would like to give up work and become a SAHM- how can i find out what monies i'm entitled to?

[kittyandthefontanelles]

I'm afraid I'm clueless and in need of advice. It seems to be very confusing. How can I find out what state help I might be entitled to? Currently get child benefit. Thanks in advance.

Ok might 'eligible' have been a better choice? Again, I said upthread, the word 'entitled' has been ruined by mumsnet! I think it's silly to be honest, how people have reacted. If there is help out there ring-fenced for parents then I would be daft not to seek it out, if not then fine. It was simply a question like many of the other money related threads. I really don't mind because I've been given the advice I needed by an understanding few and I know I am not a lazy, scrounging, want something for nothing type. Frankly, this is the inference.

I never realised what an insult "entitled" was until I came onto MN!!

Think you got a bit of a hard time here, but hopefully a link to some useful info to help you work out your options?

Theres a website called familynest (used to money for mums I think) They have a calculator where you can type in different wage amounts, one parent working, one not etc and that could give you a indication of what you could get, Just have to remember that if your on smp from april this year you deduct £100 per week to give you your yearly income, etc

well well, you can't win as a mother it seems. Try to work out a way to be able to stay at home and look after your children, with government help if nec, you get attacked for being a scrounger. Decide to work and place you child in childcare and you get attacked for damaging you children by not caring for them yourself. Marvellous innit.

I thought it was govenment policy to support families.

Just a quick thought... Will it be easy enough for you to get back into the job you do having taken a career break (for say 5 years) would you need to keep up professional knowledge etc?

Only you will know if it will be easy enough to walk back into your line of work years on.

I'm on mat leave at the moment and would love to stay home with my baby but I have to pay the long game. If I leave my profession I know that walking back into it years later will be difficult, could be impossible. Although child care costs are high now, this will only be for a few short years and we will reap the benefits of me staying in work once the child/ren are in school. I need to keep up professional knowledge and experience, a shoe in the door as it were! Even if its part time while kids are small as then going back to full time will be easy once they are school age.

What in saying is think of the long term implications of giving up work to. It might not be easy to get back into your old job and of course you will have lost five years progression etc

Yes I see what you are saying llama but I don't think I'd want to go back to exactly my old job as its not very family friendly. By that I mean the hours and input required. A good point to consider though so thank you for posing it. I can't believe posts have been deleted on this thread. Who would have thought this could be so controversial!

I have been a sahm for 14 years and have just this week got a job that will enable me to get back into the workforce.

It has been made easier by getting tax credits. When I was first a SAHM, though, there wasn't Tax Credits but there were tax breaks on the mortgage and being married.

However, to put another slant on being an SAHM, I have been able to give a LOT back to our local community, far more than I had been working.

Just one other thing to factor into your decision (not sure if it has been mentioned already) is who knows how things might change over the coming years in terms of the benefit system etc.

Not my personal experience but following that of a family member: Mum previously worked full time, long shift job. After having dc carefully weighed up the pros and cons of going back to same role vs taking on a part time job with family friendly hours on minimum wage. She actually worked out equally as well off doing the lower paid, much shorter hours job taking into acount the lower childcare costs this resulted in and the fact that she would then get a decent amount of tax credit (and the tax credits paid her childcare costs also).

So she chose to work the part time job. This made perfect sense, why work a lot longer hours when you could spend more time with your dc without having financial loss.

However, the tax credits have changed a lot since then, now she does not get so much and it works out that her childcare costs are almost as much as she gets in income. There are now no decent job opportunities around the area to get back into a better paid role.

I know the above is not the same as your situation but the point I am trying to make is that you could make all the calculations now based on the current system and then there could be changes which might mean what seems like a great choice now is not in the future.