TTC During a PhD

[NoMaybeAboutIt]

Hi There

I am currently in the final year of my Phd. I have been funded through this and have been receiving a stipend, which is tax free. My DH and I have been TTC for almost a year now. We want to keep trying, as it is proving harder than we thought, but I am worried about what will happen if I were to fall pregnant near the end of my funding. We cannot live off of just DH's salary, and I don't think I am entitled to any maternity pay or benefits. I am also worried that I will be unemployable if pregnant. We really don't want to have to wait another year before we start TTC again.

Any help or advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks everyone

How long do you have left of your phd?

A year Wellies

A year from now, so ending late 2012/early2013? Why not just put off ttc for three or four months, which isn't that long, so that if you get pregnant straight away then you'd have baby after the end of your phd?

You're in a difficult position. If you had a baby during the (funded) PhD, you might well have got maternity benefits (my funding gives me six months on full pay) but the whole thing gets tricky once your funding runs out. You won't have been paying NI I guess (so no state benefits). I think you're right to worry, but what can you do? Unless you're in contract (like a research fellow post, or whatever) you probably won't get anything. You need to get pregnant fast! Tactically, could you take a fellowship on suspension? My uni helps organise them as work experience. You'd be paid by a company for 3-6 months, allowing you to suspend your research council funding (thereby buying yourself more time).

All that depends on your funding coming with maternity pay, of course...

Oh I see. Misunderstood. Who funds you (I'm funded by ESRC)?

Ah, I see mandyville is adressing the question much better re money etc FWIW I was not entitled to any statutory maternity or other benefits, having lived abroad, so we just cut some massive corners, mostly in terms of standards of living, not just luxuries, and got by on DH's salary. Obviously that is not always possible especially if you are already committed to a mortgage. If you rent, why not consider moving to somewhere much much cheaper for a year or two?

Excuse typos

Do you already have dc?

wellies I was in exactly the same returning-from-overseas boat with number 1! Number 2 will be born with research council funding, though.

good plan, mandyville! Got to say we were a bit (naively) shocked when we found out we were entitled to absolutely nothing despite decades of taxpaying and even more so when we found the job situation was truly bad mid-recession. Unemployed and pregnant with a school aged child and no job? No, not a penny, sorry!

It's nuts isn't it? My decade of taxpaying counted for diddly-squat! Although I was extremely happy that the NHS welcomed me home with open arms! I have friends who have this problem in spades because she is earning and paying tax in a European country which provides benefit mostly in kind (loads of free stuff, free childcare etc., but not much free money) but living in the UK. International mobility is not what it's cracked up to be!

Sorry for getting side-tracked OP!

Thanks so much for your advice Wellies and Mandy

This would be our first DC. We have a mortgage, so are pretty tied into that, but I know I can take a meternity holiday from the repayments, so that may be worth considering.

I am funded by the Wellcome Trust Mandy I have no intention of staying in academia afterwards either. You're right, I haven't paid tax/NI for years now either. Looks like we may have to consider waiting till I have finished and gotten another job.

Doesn't sound like a great situation. Sorry to hear about it. Good luck. Hope you can make it all work out.

Thanks Mandy

I'm going to be giving birth about three months after my funding ends.

Then only thing I'll be getting is Maternity Allowance - NoMaybeAboutIt you may be able to get this, especially if you plan ahead. You need to be employed for 26 weeks (not necessarily continuous) in the 15 months before you give birth. If you are paid more than £30 in 13 of those weeks, you get 90% of your average pay for the best 13 weeks, up to a maximum of about £130, for 39 weeks.

Will your uni pay for you to do some tutoring or whatever you call it there? I teach first year undergrads a few hours a week, which is pretty well paid, so gets me over the £30 mark pretty quickly.

Here's the info on Directgov: link

Mumtobe thank you so much for that info, it's brilliant. There really is some hope after all! Wishing you lots of luck when your little one makes an appearance. Hope the thesis is coming along well too!

No worries! I had thought I wouldn't get anything either. As it is, I've got a job lined up for when I finish that will get my average pay over £130.

Thesis is getting there. I've got three moths of funding left and I did my whole MSc project in that time so it can't be that bad, can it?

That's great news. 3 months is plenty, honest Plus, who's going to argue with a pregnant lady?!