Self-employed and pregnant, what am I entitled to?

[WhenFRUITYgotstuckupthechimney]

I'm a Childminder and am starting to get really worried about being able to pay my half of the bills/mortgage when I take maternity leave. My baby is due on 22nd March and have decided to take off the whole of April. Mainly because I will need 6 weeks to recover if I need to have another c-section (hopefully I wont)
I'm panicking because I thought I would have saved enough money by now to cover everything but I haven't as it's virtually impossible to save anything on my wage and need to use whatever is spare to go towards paying tax.

I know I get £117 per week for Maternity allowance but this is no where near enough.

I currently don't get anything apart from child benefit for DS. Got a bit confused with tax credits a while back so I get nothing from them until Oct 09. I haven't actually told them I'm expecting yet so really hoping I'll get something but I'm sure it won't be much if anything at all.

Am I entitled to anything else? I've never been on benefits before so no idea how it works or even who I would contact to find out.

Any advise would be really helpful

Thanks, I'll need it! I've got a feeling he'll become very very defensive (as always). I know he spends a lot of money on getting to and from work plus he has a lot more tax to pay than I do.
I'm trying to find the right moment to bring it up.
Trouble is it's our 1st day together with no one else getting in the way so don't really want it to turn into an argumentative day - we've had a lot of those recently .

I'll let you know how it goes

Thank you so much for your help

Fruity,

I agree that you need to talk to your DP...urgently!

Also remember that you have paid some 09-10 tax up front so your tax bill will not be so much this coming year. In fact if your earnings are lower you may not have to pay any or may get some back. You will also not have to pay on account in your second year which should help.

If your DP is on 26k then as a family you earn about the same as us and we have two kids. We get by OK and our mortgage has just some down loads - has yours come down? We are now on 2.89% which is a pittance. If you are not tied into your mortgage then you need to change.

FWIW we have always had a joint account -DP would be stuffed otherwise as I earn about 5 times as much as he does.

I agree that Mat Ben is a bit crap. I got about £104 a week for 6 months despite earning over 20k....ah well at least it's something.

Not done it yet He's been in a really foul mood so I'll wait till later when he's had a nice New Years Eve meal

Re Mortgage, we're on a fixed rate until around October (I think) So hopefully will find a cheaper one then if the interest rate doesn't go up again. DP says we're on 4 or 4.5 % right now.

It was my fault that we halve the bills as my income can go up or down depending on how busy I am. I also sort out the finances - not doing a very good job of it though. I just thought it would be easier if we just split it down the middle.

It's part of 08-09 I've paid up front. I'll need to pay another lump sum in July apparently - Lord knows where I'll get that from but will cross that bridge when I get to it. I've no idea why I can't just pay it all at the end of the tax year so it gives me a chance to save it! - Yes I know I should be saving monthly anyway but I have nothing to spare.
I can't complain about tax though as DP pays a lot more than me plus he still has expenses such as travel and lunch which he can't put towards Tax bill (he is employed)

Thank you all so much for your input, I will let you know how it goes with DP later.

Well, not really, Fruity - the tax is proportional. He only pays more tax because he gets more in his pocket!

It is proportional and also all his tax and NI comes out of his salary before he gets his mitts on it which is a lot easier to manage!

How much tax did you pay on account for this year Fruity and approx how much will you earn before the baby arrives - you may not have much more to find and you won't need to pay upfront for the following year.

BTW can your DP not cut his travel and lunch costs if it's such a lot? Sandwiches and a bike spring to mind! Maybe don't mention this at the same time as approaching the 50/50 unfair split though.

haha Laundrylover he did actually buy a bike but ages ago was put off by the distance from Colliers Wood to Soho. Also I'd be terrified something would happen to him - I even struggle to see cyclists when I'm driving.
Sarnies would be a good idea but he'd probably eat them before lunch and then need something else at lunch.
I'm really sticking up for the poor bugger here aren't I

I paid £400 towards 2008-2009
Should earn approx £3000 (probably just over) between now and end of March. All my expenses will come out of that and obviously bills and mortgage. This month I'll only be left with approx £150 for childminding expenses/myself for the whole of Jan. Gonna be a crap month.

I can't believe I used to moan about having no money when I was a Nanny and living at home with my Mum so not even any bills to pay!
I wish she'd charged me rent so I could have got used to the idea!

I'm self-employed and I have a little "e-savings" account which is with the same bank as my main work account, so it's nice and simple for me to transfer 20% each time I get paid into the e-savings account. That way I just don't 'see' the tax money and the money is there for the tax bill. Might be a good way for you to do it?

That's a very good idea morningpaper I have been meaning to open another account for that purpose but haven't got around to it yet.
Another thing for the need-to-do list

Do you think it would be helpful for me to talk to someone at my bank about finances? Or do they offer that just to try to sell you a loan?

HMM you need some sort of basic managing-your-finances course? Surestart and Homestart sometimes offer them, as do certain branches of the mental health charity Mind. You could ask your local branch of CVS (which holds information about local charities) - and ask who is running that sort of training. You should be able to get it for free

I agree with MP that a course would be good but one that both you and your DP could attend would be the best way forward methinks...

Thanks guys for your advise, DP and I are going to go through our accounts together at some point this weekend. He says not to worry as we'll work something out. He said he'll put money aside (not sure I can see that happening - easier said than done!) I don't think he realised how stressed I was about it as I didn't really say anything to him.

Good news is, I've just opened up another account (ISA) to put money in every month for tax. 1st £25 already in!

Well done for getting started on this Fruity...let us know how the 'chat' goes this weekend!!!