I was on maternity leave for most of the tax year 2012 / 2013. After checking the online calculator, it seemed we weren't entitled to tax credits because the calculation was based on my previous year's salary so common sense prevailed (I thought) and we decided that if we apply in a year's time (around now) the claim will be based on my maternity year salary and we would qualify. So, we have just claimed, and we have been awarded some money BUT because my salary has gone up considerably again this year (now I am back to work), it seems this is taken into account and we are back to square one - not entitled. I had phoned to inform them of my current salary situation as there is nothing on the form about this. The person on the phone simply said we had 'missed the boat'. It turns out that if we had applied when our baby was born we could have been receiving monthly payments, but there was no mention of this online when we checked our eligibility. I think, had we applied last year based on the previous years income but then told them my income was actually going to be less due to maternity leave we would have been okay. Has anyone else experienced this? It's really annoying, but I'm guessing there's not much we can do now. We're not used to applying for benefits so maybe we're just a bit clueless, but the extra last year while living on maternity pay would have been very helpful. Would love to hear if anyone else has managed to find away around this situation!