Point me and the Bump in the right direction?

memorygirl

Hi all

31 weeks pregnant and going to be on my own with the bump and DS (Aged 7)

Moving into my own house tomorrow (refurb job but as I work for a firm of developers I know this will not be a permanent move as I plan to sell later in the year when house up to spec)

At midwife today and couple next to me in waiting room were loundly discussing all the "extras" they are going to apply for for their bump.

My question is .............

Who / where do I need to inform / apply to in order to make sure the bump gets anything it is entitled to (like Baby Bond??)

Never claimed any benefits before - except Family Allowance and I don't remember how I went about that (nearly eight years ago now)

I get £1600 pcm and out of that I have to put 1/4 away for tax etc. So really £1200. I will be classed as self employed so not sure how Tax Credits etc would work??

Any help gratefully received and immediately acted on I promise

Memorygirl

lynnexxxo

you will be entitled to tax credits for both your ds and your bump. Check out their website, http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/TaxCreditsandChildBenefit/TaxCredits/DG_4015478

You will definately be entitled to something (if you earn under 55k you are entitled to something) though not sure how the self employed thing works.

Child benefit i remember being sorted out automatically when you register the birth.

and you could also get a 25% discount on council tax if you are the only adult in the house.

And have you though about maternity allowance (£100 odd pounds a week for 26 (poss more now) weeks. http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/JCP/Customers/WorkingAgeBenefits/Dev_008115.xml.html

Good luck with impending arrival!

memorygirl

Waiting in queue for Tax Credits pack as we speak

Thanks for your help.

Now what do I do next?

Memorgirl

memorygirl

Work in family business and will continue being paid - although actually will be off with the bump and doing all the work no one else likes doing.

Budgets
Schedules
Book - keeping
Accounts etc

So I don't think I can claim SMP - is that right?

Memorygirl

Bun

It depends on what you call 'still being paid'. If you go to www.dti.gov.uk then it will explain that you can still be off and do some work for your employer. If they were going to be paying you SMP (ie so many weeks at part of your salary, then the government bit through them) then you get a certain number of keeping in contact days (ten rings a bell) which you can spread out to suit both of you, and the work you do on those days is paid. You can get this for Maternity Allowance as well (pay is via jobcentre plus, not your employer at all) which you get if not being paid by an employer. That way you can do some paid work, but only (if memory serves) as full days, not as twenty half days for example. So if you are going to be off for nine months (it's paid at £112.75 for 39 weeks) you could do the accounts in one day at each month end, and get the allowance and your pay for these days too. However it's somewhat complicated but if you call the staff they are really helpful, so should be able to sort you out.
Good luck, it's a bit complicated but well worth it.
Also, go to www.entitledto.co.uk and you can work out what you are, well, entitled to. I think Child benefit forms are in with your birthing Bounty Pack.

starbump

You need to register the birth before you can apply for child benefit because you need to send the birth certificate with the application form.

Applying for child benefit automatically triggers the child trust fund voucher to be sent out to you.

SMP is for employees; MA is for self-employed. You cannot work and claim MA at the same time.

starbump

Bun wrote: »

It depends on what you call 'still being paid'. If you go to www.dti.gov.uk then it will explain that you can still be off and do some work for your employer. If they were going to be paying you SMP (ie so many weeks at part of your salary, then the government bit through them) then you get a certain number of keeping in contact days (ten rings a bell) which you can spread out to suit both of you, and the work you do on those days is paid. You can get this for Maternity Allowance as well (pay is via jobcentre plus, not your employer at all) which you get if not being paid by an employer. That way you can do some paid work, but only (if memory serves) as full days, not as twenty half days for example. So if you are going to be off for nine months (it's paid at £112.75 for 39 weeks) you could do the accounts in one day at each month end, and get the allowance and your pay for these days too. However it's somewhat complicated but if you call the staff they are really helpful, so should be able to sort you out.
Good luck, it's a bit complicated but well worth it.
Also, go to www.entitledto.co.uk and you can work out what you are, well, entitled to. I think Child benefit forms are in with your birthing Bounty Pack.

I currently receive MA. As far as I'm aware, you have 10 "Keeping In Touch" days; any part of a day, including just one hour, counts as a full day. Any income received for work done reduces your MA by the amount you were paid (and if you were paid more that week than the MA is worth then you get no MA that week). You have to declare your KIT days and income earned - but not sure to who (presumably Job Centre?) as I have not used any. Your "maternity leave" period is 39 weeks but if you go back to work early then your MA finishes early.

Carmina_Piranha_3

i had a child benefits claim form in the bounty pack i got in hospital, but i think you can get one online. you have to send the birth certificate they give you when you register the birth. when you apply for child benefit that will trigger the trust fund voucher to be posted to you.

if you think you might be entitled to the surestart grant (i think it's £500) then you have to apply for that, again you can get a form online.

the entitledto website should tell you if you'll be entitled to the surestart grant. there's a certain window of time for claiming it, somewhere between 3 months before and 3 months after the birth. but you need to be on tax credits i think, so if you're not already getting tax credits then you'd have to do it once you are getting them - before baby is 12 weeks old. my boy is 2, and when he was born i think you had to earn under 24k gross in order to get the surestart grant.

sorry i'm being very vague about this, but i seem to recall that when telling the tax credits people how much you are getting you can tell them the current year's details if they are different to last year's, and they don't include the first £100 per week of MA or SMP as income. best to get correct info on that though.

memorygirl

Wow - thanks guys. I pop off to get DS from school, tea and bath and all this great stuff comes back.

I eventually got through to the Tax Credits people and they are sending out a pack for me to fill in (the company accountant is going to help me cos preganance brain is in full flow - LOL):o

As a side note I now know where "Marvin the Paranoid Android" is now working :rotfl: - seriously thought I was going to laugh the bump out when I got off the phone to Tax Credits. Hope he got time to get a cup of tea to liven him up for the journey home.

Can confirm that I will be getting my full pay so may not need to go near SMP. Couldn't really afford to move if my pay was going to be so reduced. Guess there is a benefit to being in a family business - either that or Dad doesn't want me hanging around his house with a newborn - :rotfl:

Will pop onto www.entitledto.co.uk and have a nose around. I think all of these are worked out on your last years salary so I should be entitled to something I think. The surestart grant also sounds like a very strong possibility so I will investigate that further.

Be back to report soon

Memorygirl

memorygirl

Wow - Looks like I am actually entitled to a fair chunk.

I may not actually have to live on the "live for 4k for a year" after all.

Actually looking forward to receiving the forms now instead of dreading them. This is going to make such a difference to our little family's life.

I'm off to celebrate with a cup pf peppermint tea (Yup - at the heartburn stage - LOL)

Get back to you as soon as I have any progress

Memorygirl

Strapped

Since you are self-employed, and will be working from home (don't underestimate how hard that is when #2 arrives, btw), is there any way you could time your invoicing so that you still get MA for some of the time as well? (Eg who is to know whether you spent 70 hours working over 2 weeks, or whether it was all crammed into 5 KIT days in 1 week )