What is a working mum with partner entitled too?

[Snootzh]

I am really struggling at the moment..

Tired at work and me and my partner have no one close to us who can turn to to help and ask them a few questions.

We both earn very little £18,500 each (we work same place).. I am due at the end of april.. I will be getting maternity pay from my job but we are starting to worry about Tax credits and rent.. + Any grants..

I tried to look at grants and there is a surestart grant for 500£ would be perfect to help with Cot/Pram etc.. but it appears you need to be on some form of benefit? So because me and my boyfriend work we aren't allowed this?

The only bit off advice we have had is to my boyfriend as his friend told him to act like we aren't together.. we both said we don't want to do this.. (We are engaged but not married yet)

How much can we expect to come in from child tax credits? and will there be any help with rent be it from housing benefits or the like?

I just really need some advice from people who have been in the situation..

You won't be entitled to the grant.

Tbh with your combined income I would be surprised if you're entitled to anything (I'm not certain though). Have you tried the calculator on the gov website?

Do you live together?

Child benefit

Re: the one off costs of cot and pram, do try Freecycle and look for your nearest NCT Nearly New Sale. You can save hundreds.

More people may be able to offer advice if you post in money or maternity section.

Good point. If you press the Report button under your original post then you can ask MNHQ to move it somewhere more appropriate.

We are on a lower combined wage then you and get child benefit only.

A combined wage of £37000 is not very little in terms of eligibility for benefits. The sure start grant is for people with low income (benefits or child tax credits of a certain amount) so you won't get that.

We are on a much lower income than you.
A joint income of £25000.

At the moment I am on ML

DPs weekly wages £230
Weekly smp £136.78
Weekly child benefit £20.30
Weekly child tax credits £29

We manage fine. You have no need to worry.

On a joint income of £36K you may not get any tax credits. They usually base the award on last tax year's earnings so you would get a nil award. However if your earnings are going to drop significantly you can then give them a rvises' predicted earnings for next year and may get awarded some tax credits based on that. However with one child the threshold is £26k so unless your household income drops a lot you still may not get anything. You cna take off any earrnings from SMP though. You will get child benefit. You won't get the sure start grant unless you were awarded a high rate of tax creidts as soon as the baby is born which is unlikley. Sorry.

Sorry that should say 'revised' predicted earrnings.

So basically if i am just getting Stat Maternity pay at this rate? Which seems to be £136 a week losing at least £150 a week.. £600 a month on what i'd be earning if i was at work.

Lj8893 so basically you are getting £415 a week right? with that all added... and you have a partner.

I don't think my Partners wage will make up the difference.. if he is earning around £295 + 136 = 431.. i'd imagine your partner gets more then £16 a week right?

I find it absolutely mind boggling how these systems are ready to screw over hard working people (not saying you are one of them).. maybe they just want to push mums back into work as quickly as possible.. Losing £200 a week from our income would hurt us now.. and with a baby.. its going to be more problematic..

While I'm on mat leave we get £415 a week yes.

If your partner takes home £295 a week + your smp £136 + child benefit £20 you will be taking home around £451 a week. So yes more than us and like I said we manage just fine.

She's already included her partners wages in the £415 figure.

These systems aren't screwing over hard working people. The systems are helping people with a lower income. Even with your pay cut on maternity leave you have more income than the people you are begrudging in the same circumstances but on a low income who would get help.

X post

When I went on ML, I lost £800 a month from my wage. Not an insignificant amount, but we muddled through and managed. You've still got time to save a little bit of money, don't forget you won't be having all the usual expenses that you would use with work (petrol, travel, lunches etc). We bought all our stuff second hand and it was fine. Baby doesn't need a whole new nursery, just some baby grows,
Food and somewhere to sleep. eBay is your friend!

I hope so.. everyone is telling me how expensive a baby will be and all the stuff he needs, so i am starting to panic. That 600-700 loss could easily pay for rent/Council Tax.. it's a fair size loss..

I am not on about people who are working hard on low income.. i hope the govt helps them out as much as possible. It's the women on benefits getting pregnant and then claiming to be single mothers which angers me..

There was another very similar thread to this the other day. Unfortunately you just have to save to see you through the mat leave. It's harsh but true.

Babies arnt expensive. The most expensive thing we bought was our pram for £250 brand new (that included a car seat).

Everything else was cheap and/or second hand. Primark, tesco and asda do lovely cheap baby clothing.
Mothercare constantly have deals, promotions and sales on.

Umm only 2 weeks of maternity leave is compulsory- no-one is making you take off for longer than that and if you think you will struggle the adjust your plans accordingly. Either reduce your outgoings or increase your income or go back to work earlier. You are on a very good combined income and should have been working out finances and putting savings away from before you decided to have a baby or from as soon as you did the pee test if pregnancy was a whoopsie.

Well, I won't touch that one with a barge pole. Enjoy your maternity leave

sillybilly puts it perfectly.

Our pregnancy was unexpected but we started to save as soon as we found out.
9 months pregnancy is natures way of giving you time to save!!
If our pregnancy was planned we would have been saving whilst ttc. As we will for our next one.

In other countries there is no such thing as smp. If you want time off to have a baby, you pay for it. We are extremely lucky in the uk.

Agree lj

Littlered says its harsh to say that you have to save to see you through mat leave- i dont think thats harsh- i think everyone intending to have a baby should expect to have to fund that themselves. And that means saving to allow yourself the same or similar standard of living whilst out of work. I had two whoopsie pregnancies but the day after i found out about both exp and i opened new accounts and set up a standing order each to pay for baby things and cover my leave.

Here is the good news.

Babies are free! We have the nhs so no need to pay medical bills for prenatal care or giving birth.

The rest of the stuff you just need to cut your budget to suit.

Good luck.

Lj I like your attitude and your posts.