My partner is a mum-to-be, just a couple of questions.

KnottyB

Good Afternoon All,

I was wondering if you could point this ignorant person in the right direction. My partner is due to give birth in October of this year. She currently works in retail on a 4 hour contract, however she mostly works about 20+ hours. On top of this she does one day a week in a local shop 09:00 to 17:00.

Her main job will provide maternity pay at 80% of her "average working hours". Now I'm going to assume the worst and interpret this to be the 4 hours she is contracted to and not the 20+ she is actually doing on average. Her other job will not have any maternity pay.

Unfortunately the pay is not too great either as she is only just turning 19 in a couple of weeks. She has however been working there almost 3 years.

I'm currently working on a full time basis Monday through Friday, however not on the best pay, brining in £1200 per month nett. I appreciate this isn't the worst pay either, however I also have a child with a previous partner and pay circa £150 a month so my starting point is £1050 realistically.

Anyways I have diverged a little, I have a few questions I would like to ask the community:

- What financial support could my partner get?
- Would we still be entitled to the sure start grant? (As I already have a child).
- Could you advise any websites I could look into with regards to finance for low-earning mothers to be?

Obviously if you have any other general financial suggestions that might help that would be appreciated too . I have tried the following:

- Opened a 123 account for my savings and cashback on bills. *
- Opened a Halifax for the £5 a month. *
- I tend to do most shopping at Aldi / Homebargains to get the cheapest offers.
- We're moving to a smaller property to reduce rental costs.
- Have no "media/unnecessary contracts" bar my phone which will be swapped to giffgaff as soon as my contract is up. (this is only £18 as it stands anyways).
- Use sites such as groupon / topcashback etc when buying presents (yes I'm cheap / frugal).

* Luckily I have enough savings to move between accounts to get this working.

Thank You in advanced,

Knotty.

tiny_courageous

You won't be entitled to the surestart grant as you have to be claiming certain benefits to get it.

http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/statutory-maternity-pay-how-it-is-worked-out will tell you more about how her average pay will be calculated.

You will get child benefit once baby is born and possibly child tax credits as well.

congratulations!

AnnieO1234

At your wages, and provided you're working over 16 hours (I think) a week you should be getting Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit once baby is born. Additionally you should also be able to re-assess the money you're paying for your other child which, while may not be a popular choice and may not be something you want to do, may be something you need to do at least to begin with.

Xx

jenijen27

Your partner should be entitled to SMP through her employer. She will get 90% of her average weekly earnings for the first 6 weeks. Her contracted hours are irrelevant but if she earns less than the LEL she won't be entitled to it and she will have to claim maternity allowance from the government.
The following 33 weeks are paid at the standard SMP rate or 90% of her leverage weekly earnings - whatever is lower.

(Not sure all that makes sense, typing and jiggling a crying baby isn't my strong point!)

ema_o

I think the amount SMP is based on is worked out on the average of your earnings for the 8 weeks before the qualifying week (15 weeks before the expected week of delivery so about week 25).

I would give ACAS a call - they told me something along those lines (although I was mainly calling them for something else so would rather you check the advise with them directly).

jenand8285

Congratulations

I can not offer any advice on any SMP entitlement/ benefits/ other income but I would just like to say you seem very sensible and already have some good money saving practices in place. This forum is great for all sorts of advice.

Good luck with your future

jetplane

tiny_courageous wrote: »

You won't be entitled to the surestart grant as you have to be claiming certain benefits to get it.

congratulations!

This advice is so wrong, you can receive a sure start grant if you receive child tax credits above the family rate and this is your partners first child and your other child does not live with you. On your low income you will qualify especially if you ask to be assessed on current year annual income and her SMP. Tax credits ignore £100 week of SMP.

Employers often get maternity pay wrong, your partner needs professional advice with someone who can look at the figures and timeline, including informed advice over whether you should recalculate Child Maintainance under the new rules. Asking for opinions on a forum is pot luck, you will get some people who know and others who guess and could lose out financially.

Try maternityaction.org.uk if there are questions or problems with SMP.