Can anyone help been on jobseekers now need Materninty Allowance.......

[Scruffyhound]

I have been out of work since May 2010. I have been looking for work and applying for ages and found out I was pregnant not long after I was laid off. I have worked all my life until this point form the age of 15 (im now 33). In May I was a single parent with my own house and was getting income support. To help out and to make life better once I found out I was pregnant I moved in with my DP in Sept this year I could not sell my house so we have had to rent mine out at a loss of £100 per month just so we can live together. So laid off May 2010 income support(still looking for jobs!) until Sept then went onto jobseekers as living with partner I have not been able to get a job due to being pregnant and my qualifying period being short of 4 weeks only Have found out today Im not entitaled ot materninty Allowance this makes me angry when I rang them up 3 times to check! And also only being a month short of the qualifying period and the fact I have always worked up until that point. Im now so stressed and not sure what we will live off Im wanting to go back to work after little one is born and had sometime together about 4 -6 months. I went back to full time work only after 2 months with my DS and ended up with post natal depression and had to quit my full time job and get a part time job. I was a mess I did not want to go full time (was pressured by ex husband). Please can anyone help? Im so worried and I dont know what to do. very very

I did a bit of googling for you and only found this to be of relevance to you.

According to this you may be able to claim incapacity benefits instead of job-seekers allowance but idk how reliable that site is but it might be worth investigating.

Incapacity Benefit (IB):If you do not qualify for MA then you may be entitled to IB. This is paid at a lower rate than MA. You can claim from 6 weeks before your baby is due until 14 days after the birth.

It is better than nothing - I hope you get something sorted. As my mum always said to me, you can never afford children but somehow you always find a way!

As far as I understand it you won't be entitled to Incapacity Benefit as it is being phased out. You may qualify for Employment and Support Allowance Contributions Related if you are can get signed off sick and they deem you to have paid enough NI.

If you were told on the phone you would get MA and have now been refused it - could you appeal? Maybe the decision is wrong?

Can you up the rent on your rented house? I know that might be hard on the existing tenant but when every penny counts it might help.

Are you claiming Housing Benefit/Council Tax Benefit? If you are and have checked its right, there is something called the Discretionary Housing Fund which can help people in the short term (ie until you feel ready to return to work) with the difference between your rent and/or Council Tax if you are struggling to meet them. It would then mean you are use your other income for you and the baby. You would need to go to your local council's website or phone them for more information.

I hope you get something sorted.

Definitely double check on the Maternity Allowance, IME the staff don't know how this benefit works and most people I know that have claimed this (inc. myself as self employed) have had to call up the helpline and get them to go through it all bit by bit. I thought that the qualifying period was quite a long one?

How long before you are due?

Thanks The qualifying period for me is 27/12/2009 till now. But I was laid off for the 07/05/2010 this means Im 6 weeks short of the qualifying period I have applied for jobs and have been trying to find work and no one wants a pregnant person. I found out I was pregnant not long after I was laid off. I attended a few interviews prior to finding out I was pregnant as well but nothing came of it I also had a car accident someone went into the back of my car May 25th 2010. Im just really annoyed as If they looked previous of 07/05/2010 they would see I have always worked since I was 15 (now 33). I would not mind if I had been in and out of work or never worked I just feel very let down for the sake of 6 weeks and always working until then. I dont know how we will cope to be honest my last pregnancy I disslocated my knee and was stressed I was hoping for a little bit of a bettter time with this one but now Im stressed about all of this. I just dont see how you go from £120 jobseekers per 2 weeks to nothhing with an extra mouth to feed. I dont mind if I can work but no one wants me banging my head against a brick wall.......

Isn't your DP working? Why are you taking all this stress on yourself? Surely as you are pg, if he is working, you have his income, and once the baby is here, you can claim Working tax credits/ child tax credits to help you? And if your DP is also out of work, HE can claim JSA, and be actively seeking work, and you would be classed as an unwaged dependant of his?

And if you are now single for whatever reason, and they have told you that due to the advanced state of your pregnancy you can no longer be classed as 'actively seeking work', then they you are able to claim Income Support?

DP or not, OP is going to stress about this as a woman who has never needed to depend on anyone, and I can understand why you feel so let down. If you really feel lost then maybe you could go to your Citizens Advice Bureau as they can be very helpful in directing you to where you can get help if everywhere else are being unhelpful. For some reason IME men react differently to financial stress than woman and as a result we believe they actually don't consider it which leads us to stress more. Talk to your DP about it, you might find he has been thinking about it himself and might have some suggestions of his own to help you get through this.

Good luck though, I really hope you get some help and that the benefit system helps the people it is designed to help - you that is.

If there's anyway you can get another 6 weeks work before the baby is born, even registering as self employed, that will add to your total of weeks in the qualifying period. It doesn't have to be continuous. Not sure if that's an option for you?

Oh man just fin typing and the computer crashed!! Thanks for advise. Im going to ring the MA people first then Jobseekers then if that comes to no avail will ring CA. DP has not been running a house for long and he said he would get a 2nd job if needs be. But im not used to it Im used to sorting things out as with the ex husband they would not get sorted otherwise. Im used to worrying as I had a house with my ex husband from when I was 23. I like to try and bring something to the table and this is very frustrating that wherever I turn I cant do anything its just crap. DP works for family company and I have said to ask the step dad for a pay rise as DP has been wroking really hard and extra hours. But DP's family are strange. They have loads of money but the step dad only seems to give money to his daugher(biological) where as my DP has to work really hard and does not get much. I moved here so he could keep his job and I had no job at that point anyway. My mum has no money and has just got divorced and has just spent money on baby things as she was up set for me. I would love some work for 6 weeks it would be great. I dont know where would have me. I think I only need £30 per week. Also was annoyed that if the baby is born early then I get MA!! So if the baby was premature I would get it WTF?!!

I think you've been given the wrong figure for your qualifying period. It's 66 weeks up to and including the week before you're baby is born. It's based on your edd not when the baby arrives so yes, if baby was prem you'd get it but it would start from then.

You need more than £30. You get a max of £124.88 or 90% of your average gross weekly earnings (whichever is smaller) so be very aware of that.

I hope you get some decent help soon.

Hello all thanks for your advise. I have rang the MA people today. I'm 7 weeks short of my qualifying period so it seems. So I need to work between now and 02/04 for 7 weeks earning at least £30 per week. Been looking for temp jobs but to no avail. I then thought about being self employed as I dont think anyone will take me on. So I rang up the self employment people and they said all I ahve to do is register with them and pay £2.40 per week NI. I do some cleaning for my dad sometimes (he is schitzophrenic) and after trying to explain it to my dad I need to earn £30 or over for the next 7 weeks he said he would pay me £30 - £40 for the next 7 weeks (well my aunt would dad cant afford it!). So MA allowance people said that was fine so long as Im self employed so as of monday bye bye jobseekers hello self employment?! Then I hope to get MA as I rang them up twice to make sure! I hope after all of this it works......