The big benefits headache

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Can anyone help me? I'm hoping to have my first child, but I have a problem. My husband and I are not rich people, we both work 40hours a week. My job doesn't allow for jobshare/or pt hours or any of that, it's 40 hours or nothing, so I want to choose nothing and spend my time for a few years being with my child and not working. I'm stumped with working out how much we would get helpwise on benefits. I've tried the govt calculators and I'm even more stumped . My husband would continue in his job, so we wouldn't be entirely reliant on benefits. My other main issue is, despite as I say we are not rich, we do own our house outright, and we have savings that put us above 20k. This is money saved for varying things, including things like the boiler dying, any major expenses, a car (as my 15 year old car may not be ideal) and general rainy day stuff. I know our savings sound like a lot, but we've both worked since 16 and we are now both late 30s... and weve saved hard . My best guesstimate on the govt sites gave me £20.70 for child benefit and no other help. If this is the case then we can't afford to run the house on my husband's wage alone. I'm literally crying at the moment because i feel so overwhelmed and may have to give up on my baby dream because we can't afford it . Please don't say well £20k is loads of money because that's our basic retirement fund too, as the people's pension and state pension are never going to be enough for us. I'm not the live for today sort of person, I'm a squirreler who worries about tomorrow, and I don't want us to be in a situation where we struggle for basics. Can anyone help me understand what we would get? I can provide figures on dm (if that's a thing on here I've no idea I just joined) for anyone who knows what they are doing, because I sure dont...

It depends how much your husband earns. If you are mortgage free surely running your house can't be that expensive?

Don't quit your job, for the first period you will be entitled to SMP.

You will be entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay. Its 90% of your salary for the first 6 weeks and then £139.58 per week after that: up until 9 months.
This is the stautory minimum- your employer may offer more. Check your contract.
Unless your income is very high you will be entitled to Child Benefit of £20.17 per week.
Depending on your husbands earning you may also be entitled to Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit.
Savings are not taken into account for any of the above.

All this is assuming that you don't live in an area that has rolled out Universal Credit. In those areas Universal Credit replaces Tax Credits and unfortunaly savings are taken into account. So you would be entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay and Child Benefit only.

I'm sorry but why on earth should you be entitled to benefits with savings of 20k?

If you're on universal credit then most of they won't look at you with savings more than 10k.

You should still get £140 a week (just under) for stat maternity though.

"I'm sorry but why on earth should you be entitled to benefits with savings of 20k?"

Not all benefits are means tested. It wasn't a silly question.

By the sounds of it OP and her partner have paid into the system for years and worked hard. Just because she has saved up some money why shouldn't she get benefits others get who have never paid in or been less frugal with their money.

I think all benefits are means tested, apart from tax credits, and that is on it's way out. In some parts of the country its gone already.

What kind of bills do you have that 20k doesn't cover? That's a lot of money if you have no rent or mortgage to pay.

How much does your husband actually earn a year? And how much does your home cost to run?

Without my mortgage, it would cost four hundred to run my home a month.
My husbands earns 17k.
Just so you don't feel I'm asking questions I wouldn't answer.

Why can't you use your savings to fund leave and then save it back up?
It's not actually the governments job to fund you to stay at home for a few years, and it's not a savings account you pay your taxes into and then get a pay out from.

Have a baby, take maternity leave and then go back to work. Or don't have a baby. Stop whining your life is so bitterly unfair when you own your home outright.

You do like the rest of us and use your savings to pay for your child instead of expecting the government to, and then you return to work. Being a stay at home parent is an ideal most of us can't afford. I am surprised that you are struggling to get by with two full time jobs and no mortgage/rent to pay. Your outgoings must be ridiculous. I'm shocked at the amount of people who think that the tax payer should pay for them to have kids. No wonder the country is broke.

Women who chose to be sahm normally fund that luxury, which you can afford to do. I don’t understand people who think the state should pay for that privilege.

Perhaps you need to replace the things that need replacing, like a more reliable car, boiler etc. You could look for a different job that you can do part time, even if it's a couple of nights per week bar work etc.

Pay into a private pension?

You could also use your savings to supplement your monthly income for a couple of years to make it affordable.

Litchtie that's exactly it, we have worked and paid in, I've paid in for 20 years, my husband 25 years, never taken a single penny from the govt. We are in a universal credit area (I think - west lindsay). The 20k we have in savings as I explained will be going toward our retirement, as pensions in 20 years time wont be enough...as well as big household items that we can't afford to just buy out my husbands wage if they decide to give up the ghost. My husband earns £1560 a month gross, and pays £64 into his pension, if that helps? I planned on working til I'm ready to give birth, then having SMP for my full entitlement, before leaving my job and looking after our child. Running the house and bills take up my husband's full wage, even without a mortgage, things add up for the 2 of us... and with 3 I'm not sure we can afford the bills. We've been through the bills and we cant remove any more money off them or drop anything we currently pay for. I havent had a holiday since my honeymoon in 2013 either, as we've been saving so we don't get in a mess, yet we seem to be punished for it. If I was talking I had 50+k in savings I wouldn't even question our rights as that would be easy, but over the 15years I've been with my husband we've saved just over 1k a year on 2 wages. It's not a lot when you think about it.....

If your DH is earning £1560 gross, that's probably £12/1300 net? How does that not cover your basic bills with no mortgage? It should do.

Look at the budgeting information on moneysavingexpert to minimise all your outgoings and work out how much you will be short. Don't forget CB, thats £85 ish per month. You'll have to use some of your savings unfortunately.

Could you also work very part time once your maternity pay runs out? A couple of evenings a week while your DH is at home with the baby for example?

Im not whining, I asked because I literally cannot find any information that tells me how much I would get for say 2 years, until I can get a few hours a week childcare. I've taken NOTHING from the govt in the 20 years since I left school. NOTHING. I'm not asking the govt to pay for a child. In asking what I can get to tide us over until I can go back to work pt so I can spend the most important few years with our child. I didn't want to use the savings purely so the govt isn't funding me when I'm old instead of being a mum. My bills at home - 130 council tax, 110 gas and electric, water and sewerage rates are 60, house insurance and contents 30, car tax and insurance are roughly 60, petrol 100. Phones are 30 for 2, internet and line rental 20. that's without even thinking about everything else, like life insurance for 2 of us, and shopping for food and essentials, shopping is give or take 35 a week, shopping at aldi, no alcohol as we don't drink. I do have a cat and he's included in that 35 figure. Thanks to the 2 people that just made me feel so bad for asking what I thought was a decent question. You've made me want to give up my basic hope of being a mummy, which is a basic human desire for many. If only we had been fickle enough to live off the govt instead of working hard, then we too could have had kids, instead of working out backsides off for nothing.

It does make me laugh when people say they've paid into the system and never taken a penny out. Of course their doctors appointments are free, as is the hospital, and education, and everything else tax pays for. As someone else said, paying tax isn't a savings account for when you want to make a lifestyle choice.
Op, the council tax bands for where you live are lower than where I live, so how you could not survive on a single wage when you have no mortgage or rent is beyond me, unless you are up to your eyeballs in debt. Why aren't you saving into pensions instead of a savings account if your future is so important?

An evening job might be the answer?

Then you dont need to pay for childcare.

You don’t need any more money, you’ve got plenty. Your bills including food are less than £500 so you’ve got 800 plus child benefit a month for what?

You’ll be fine, this is an anxiety problem. If you get stuck you dip into your £20,000 savings and then go back to work in a couple of years.

With no mortgage or rent YOURE FINE!

And now I've read your outgoings I'm even more confused . Your dh's wage more than covers your living costs, even if you did have a child to pay for. And you would have some left over every month.

People are perfectly entitled to tax credits with savings of 20k because it only looks at earned income. However you would need to declare any interest over £300 earned but with the current interest rates it would be difficult to earn even that on 20k.
The cut off for one child with no childcare costs is around 26k. you might initially receive a zero award as tax credits are initially based on last years earnings. You would then need to ask for them to look at your award again based on an estimated income.
You can deduct £100 for every week you are on smp off your total.
If you are in a full service Universal credit area you would not be able to claim anything as having savings of over 16k rules you out I'm afraid.
You are in a very fortunate position of having no housing costs.

What job is it that insists on full-time only?
Could you have a child, claim SMP and child benefit and look for part- time hours once your child is one? That would not eat into too much of your savings that way.
once a child is 3 you can claim 30hrs childcare funding, for a nursery/childminder if you work. If you have a lower income can claim funding from the age of 2, or rather the term after the child turns 2 (or 3).
I know lots about of Mums doing jobs they would never have dreamt of doing before they had a child. One has set up a cleaning business, another is a midday supervisor at her child's school - anything to bring money in but not need much childcare.

So I meant to say on an income of 20k you would get a small amount of child tax credits and £20.70 child benefit. The tax credits won't be much though .

Or you could look for an evening / weekend job like most people with young kids that I now do so no childcare costs.

Barbara I plan on working pt in a couple of years, i said that, but people jumped on me, mainly because we've saved some money so the govt isn't paying for us when we are old rather than if we have a child. I have friends who've never worked and are sahm, so saying those who are sahm fund it themselves isn't necessarily true. If love to run the house on 400 a month, but gas/elec water and council tax alone are 460. Our car is 15 years old, and when my DH is at work I'll be stuck in the house with a child as we don't live on a bus route, and I don't drive.

if your area is a universal credit area , your savings will mean you get nothing, this is one of the big differences between Uc and tax credits and does therefore penalise some people who have saved.

Sorry just read that your dh earns 17k, not 20 k so you would get some working tax credits and child tax credits.