how much will i have to live on?

[lou222]

first baby due in sept
father says he will give me £200 per month

i know i'll get £119 smp (i'm self employed)
and will maybe earn £100 - £200 per month from my business
am i entitled to anything else ?
child benefit - how much is that ?
how do you qualify for income support?
just trying to budget but am panicking about money already.
will breast feed (hopefully) and use re-usables so save a little bit
realistically how much will a new baby cost in the first few months?
sorry for all the questions
hope someone can help

I dint know anything about benefits Child benefit is £20 per week (just rose in the budget) rung up the tax office - look up on web for working families tax credits and ask for a claim form you can even do a test on line to see how much you could be entitled too - As for ex p you can have 15% of his net salary legally if he wont pay up theres allways the csa route - although I hear very mixed reports about them. Im very new to lone parenting myself (almost 2 weeks in) and my dd is 7 so its been a while since she was a baby - I used washable nappies they were great just a lot bulkier than the pampers and the likes ( i quite liked that though) and your bin doesnt stink with smelly nappies! Try looking on auction sites/ask at your hospital/council some councils will give you a grant towards reusable nappies - its worth a try - ring them up and ask. Good luck with everything

Try ((www.entitledto.co.uk/))

taken4granted are you sure about CB going up to £20 i thught it went up to that next year. I recieved a letter for CB office a few weeks ago and it said that it was going up to £18.80 from the 7th april.
lou you may be entitled to child and working tax credits think you can apply af ew weeks before baby is born.

thanks for your replies i'll get more information as i go along
wish i didnt have to worry about money but seems like the majority of us do - but we manage!!

Income support you have to be a single parent, it will be £60.50 from 9th april. You phone a numbr from the jobcentre to fill in the form for it. You can earn £20 and anything after that is subtracted from your IS as long as its under 16 hours p/w. Citizens advice will be able to fill you in they can go through your circumstances and let you know if you have applied for everything that you are entitled to.

great thanks shelleylou

its no problem