28 weeks pregnant and I quit my job...

[stdomingo]

Not the cleverest of decisions but it was making me miserable/unwell/hair falling out all sorts of lovely things...

I'm nearly 28 weeks and was wondering what the next step is to make sure we have some income?

I have my maternity allowance form which I'm going to send off this week but is there anything else I can do?

My partner earns 23.5k at the moment but he's suspended (really stupid/unaccpetable reason -we're awaiting disciplinary) from work so we don't know how long the job is going to last but we know we'll make it to January

Any advice of where to go next would be great...

i would head straight down to your job centre to get advice. I'm not sure what you can claim over and above MA at this point as you'll have to wait 26 weeks i believe to claim job seekers - which might tie in with MA in any case. once the baby is born you'll get child benefit.

Thanks :)
I'll go down to see them tomorrow and hope x

Can I apply for other jobs or is that just stupid?
I'm going to ask in the jobcentre and explain I am more than willing to work until end of January as I was going to anyway...

Hmmmm

You can apply for other jobs - there is no law to say you can't apply for work while pregnant. Potential employers are not allowed to discriminate against you for being pregnant during the selection process. So if you were not selected they have to give (if asked) a valid other reason for this such as there being a more qualified/suitable candidate. I don't know how that actually works out in real terms though because I guess it would be fairly easy for the potential employer to fudge some reason to say someone else was better to avoid employing someone who is soon to go off on maternity.

Had you not worked in this job for long enough to qualify for maternity pay then? Because maternity leave can normaly be taken from 11 weeks before due date so that would not have left you long to go.

Go to a temp agency and see if you can get work through them. I have done temp jobs whilst pregnant with no problems and there were other people working with me who were pregnant and couldn't do their normal jobss (a riding instructor).

Nope, I hadn't worked for them for long enough - only just moved into the area so it was my first job round here.
I'm going to try a couple of local pubs/shops who've got 12-15 hour contracts going and hope!

Thanks :)

is your partner on paid suspension? if not you may be eligable (sp?) for income support.

also housing benefit, tax credits should be available to you.

i took my mat leave major early and have ended up going back to work when LO is 6 months as it ran out leaving us short. x

you can check things here: www.direct.gov.uk/en/Diol1/DoItOnline/DoItOnlineByCategory/DG_172666

Thanks for all your help guys.

He is on paid suspension which is good (in a funny way) cause it means we can get through til January.

I know it's all gonna work out, my main worry is not being able to pay council tax as well as rent/bills/etc and I've been behind on council tax before and they've probably had enough of me!

I think Council Tax is actually ther most important bill to pay. IIRC it's the only one you can actually be imprisoned for not paying

Water can never be cut off so that's the last one in order of importance in desperation!

He's been dismissed now anyways which was the worst possible outcome as there are no jobs in his field round here and we don't drive and it's all a bit rubbish.

:(