Just found out daughter is pregnant - what do we do?

[minimees]

I've just found out my daughter is 7 weeks pregnant, she wants to keep the baby as she has Endometriosis which can affect her fertility.
This pregnancy was unplanned and she lives at home with me and her dad, we both work and own our own home and never claimed a benefit in our life.

We have no idea what she is entitled to benefits wise as a single mum and I'm hoping you can put me in the right direction.

Also, do we need to go to the doctors first to get proof that she is pregnant? Please help we have no idea

That’s quite insulting to all single mums who work isn’t it ? It’s also quite a reach considering both parents have an excellent work ethic. DD is working and earning. The suggestion of her quitting her job was based on the risky work environment for the pregnancy, not suggesting that she just give up her job and live off the tax payer. Now OP knows DD is entitled to protection hopefully she can carry on.

The OP's opening post was all about benefits and what she would be entitled to. Her second post then mentioned her DD giving up work

Agree. ‘My body, my choice’ seems to have taken a bit of a left turn here.

I took the opening post to mean maternity benefits. The suggestion that DD would give up work was centred around safety concerns with the nature of the work and OP didn’t seem to know that there are protections available. Common sense should dictate that two people with an excellent work ethic, who know the value of work, and who have never claimed benefits aren’t going to be clamouring for their DD to live a life dependent on the state.

I’d make it a point that she understands she needs to start thinking of finding her own space and think about how she’ll be providing for herself and her child.

It’s all very well wanting a child but it’s a massive, definitive decision that she needs to be rational about.

How on earth is it insulting to all single mums to say the dad in this case is fecklesss? You have misread my post. I am not suggesting all single mums are on benefits, or even that they shouldn't be. This one looks likely to be though.

If OP comes back to say she will keep her DD in work, I stand corrected, of course.
But increasingly numerous posts on MN start " What benefits am I entitled to?".
So did this one.

As others have said work should keep her safe. If she quits her job now and attempts to sign on she will still have work commitments and be expected to look for a job until 29 weeks pregnant. She’ll also face a benefit sanction for quitting her job and because baby isn’t here, she’s 19 and living with her parents she’ll be entitled to barely anything at all.

Single person under 25 allowance is £338 a month and she’ll be sanctioned on that for 90 days. She needs a work assessment and to stay at her job so she’ll be entitled to maternity benefits.

When I said 'feckless,' I probably should've added 'gormless' too.

Hi @minimees

Apologies, it isn’t clear wether your daughter wants to keep the pregnancy or not. So I’m just giving advice assuming she will be keeping it and won’t be having involvement from the father.

Benefits:

Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) or Maternity Allowance (MA):
If she has been continuously employed by her workplace for at least 26 weeks leading into the 15th week before her due date, she will qualify for SMP. This covers 90% of her average weekly earnings for the first 6 weeks, then a set rate (£194.32/week) for up to 33 weeks.

If she hasn't been there long enough, she can claim Maternity Allowance through Jobcentre Plus.

Universal Credit:
As a single pregnant person living at home, she can apply for Universal Credit in her own right. Yours and your husband’s income will not be included in the calculation.

Sure Start Maternity Grant/Best Start Grant:
A one-off tax-free payment of £500 (or £796.65 in Scotland) to help buy baby essentials. Eligibility usually requires being on a qualifying benefit like Universal Credit.

Healthy Start Scheme:
Provides a prepaid card for food, milk and vitamins during pregnancy and early childhood once she is 10 weeks pregnant (if on qualifying benefits).

Free Prescriptions and Dental Care:
All pregnant women in the UK qualify for an FW8 Maternity Exemption Certificate, making all NHS prescriptions and dental care free throughout pregnancy and for 12 months after giving birth.

Action Plan

Workplace Health & Safety (Immediate Priority)
By law, under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, her employer owes her a strict duty of care. Physical assaults from patients/residents present a serious physical hazard and a biological hazard (risk of infection) to both her and her pregnancy.

She should inform her line manager or HR of her pregnancy immediately to trigger formal protections.

Request an Individual Pregnancy Risk Assessment: The employer is legally required to carry out a risk assessment specifically for her.

The employer must remove the risk (e.g., reassigning her away from patients with a history of physical aggression)

If no safe duties can be provided, her employer must suspend her on full pay until her maternity leave starts or until conditions are safe. She should not be forced to resign or stay in a dangerous environment

Endometriosis and Contacting the GP

https://www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/finding-out/what-to-do-when-you-find-out-you-are-pregnant/

She needs to refer herself: https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/refer-yourself-for-nhs-pregnancy-care/

A history of endometriosis can slightly alter pain indicators. Contacting the GP/midwife early ensures that any early pelvic pain is evaluated properly and that she is referred for an early pregnancy scan if necessary to rule out ectopic pregnancy or check on cyst management.

Pregnancy hormones often temporarily suppress endometriosis symptoms, but some women experience pelvic pain, cramps, or bleeding early on as the uterus expands against adhesions or scar tissue.

The GP or midwife can write a fit note or letter outlining specific workplace restrictions (e.g., avoiding physical conflict/restraint or heavy lifting), which obligates her employer to act immediately.

I hope everything works out for you all.

It has a bearing because if they’re not going to live together as a couple he will have to Child Maintenance when baby’s born. Does he work? Does she know how much he earns? If so she can work out what he should pay.
if he’s in a well paid job, she should be asking him to pay more than the bare minimum. It’s his child after all.

If the dd is only 19, the OP must be aware of the basic universal child-related benefits, as surely she claimed them herself only 19 years ago.

She’s not entitled to any benefits just because she’s pregnant. If she quits her job she will likely be unable to claim as that’s a choice. She needs to tell her employers, have a risk assessment. Stay in work until she’s due and then claim maternity pay while she’s off. That should give you all enough time to put a plan in place long term about how will she support herself and a baby once she’s due back at work.

And how would you enforce that? Compulsory sterilisation for women(and men) whose income is below a set figure? Come on. do expand on your plan, I’m sure we’d all like to hear how you would sort this out.

I agree

What happens in your utopia when someone that can afford to have a child, loses their job or is left high and dry or receives a life changing diagnosis (that final one happened to me 9 years ago but don’t worry, my DC were nearly adults when it happened and thankfully we’d paid off the mortgage) but had it been 5 or 10 years before that I don’t know how we would have survived without help.

If that’s the case the population would be very low!

Presumably these things happened after you’d made the decision to have children, you didn’t forge ahead knowingly.

She can claim Universal Credit.

Teenage pregnancies are at a historic low in the UK- the rates were much, much higher a few decades ago so it’s not a ‘nowadays’ thing at all

Those people should stop making new children.

Surely you can see that if she's currently in work she will need to stop at some point to have her child? And if she's not, and OP currently supports her, this may not be viable when she has the child?
The maternity action website is a good place to start OP.

Yep its only my body my choice when others think its a choice they should make it seems.

She’ll be on maternity leave, just like all other women who have children whilst employed.

They were declining. They are now climbing again, I believe.

Or when the 'others' are paying for it.
If OP plans to support her dd, then nobody cares. You can be as pro life as you want, if you pay your bills!

If she is going on benefits while the dad buggers off, taxpayers obviously feel cheesed off. I do anyway.