Struggling for money - what can I do?

[VodkaCranberry2]

I am really, really struggling for money now and am in personal debt with my overdraft and a small loan I took out last year (I’ve never missed a payment for it, had to restart all over after a bad breakup). I’ve just had a baby and have been on maternity for the past 5 months due to having to start it early as I wasn’t very well throughout. I’m on reduced maternity pay at £148 a week, but my rent alone is £950.

My partner works but is at uni so only works part time on the days he’s not studying, he finishes his degree this year.

I’ve been surviving on savings I managed to save at the start of my pregnancy, so I’ve been able to pay three months rent without worrying and now have one months left.

I’m a journalist, I was self-employed from 2015-2017 doing freelance and then got taken on as ‘casual staff’ doing 5 days a week at a national. But because I was doing my tax through them for that year and not self assessment, I don’t qualify for the self employment grant.

I’m now ending maternity after 6 weeks since giving birth because I just can’t cope on this pay. I’m going back freelance as I can no longer do the 5 days a week due to having a baby, and have some work with the National I was writing with before but of course they will only commission what they’re interested in. Barely any editors are commissioning right now due to the pandemic but I can make more weekly than maternity pay, I’ll just have to work extra hard.

I’m just wondering if there is anything I can apply for or any help I can get during this time?

SunflowerSeedsForever - do you know anyone who works a 40 hour week with no childcare?

Surely you partner can increase his hours? What's he studying? If it's something that can be done from home I imagine it's not too intensive. Is it a thesis?

I could be wrong but I inferred from your posts that he's not the baby's dad? If that's the case can you chase the dad for maintenance?

these threads never go well.....

Have you applied for child benefit?

www.gov.uk/child-benefit

Also surely this would always have been your situation Covid or not?! What was your original plan to pay the bills when the baby was born as presumably your partner would still have been at uni?

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I was getting most of my work from another company which was going to continue on KIT days for 10 weeks while on maternity, but due to Covid-19 they’ve stopped commissioning as no longer have the budget - and editors no longer commissioning is also Covid related, so yes it is related. Thank you for the suggestions to those have been helpful. I was literally asking for advice but apparently it’s not worth posting in the future. Leaving this thread here, thanks

Also yes he is the baby’s dad. The breakup was in 2018, I didn’t mean a year ago.

Must also add; didn’t think these were relevant because I was asking for help I.e grants, credit etc, but I can only work from home due to my chronic illness, so suggestions of shop work etc not helpful, work from home ideas welcome though.

Can you swop your bank account to a different bank? Some offer incentives for switching (I got £150 from Natwest for example) but some of them also require a minimum amount to be paid in every month so check which ones carefully as sounds like your income is quite inconsistent.

as I’m looking after the baby

Your partner can look after the baby whilst you zoom
8-6 with no travel seems reasonable? I know the baby is very young but you have 2 adults at home

What were you planning on doing before Covid19?
What is different now?

Once you claim UC then also claim the sure start maternity grant.

SunflowerSeedsForever - do you know anyone who works a 40 hour week with no childcare?

They have a student partner.
They have childcare as the partner cant be studying 110 hours a week?
Flexibility? Partnership?

@sunflowerseedsforever

I didn’t include this information because I didn’t see it relevant but before I had my baby I was also working for another company on a regular basis, and got around £2,000 a month from them on top of my salary. That’s how I managed to save up for my rent for when baby is here and also pay off the loans and overdraft. I was then planning to continue working 1 day a week for them for 10 and get all my work done in 1 day a week to maintain that income as I was allowed 10 working days alongside maternity. Unfortunately a few weeks before lockdown they emailed me to say they are halting commissions and as I was just a freelancer with no contract I just have to accept that. So ultimately lost £2,000 a month alongside casual salary down to £148 a week.

Someone else mentioned it but talk to Citizens Advice, they can help with income maximisation

Thank you @TheGinGenie I will give them a call on Monday and see what they say!

Uni finishes in a few weeks- will he be able to work full time then? Will that be enough to enable you to stay on maternity leave?

Tax credits?

Your partner could approach his uni for a hardship payment?

Definitely get food bank vouchers ASAP

Yes he will be going full time in a few weeks @sunflowerseedsforever but unfortunately not as he works in a supermarket and the pay is awful

@MitziK you're really nasty 😕

@SunflowerSeedsForever & posters with the same 'why can't you work 40 hours a week out of the home', quite apart from the OP's medical situation, she gave birth 6 weeks ago.

Honestly, have some compassion & self-awareness.

Thank you for being supportive @EarringsandLipstick

You've got some practical situations on this thread Vodka - I'm not in the UK or a journalist so I'm not much help.

But I really feel for you - it's an awful lot to be dealing with with a newborn. Congratulations on your baby & good luck. 💐

When I had my 2nd baby, 11 years ago now, recession was in full swing & I lost my job while pregnant. I got an opportunity to take on a p/t lecturing role - but had to start in the few weeks after my baby was born. As I hadn't lectured in this area before, I had to spend a huge amount of time preparing. But I felt I had to take it as work was so thin in the ground. It was really tough (my H at the time was working but was abusive & no support). So I can empathise a bit x

You and your partner need to work together, too, plenty of people cannot afford a lengthy maternity leave, there's no shame in it and you and he can work together to swap out childcare with work.

Proof reading?

You do what you've got to do. And if that involves returning to work 6 weeks post partum because benefits aren't enough, your employer is discriminating against you by refusing to employ you after statutory maternity leave or you don't qualify for UC, that's what gets done.

It's what many women have had to do in the past when there wasn't a right to return (myself included) and what many still do all the time. Especially if their partners won't take on full time work to get ahead financially during maternity leave. DD worked throughout her degree until she graduated a couple of years ago, as did her DP - hence why they were able to buy their house aged 26 and 28 (they opted for house first, then wedding, then baby).

It's not nice, it's not fair. But it's life. The alternative is get evicted for non payment of rent, get refused local authority housing because you made yourself intentionally homeless after a few months in a shitty B&B, get refused private renting because you've already been evicted by a previous landlord for non payment of rent - life at the bottom is fucking shit.

Make sure your creditors know that you're struggling. They're not allowed to ask you to prioritise repaying them over paying for your necessities. They're usually quite understanding when you communicate with them.

Citizen's Advice was a good suggestion upthread. I work for a charity that offers free advice to people in situations like yours. CAB will be able to refer you, if there's a similar service in your area, or advise you themselves.