Pregnant & panicking :(

little-jo-jo

Hi everyone,

I was just wondering whether anybody has been in a similar situation or has any advice for us.
I'm currently 10 weeks pregnant & my boyfriend and I are so so happy and excited for the baby to arrive. But it seems like ever since we found out that we were expecting everything just seems to be going wrong for us financially.
My boyfriend is self employed and does a lot of work for the same company but at the moment his work has dried up completely, he is looking for other work to top up his non existent income and applying for jobs everyday but never seems to get responses or even considered. He is a general labourer but doesn't have a cscs card so finding new companies to take him on is proving difficult & the government has changed the cscs card scheme so it's now near on impossible to get a card unless you are in full time employment or studying. He's literally applying for any and every job at the moment and getting no where and I don't know what we are going to do?

I feel like I spend everyday crying and worrying about how we are going to pay the bills and keep a roof over our heads when the baby comes.
I do work as well, as an air hostess but am unable to "fly" when pregnant so currently grounded on my basic wage which we can't survive on solely.

We've never applied for benefits or anything like that before so I don't have a clue where to start but all the calculators online say we're not entitled to any help even though I'm sure we must be. My basic salary is around £950pm and there is no way we can live on this, it doesn't even cover our bills!

Any help or advice would be so so appreciated. I'm totally at my wits end worrying constantly

xx

glentoran99

have you tried

http://www.entitledto.co.uk

why cant you fly while pregnant?

xylophone

http://www.cscs.uk.com/what-is-cscs
He has seen the above?

little-jo-jo

no airlines in the UK allow you to fly while pregnant, each time you fly youre exposed to the same radiation as an x-ray so its not too good.
okay for the average joe to have a holiday or two but not for regular 3/4 flights a week

ive tried all the calculators already and it says we're not entitled to anything because obviously our earnings last tax year....and even last month were too high i guess. do they not take into account your current earnings and situation? obviously its a complicated one because my boyfriends work hours could change from week to week but we're not entitled to job seekers because he technically has a job. its just so confusing...

yes xylophone we've looked on the cscs website many times, we just cant see a way to get a card under the current scheme. pre july 2014 it was simple, you did the H&S test, filled in a form with your details and an employers recommendation and that was it. now you have to complete a 12 week course (which a) none of the providers listed in our area seem to have heard of and b) we cant afford for him to be out of work for 12 weeks to do the course

thanks for the advice so far everyone

Poppie68

12 week course? .....I thought it was a 5 day course or 2 days for a refresher...also worth looking at your local college to see if they offer an evening course, that way he would still be available for any work.
Posting questions on the CSCS card on the employment and jobseekers board will get some accurate answers from experienced and informed posters.

Toomuchdebt

It's definitely only a 5 day course for the cscs card.

zagfles

Stop panicking, on one income of around £12k you should get over £100pw in tax credits and child benefit once the child is born, even if your income was much higher last year. Tax credits use current tax year income +2500 if income has dropped substantially since last year.

comeandgo

The weeks course is for site management, he will not be site manager surely if he is a labourer? Contact CITB and ask them what is required.

NYM

These are the current requirements for a Labourers CSCS Card

You can apply for this card if you have either:

Passed the QCF Level One or SCQF Level 4 Award in Health and Safety in a Construction Environment. Click here for more details about the Award

or

Hold a valid Site Safety Plus Health and Safety Awareness Course certificate.

or

Complete the IOSH Working safely course

All applicants must also pass the Operatives CITB Health Safety & Environment test.

This card is valid for five years and can be renewed subject to the above conditions being met.

Booking the Test

Check this link too...
One day course - £150 + VAT

sheeps68

Am sure it's your hormones causing some chaos as you will not have been in this panic when you decided to try for a baby. As at that point you were not fearing you could not manage. If the panic gets too intense please get help.

crafting-queen

My son used to be an NVQ accessor in the building industry. He was out the industry for over a year doing something completely different.

In November he was offered a job as a self employed Quality Assurance Manager for a company, his CSCS card had expired, all he did was take an online test which cost £29 and he was up and running.
If your partner has been in the building trade for sometime surely it would be straight forward to apply.