Sure start maternity grant

[LydiaBeth]

Hi I'm new to this so bare with me! I am a 19 year old lone parent to a 1 month old baby and I am currently on maternity leave. Because of this I wasn't entitled to the sure start maternity grant (£500) until my baby was born as I wasn't on benefits. I have recently applied and received a letter back saying I wasn't eligiable as I'm not receiving any benefits. I am applying for child tax credits so just got to wait for my claim to be processed and I'm going to try and apply for the grant again. The only problem is the grant said it can only give it out if your claiming child tax credits at a higher rate than the family element, does anybody know what this means?!

I think you can only get it if you are on maximum tax credits otherwise virtually every mum in the country would be claiming it. Babies don't need to cost much - there is an abundance of second hand baby stuff on Ebay , in charity shops etc.

I feel for you lydiabeth! I would get all the help i could get! It's hard enough having a newborn with a supportive husband/partner as the breadwinner- can't imagine doing it alone. I haven't dealt with the benefit system before so i'm unsure of what you are entitled to but surely there's a helpline for this sort of thing? Congrats on your lo btw