Sure Start Maternity Grant

[LittleDonkin]

My MW gave me the claim form for the grant a few weeks ago and today is the 1st time I have looked at it properly and I don't think I can claim.

I have a 2 and a half yo DD who I DID NOT claim a Sure Start Maternity grant for as no one told me about it and I never thought that I would be eligible for such a grant and always thought pregnancy grants were only for people on benefits.

I have now split up from my husband and I am claiming income support so the grant would be very handy now for my 2nd child but I believe the government in 2011 changed the rulings to that the grant could only be claimed for your 1st child.

Has anyone successfully received the grant for another pregnancy other than your 1st because you haven't claimed it before? I have written in the "Anything else we might need to know about" box about not claiming for the grant in my 1st pregnancy as no one told me about it so technically is wasn't my fault.

If you have a 2.5 year old and you weren't on benefits you wouldn't have been eligible at that point, the only change to the criteria is that now you can only claim for first child.

I claimed for DS2 but not DS1 because I didn't know about it then, this was 2006 though.

Tits it changed in 2011 to just being for first child :)

I would have been eligible though because people who's husbands earned the same wage as mine did (Army) have claimed for all their children before the changes came into effect and the weren't on benefits and had no disability on their WTC.

I only found out today the army wives claimed today after I asked the question on facebook!!!