Money worries on SMP

[Moominy12]

Sorry to waffle but here’s my situation.

My salary - £18,650 annual
Partners Basic - £10,000 annual (plus little commission)

Im due for maternity leave on 14th July for 39 weeks. 10 weeks 90% wage, 6 weeks 50% wage and the rest is SMP

We have worked out finances between us and on SMP and my partners basic we literally cant pay all bills and will have nothing to live off!

Im terrified, can anyone tell me if I’ll be entitled to anything!? I’ve even applied for a loan and got rejected. My normal wage seems to stop me from getting any benefits even though I wont be getting this whilst on smp.

Has anyone been in this situation and can offer advice?

Have you included child benefit? Try the turn 2 us website calculator to find out about child tax credits etc.

How long are you hoping to take off for maternity leave?

You've got an enhanced package there, so the first 16 weeks look quite good.
How would you feal if you (as the higher earner, unless the comission is loads) went back to work at 16 weeks, and your partner took the remainder of the parental leave?

Try calculating the amoutn you think you will earn this tac year (I reckon around 9K - 3 months work, 10 weeks 90% and 3 weeks 50%), and put those numbers into the calculator. if that means you would get some money, apply for the benifit they reckon you will be entitled to, and when they reject you, write with your estimated earnings for the current tax year, rather than the actual from last tax year. Try and be realistic, as if you earn more, you will need to repay. Yiour partners comission may make this difficult to calculate.

What are your childcare plans?

Once your baby is born you will get £20 a week child benefit ( assuming it's your first child) and maybe some child tax credits. You can apply for child tax credits once the baby is born. the cut off for one child without childcare costs is around £26k. You may initially be awarded zero as they initially base it on joint earnings for last tax year (2014-15), so you would be over £26k. However you then need to try to estimate what your joint earnings will be for tax year 2015-16 as addict says, and let them know then you may get some help asit's likely to be less than £26k.

Your best best might well be to go back at 16 weeks yourself and let your partner take the remainder of the paid leave. You'll then want to look at whether he earns enough to cover childcare and his working expenses: with such a low salary, it could make more sense for him to be a SAHD. You don't say where you live, but apparently a full time nursery place in Central London costs about 12k.

When tax credits are calculated, they disregard the first £100 a week of SMP. I think this also applies to paternity pay. So for the weeks you're on £140 only, tax credits will consider that to be only £40. That helps because it lowers your income in their eyes.

After you have first applied for tax credits , phone with a change if circs and ask th to recalculate based on this years income. You should then receive around £50 a week CTC plus £20 CB.
Also you can claim maternity grant of £500 before your baby is three months old and in receipt of CTC.