Going on maternity soon

donkey20048

Hi

I'm posting on behalf of a friend. She is currently working full time and is expecting a baby.

We are a little confused on when we should apply for tax credits and also when using the calculator to see if entitled to benefits etc it asks for child care costs but obviously we aren't Paying any and also don't know how much it will cost when she does start child care costs.

Hope this makes sense and you can help explain when and what benefits she will be entitled to as trying to work out if we can afford while on maternity

She will be a single parent and looking to go back to part time once child born

Cheers

bll78

I assume she's not on WTC now. She can't apply until after the baby is born for CTC and WTC if it's the part-time that makes her eligible. The way to see is to play with the calculator and put in the figures as they will be not how they are now accepting the childcare bit will come later (I assume she will have some maternity leave). She need to pretend the date of birth for the child is 1/1/13 that way she will get the full year effect. http://www.entitledto.co.uk/
For this I also think she needs to know roughly what maintenance she will get from the father, she may have to guesstimate that bit.

donkey20048

She is 32 and her annual pay this year was 23490

StormyWeather_2

Phone the council and ask for child care info. They'll send a list of what's available currently. Bear in mind that availability will change between now and when she has the baby, but it will give an idea of costs for nursery and childminders in the area.

pmlindyloo

As regards other benefits this will depend on her maternity pay, her savings, whether she is renting privately or owns her own house.