express

Funny how it is always those who contribute to society who get slagged off on here.

hawk30

midnight_express wrote: »

Funny how it is always those who contribute to society who get slagged off on here.

But OP has a large income and should not need/expect benefits. My OH and I plan to drop down to one salary now LO is here, a salary of around 30k, and we don't need/expect benefits. Babies are not that expensive.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

A gross monthly income of £7166.66 or £1653.84 per week.

Okydoky25

hawk30 wrote: »

But OP has a large income and should not need/expect benefits. My OH and I plan to drop down to one salary now LO is here, a salary of around 30k, and we don't need/expect benefits. Babies are not that expensive.

Babies are not that expensive? How long have you had one?

Even using reusable nappies, BF and getting lots in sales or second hand they ARE expensive.

Okydoky25

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

A gross monthly income of £7166.66 or £1653.84 per week.

You can kiss goodbye to £500+ of this for a Nursery in some areas.

I'm not agreeing someone of this high a salary should be entitled to benefits but they do pay in 40% tax and can see how they will struggle to keep up with the lifestyle they are used to. They will just need to reevaluate that lifestyle.