I've been made redundant whilst on maternity leave, can I still claim childcare costs for my oldest child?

[Blabbermouth96]

Hello,

I have been made redundant 8 weeks before my second child is due.

The plan was to always continue putting my oldest daughter in nursery whilst I was on maternity leave rather than disturbing her routine and taking her out.

Now I have been made redundant and I am technically unemployed, rather than on maternity leave, can I still claim child care costs back from Universal Credit?

Here are some facts that might help with your answer:

I received 39 weeks worth of statutory maternity pay as a lump sum payment with my final salary.

If I return to work before the 39 weeks is over I have to pay my previous employer back the statutory maternity pay they paid me.

If you are claiming universal credit you can claim childcare costs if you are receiving statutory maternity pay as well. (I have already received it in a lump sum).

I have contacted Universal Credit for their input but I got a standard reply that unless I go back to work I cannot claim Universal Credit. So at this rate I will need to return to work as soon as my second daughter is born.

Thank you for your help and understanding.

They won’t help with childcare if you aren’t working. Why would they? Don’t mean to sound rude but the whole point of help towards childcare fees is to help people to work.

Firstly, why did they make you redundant?

Including “don’t mean to sound rude” doesn’t make it any less rude. To answer your question about ‘why would they?’. Well, according to the Gov website they cover your childcare costs if you’re receiving statutory maternity pay, and as you’ll see from my circumstances I won’t be receiving statutory maternity pay on a monthly basis as I received it as a lump sum. Does this answer your question?

@OwlsDance Everyone from the company was made redundant by cash burn out.

I don’t know the answer to your question but these people will be able to help you

https://pregnantthenscrewed.com/

https://www.acas.org.uk/advice

And I’m so sorry this has happened to you.

I'm sorry but as you're not employed and technically not receiving SMP either then you won't be entitled to the childcare element of universal credit.

If you have passed your qualifying week (isn't that 15 weeks before EDD?) then you are entitled to SMP even if you are made redundant.

Contact the Maternity Alliance and/or Pregnant Then Screwed

Redundancy during pregnancy, maternity and parental leave - Maternity Action

So you got smp but as a lump payment

But you aren't working as on ml - so no uc won't pay childcare costs

They are for those who work

@Blondeshavemorefun you do realise that those who are on maternity leave receiving SMP get childcare support too?

So much ignorance! Please people don't comment with authority when you have no idea what you're talking about @Blondeshavemorefun

OP - probably not the best place to ask. I don't know the answer so I won't pretend I do! I do know that it's paid whilst technically employed even if not actually working - off sick, Mat leave etc

So this same thing happened to me! It was 2020 and in the midst of covid and I really wanted my son to stay in nursery for some chance of socialisation and to get him out of the garden-less flat in London we were living in. I was also in desperate need of a break to focus on my very refluxy baby.
I called up the tax free childcare gov dept (sorry can't remember exact name) and they said no I wasn't entitled to anything as unemployed. Long story short, after about 6/7 months we decided we could just about afford to send him a couple of mornings a week so we did. When he was one I got a new job and went back to work so I called up the TFC dept to reactivate my funding and they said that I should've been able to claim it all along! I didn't quite believe them but I put in a request for a refund (there's a form online) with a full explanation of the situation and was granted all the money back I should've received.

thank you to everyone who advised maternity action or Pregnant then Screwed. I have contacted them.

As for everyone else getting their knickers in a twist over me just trying to make sense of my situation.

I'm only going on what happened to my friend

She is on uc. She didn't get 85% of her costs paid while she on on ml /smp

Maybe it's not a hard and fast rule

Some get it. Some don't ?

She didn't and that's what I'm basing my reply on

OP, I am not sure but advise caution taking advice from here. I had some very bad advice re maternity pay that could have lost me hundreds of pounds. I would definitely contact the ‘experts.’

You are probably aware but giving you your SMP in one lump sum will already have disadvantaged you considerably with NI contributions. You will probably also have paid too much tax so make sure you get it back

It would seem to be fairly straightforward. I would have thought You wont be able to claim childcare costs if you arent working so don't require childcare. But since answers seem to vary you need to check it out.

Thank you @janeyredlion !!!

@Lemonaida this is so helpful! Thank you! I’ve not been able to find anyone who’s experienced the same as me yet!

@Giltedged oh yes! I’ve lost thousands of my SMP to NI contributions and student loan repayments because of this. I will definitely be trying to get it all back.

@Viviennemary you would think so. But as it seems UC would pay out if I was in maternity leave I feel like I need to try and make sure I’m doing everything I can.

@Blabbermouth96 just to add I didn't receive UC or any other benefits during that time. Not sure if that's relevant but thought I'd mention.

The NI one is the sticking in the throat one as there is no way to get it back but the others you should be able to. It is awful and I am really sorry you’ve had this stress, and typically unsympathetic comments on here of course

@Giltedged I knew I’d get some narrow minded comments, and they’ve caught me in a bad mood 😂

thank you for your help though 🫶🏼

But also Op, you may well be entitled to claim JSA. I was, although my circumstances were slightly different. Of course it is not loads but it was surprisingly helpful.

This is complicated. Like very complicated!

Have a look at this. https://landaulaw.co.uk/settlement-agreements/

From a UC point of view they either need to take it into account as one big payment or they need to attribute it across the period in which it is intended for eg 39wks. This may then mean you are entitled to childcare costs as well.

Thank you @CornishTiger . I definitely think it’s going to take a bit more back and forth with UC to get them to look at all of my circumstances as it is so complicated. When I called them last week the man on the phone told me I was giving him too much information and it would be better if I just emailed!

Speak to the charity pregnant and screwed for professional advice

Have you been nilled yet for one assessment period? If so you can ask for a reconsideration of how that was taken into account.