I have been royally screwed by social security beaurocracy

[babyonboard]

i am so angry ..can anyone advise if this is right?
I am 29 weeks pregnant, and was previously a student so cannot get maternity pay. I also cannot get maternity allowance, as I havent worked in the last year so don't qualify.
I applied for income support, but was turned down as my dp earns £11'000 which they say is enough for both of us to live on.
I was advised I can claim incapacity benefit, but it turns out i can only get it for 6 weeks around the birth.
also in order to get this, i have to make up a shortfall in my n.i contributions, as I only worked part time at uni so haven't paid enough.
with a mortgage of £530 to cover, we are going to really struggle
I know that after the baby os born we will get tax credits and choild benefit etc, but it won't amount to much and won't help us out in the next 11 weeks.
I am so angry that there isn't an arangement for thiose that have been in full time education to claim maternity allowance from the governemt.
Have I been advised correctly as it just doesn't make sense?

yep... that's right! unfortunately.
£530 mortgage? you're lucky! we're planning on buying soon and the lowest we can get is £1,000 a month repayments!

could u work for a few weeks?

/ducks for cover.

i can't work, and havent been able to for a while know as i have spd which has left me almost housecound. tried to find some home work but it all seeems to be scams.
not sure why i don't qualify for incapacity in these circumstances..
the mortgage isn't bad, you are right..its only a two bed flat, but we are in london! we were lucky as dp inhereted a sort of 'property trust fun' that is passed through his family, so we paid a 40% deposit.
we have been looking into taking a payment holiday with the bank on the mortgage, and hope to be accepted. we have been with them for 5 years, and never missed or paid late so we should qualify

Just shows how little education counts for. If you had have been claiming unemployment etc would you have been better off?

right get your gp for to sign u off for SPD then u should get incapcity benefit. take the docs note wiuth u to DSS.

hth

you should get a reasonable amount of child tax credit.
i get £83.10 a month and dp earns around £35k before tax
so you should ger more than me! plus the £66 child benefit, as you say.

the point is that maternity benefit/alllowance is to cover what you would have been earning... so if you haven't been earning anything then why would you be entitled to it?

I already tried to claim with a doctors certificate..but they said the rules are different f you are pregnant as you should be recieving income from elsewhere..ie smp or ma..which i can't bloody get!

try income support.

oh no you;ve done that.

what kind of work does your dp do?

good point starlover. i never claimed any maternity benefits for my last 2 pregancies, except for the grant, as i was still getting money from carers allowence. it makes things very confusing.

take a look at www.entitledto.com/ - the Tax Credits situation might be better than you think - at £11,000 you should be entitled to WTC as well as CTC. Also you'd probably qualify for Council Tax Benefit. HTH

my dp is in a training position dealing with shares..he will have a good wage in a years time whje nthat finishes, but it doesnt help for now
i also cannot get the surestart grant, as i'm not claiming any benefits
grrrr

ooh..and thanks for that link..i'll take a look

you can claim in untill the baby is 3months old. you may qualify for the £250 one afterwards.

and..though I wasn't earning, i was recieving almost £5000 per year in student loans so it's not like i have been living on nothing

think you're just gonna have to grin and bear it unfortunately!

asking for mortgae break is a good idea.

well i know i can get incapacity from week 36 for 6 weeks, so I guess I can claim the grant as soon as that starts..
just leaving things a bit late like buying the pram, cot etc.
i think i may have to call my good old mum for a bit of help!