Wondering if we’re missing out on benefits?

[Callingallskeletons]

Myself & DH both work FT, 2 DC but currently on Mat Leave so no childcare costs currently (will be £180 per week when I return to work) our house hold income is around £42K

As far as we’ve known we’ve never been eligible for any benefits or credits other than the child benefit everyone gets, however even before the new ridiculous cost of living increases we’ve never really had “enough” money and generally have to resort to CC to pay for things by the end of the month (not a great solution I know but it’s how we’ve kept our heads above water so needs must) anyway now the world has gone mad we’re finding things much more of a struggle and I’m looking at anything and everything

I’ve checked the Gov website and honestly found it all a little confusing and wasn’t really sure how to check the calculator due to me being on maternity pay and my wages currently not being consistent, I’ve never applied for any benefits or anything (have always worked FT) and honestly I haven’t got a clue what I’m doing/what I should be looking for - could anyone point me in the right direction?

Can we apply for anything whilst I’m on mat leave?

@LargeLegoHaul but SMP is only for 9 months, she will have 3 months of “full” wages too for the tax year

I aware of it isn’t for the whole tax year, but OP posted “and during this period of mat leave I’ll only actually “earn” 9.5K” i.e. her income during mat leave will be £9.5k, which is more than SMP.

Also, her income before/after mat leave is irrelevant (small caveat of surplus income which I don’t think applies here) for the current UC award.

*I am aware it…

£18k/year = £1500/month (gross)

SMP is 90% of your wage for the first 6 weeks, that's about £1869 (gross) for the first 6 weeks

The remaining 33 weeks at £156.66 = £5169.78

So if OP took 9 months maternity leave her total maternity pay (on SMP only) would be £7038.78 (gross).

Then for the other 3 months of the year if she used annual leave or went back to work (either way she'd be on full pay) she could easily increase her gross earnings for the year up to £9.5k.

In any case, without the actual figures it's all theoretical, but I think it's likely that a £18k/year job would only offer SMP and not enhanced maternity pay.

Well I interpreted ”and during this period of mat leave I’ll only actually “earn” 9.5K” as the £9.5k being the income for the duration of the maternity leave rather than the whole year.