Benefits whilst on maternity leave

[mcrsi]

Hello. I have done the benefit calculator online and they say I am eligible to claim benefits whilst receiving SMP when my baby is born. Does anyone know when I can put the claim in for this, should I wait until my baby is registered? Thank you

Hi, to claim child benefit you will need to forward the birth certificate so once baby is registered

You should claim when your income drops. That be when you go on mat leave and you drop from full pay to just SMP. If you wait until baby arrives you could have had months with low income depending if you have leave work early due to needing rest or complications and then baby is late.

Best to look at what documents you need now if applying for UC. Tenancy agreements, bank statements, ID docs etc so not having suddenly do that if baby suddenly arrives and you will have everything going on.

Once baby arrives then Child benefit and other UC top ups to include baby will be added later. But since takes 5-6 weeks get claim sorted start it once your May leave starts and pays drops

I had my DD in January and applied for UC the previous November. The first couple of months I didn't receive anything as I was still receiving full wages but it meant when I dropped to SMP my application was already processed and I didn't have to wait the 6weeks process time, so I received UC as soon as I was only receiving SMP

@ineedafairygodmother ahhh thank you! Did you just update them once baby arrived and was registered?

@mcrsi
Yes as soon as DD was here I just reported a change in circumstance on the journal and then sent in the documents, I think birth certificate etc. it was really straight forward

I think if you receive 0 payment for 3 months they close your application but by the time I applied and that was approved and my SMP started, I think I had 2 0 payments and the 3rd was a payment

I've just checked.... so I applied in November so assessment period was x November to x December so there was 0 payment in December and January and I got my 1st payment in February

@ineedafairygodmother thank you so so much xx

It is six months.

@WithACatLikeTread @mcrsi could be 6 months, I wasn't 100% sure which is why I said I thought 3 months