£190 grant for mums to be (news to me anyway)

[georgiemum]

I have just seen this as:

campaigns.direct.gov.uk/money4mum2be/


From April 2009, you can claim a one-off, tax-free payment from H M Revenue & Customs (HMRC) if you're a mum-to-be who's at least 25 weeks pregnant. The payment is called 'Health in Pregnancy Grant' and is to help you prepare for the birth of your baby.

Your due date needs to be on or after 6 April 2009 for you to make a claim.

Who can get Health in Pregnancy Grant?
You can get the grant if all of the following apply:

you are 25 weeks pregnant or more your expected date of delivery is on or after 6 April 2009 you have been given health advice from a midwife or doctor you may not get the grant if:

you are subject to immigration control or you are not present, ordinarily resident or have a right to reside in the UK How much do you get?
The grant will be a one-off payment of £190 for each pregnancy. It will not affect your tax credits or any other benefits. Everyone will get the same amount ? you will not be asked about your income.

How do you claim?
Get a claim form from your midwife or doctor any time from 1 January 2009 onwards - as long as you're at least 25 weeks pregnant and your expected delivery date is on or after 6 April 2009. Your midwife or doctor must fill in their part of the form and sign it before giving it to you.

You will need to get your claim form to HMRC within 31 days of your midwife or doctor signing the form - otherwise you may miss out on the grant.

You can get a free text message or email reminder to help you remember to claim if you are not 25 weeks pregnant yet.

Sign-up for the HiPG reminder service

How is the Grant paid?
HMRC will pay the grant directly into your bank or building society account any time from April 2009 onwards. Don?t worry if you don't have an account - any bank or building society will help you open one.

More useful links
Health in Pregnancy Grant - do you qualify?
More about how to claim the Health in Pregnancy Grant
Download the Health in Pregnancy Grant podcast (MP3, 11mb)

[mamadiva]

I know there is a £500 one, sure start grant?!

Is this on top of that or to replace?

[compo]

it's on top of and for all women, not just those that qualify for the £500

we've discussed it on here before - it's a waste of resources that could be spent on more midwives and training for health visitors

[mamadiva]

Oh I'm not pregnant, just that my friend is and don't think she has heard about this.

Agreed about the waste though although I do think the £500 is great I bought most of my baby stuff with it so v.grateful for that at the time.

[compo]

the ting with the £190 is it's supposed to be spend on healthy eating or something but people will just use it to buy a more expensive pointless travel system imo

[memoo]

compo, if you were struggling to buy even the most basic things then £190 is actually a huge help and not a waste of resources.

[LizzyIzzyLou]

So now teenage girls can £690 for getting pregnant - great way to help cut teenage pregnany

[traceybath]

Think its also meant to encourage women to seek ante-natal care - hence getting form from midwife.

[ruddynorah]

it's a health in pregnancy grant for all mums. the gov. were intending to start paying child benefit to pregnant mums in the last trimester but decided a lump sum would be better. so everyone gets it. and you can use it on whatever you like. mine will go on a pram.

[georgiemum]

I saw it on a site encouraging mums to do antenatal classes.

It is not often you see the goventment giving money away!

[memoo]

Why does everything have to turn in to a chance to vilify teenage mothers!?

Its not only teenage mothers who welcome the extra finacial help

[LizzyIzzyLou]

Yes everyone is getting it. To most it will be a bonus they consider once they are pregnant to some teenagers it will be an even bigger incentive to get pregnant. There is a difference.

[memoo]

lizzy, do you really think teenagers get pregnant because they want a couple oh hundred pounds? thats a very simplistic view point.

I think the root problems of teenage pregnancy run a lot deeper and is probably a lot more to do with emotional and social issues as well as a lack of sex education.

[LizzyIzzyLou]

The answer to your question is yes, some (quite a lot actually) do get pregnant for financial short term gain. Its naive to think they don't.

You are right in that the reasons behind this are social issues. Housing, education (not just sexual but a lack of a basic knowledge of English and maths that many state schools in poor areas fail to give to their students and thus prevent them from getting decent jobs above minimum wage)

In the main its hopelessness many working class teenage girls feel their future holds that lead them to see pregnancy as a way to access money and property not otherwise available to them.

I do not in any way blame them but I do believe that by offering £190 will only make the problem worse and goes no way towards solving the issues that cause teenage pregnancy

(its friday night and wine has been taken so please excuse any grammer problems, I hope my point still comes across)

[compo]

'compo, if you were struggling to buy even the most basic things then £190 is actually a huge help and not a waste of resources.'

yes so give it to those who need it, not to everyone, not to people who don't need it, don't call it a healthy eating grant when it can be spent on anything, instead put it into maternity services, to making more midwives available to make home birthing a serious option, to improve maternity services in hospitals, not to everyone

[ruddynorah]

it's not called a healthy eating grant.

[compo]

Health in Pregnancy Grant then

so what do people spend it on then to ensure their health? fair enough if they don't have the money to buy prenatal vitamins and fruit, but what about someone who has ££££, what do they spend it on? why can't it just be put back into the NHS

[NellyTheElephant]

This made me SO SO mad!!!! (not the question of teenage mothers which I have no opinion on), but just the general fact that no-one at all midwives / doctors etc seemed to know anything about it or be able to sort out the claim for it. I only heard about it at all from another thread on Mumsnet.

I was due yesterday, so I qualify for it, but I couldn't get hold of a claim form as neither my midwives or my doctor's surgery had received them!! You have to claim BEFORE you have the baby but I had my elective section on 9th April and the day before the doctor's surgery still hadn't received the forms!!! Neither my midwives nor the dr ever mentioned it to me, the only person who seemed to have any idea about it was the receptionist at the surgery! Anyway, I popped into the surgery yesterday and they had FINALLY recieved the forms so my doctor signed off a form for me backdated prior to the birth so that I could claim. Honestly, they don't exactly make it obvious or easy to claim!!

[LadyOfWaffle]

Hmmm... I think vouchers would be a better idea. X amount for fruit/veg, X amount for meat, X amount for milk, X amount for vitamins but maybe that's very simplistic.

[compo]

yes agree LoW
Nelly - what are you planning on spending the money on? (nosy question!)

[ruddynorah]

wouldn't make much difference though would it. it's £190. if it's in cash then i spend it on a pram. if it's food vouchers i spend it on food thus freeing up £190 i therefore don't need to spend on food..and spend that on the pram. makes no difference at all. but yes, if you want to force it to be spent on food by those without spare cash, then vouchers are the way to go. unless of course they sell them on and buy fags instead.

[BoffinMum]

I have received the grant and will use it to pay for an independent midwife because my NHS one dropped off the map due to overwork and a local baby boom. Just the other £2800 to shell out now then. But it's nice the Gvt cares.

[NellyTheElephant]

I think it's utterly pointless gesture politics to be honest. Better off spending the money on funding more midwives for the NHS, however, since i am entitled to it i wanted to claim it! What will i spend it on? Nothing specific - it'll get paid into my account and maybe mitigate a small portion of my overdraft........

[mamadiva]

Oh my friend did actually know about this and has claimed it.

Has booked aqua natal swimming classes for 10 weeks, as well as paid for some ante natal yoga or something like that. Can you tell she's a bit of a health nut.

The rest has gone one a decent breast pump and sterilising equiptment I guess that's kind of what it's for atleast it's being spent on stuff to improve health.

Vouchers for this sort of thing might be a good idea! I would have loved that actually.

[mamadiva]

Oh and I was a teen mum and it never once crossed my mind about money, I was working and did'nt even know anything about SMP, £500 or healthy start vouchers until MW explained everything only thing I knew about was CB and I thought that was £40 a month so not exactly worth the trouble money was defo not a factor in me getting pregnant.

I do know where you are coming from though I know atleast one person who has got pregnant and as soona s she got the positive results was straight in going on about how much money she would get and what she would spend this and that on, but then she was 13 she went onto have a little boy and then a year later a little girl...