to think the HIP grant should be paid to this women

[AuntiePickleBottom]

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1324448/Health-bosses-refuse-pay-pregnancy-benefit-woman-premature-baby-born-early.html

sorry can't do clickable links.

Yes it truely sucks. Especially when your £190 HIP grant down, £20/pw and £40(ish)p/w down CB and CTC and also you have all the expense of a child in hospital, (as well as the stress and emotional strains), you only recieve SMP which is lower than your wages therefore its harder to put by money for the things you need to buy for the baby and then somehow when you are told your DC is well enough to go home you have to buy all the things you need, buggy, cot etc.

I am totally against the sense of entitlement some of society feel they have but when a situation is out of a persons hands then some financial support should be given.

I claimed for both of mine while they were still in hospital, I had no Idea I wasn't supposed to.

[hshock]

Taken fom CB info on gov website:

If your child didn't live with you before going into hospital or residential care
You can sometimes get Child Benefit if your child didn't live with you before they went into hospital or residential care. But it depends on:

?the reasons why your child wasn't living with you
?whether you're still spending money on your child and it's at least as much as the amount of Child Benefit you get for them.

It doesn't matter whether they're in hospital for more or less than 84 days.

so MisamARGG - there are cases where it is paid, I'm sure when you claimed they asked such info and decided you qualified.

I claimed for DD (although she came home at 9 weeks) but put on the form that she was still in hospital. I had no questions about it from the CB people.

It IS difficult, we had a free parking permit at the first hospital, but we either had to drive a 150 mile round-trip daily, or, as we chose to, got a hotel room nearby. There was no financial help for this. We ended up about £1000 out of pocket.

However, we got a cot from a friend free, clothes and Moses basket as gifts, etc. As long as you are willing to accept help, there are often places you can find it.