Help!

[awholenewworldforus]

Apologies if this is in the totally wrong section, i'm new to mumsnet!

Basically my partner and I are expecting our first bundle of joy in the summer after trying for the past 3 year (I have PCOS so its been difficult)

Our issue is that I have a really good career that is going to involve me going straight back to work once baby is here, my partner is on long term sick at the moment due to debilitating post operative pain from an operation just over a year ago and he gets the basic ESA weekly payment (think its about £78ish) which apparently is ending in July as he can only get paid it for one year.

We have both agreed that he would be the stay at home Dad whilst I could go back to work (I would reduce my hours and work from home too so dont worry i'm not just leaving him on his own haha) but I just wondered if there was any further 'Government Help' that we would be able to claim?

We have never had to rely on government help before he had to leave his previous job, and because we own our home (well ... mortgaged!), and I earn more than minimum wage (22k a year). Its apparently enough to manage both our lives on. When reality theres not alot left over once you take bills, food, prescriptions, petrol etc into consideration. Thankfully we budget really well and don't overspend on frivolous things.

Any help would be appreciated if theres something we aren't aware about that could help us.

How long exactly are you planning to take off after the birth?you should be able to claim statutory maternity pay, if you go back to work before the 39 weeks is up then I think he could claim it as shared parental leave.

If you use a lot of prescriptions, get a prescription prepayment certificate - they cost £105.90 per year and save you money if you need more than 11 prescribed items in a year.

Apart from that, if you go to Entitled To and fill in the calculator, it will ask for your details and tell you what you can claim for.

You will be entitled to child benefit. Go on to the website 'entitled to' to get an idea. Oh, and congratulations!

@Lazydaisydaydream

How long exactly are you planning to take off after the birth?you should be able to claim statutory maternity pay, if you go back to work before the 39 weeks is up then I think he could claim it as shared parental leave.

He needs to be working to get shared leave/pay.

If your hours and pay reduce you would maybe qualify for Universal Credit. You should get maternity pay and child benefit too

thanks everyone thats great info. we went on the 'entitled to' webpage when he first had to go on the sick last year but that (along with citizens advice) told us because i earn too much we werent entitled to anything and that he could only claim ESA.

Maybe it will change now that theres a child going to be involved. I will give it another look tonight!

It will definitely change if there's a child involved.

If your husband is in the support group of ESA then he can continue claiming it indefinitely, there is no time limit. You could look at Universal credit also, it would depend on your net monthly income and any savings you have.

I would reduce my hours and work from home too so dont worry i'm not just leaving him on his own haha

What concerns you about leaving DH on his own with the baby?