Self employed, planning a family -GOV help?

[fifitrixabelle87]

Hi ladies,
I'm self employed and have been for almost 3 years now. My husband (of 1year!) earns a lot more than I do and subsequently pays for everything, my earnings really only top us up!
We would like to start planning a family but I'm really nervous about the financial situation, is there any sort of government help available throughout pregnancy/first years?
I don't have any friends with children so please excuse my ignorance, I really don't know how these things work!
Thanks in advance! X

Have a look on the Entitled To website which has a benefits calculator. You can fill it in as if you are expecting a child, or have one already, to get an idea of what you might receive.

If your husband is a high earner you will be entitled to less in the way of tax credits but you will get some things. Instead of maternity pay you can claim something called maternity allowance - can't link as on phone but do have a Google for it.

Also there's not much during pregnancy (as is the case for employees also) but if you can't work due to pregnancy related illness you can claim contributors ESA.

ContributorY, even.

Some help depends entirely on how much you/your husband earns so for example if he earns over £60k you wouldn't be entitled to child benefit, below £50k you would get it in full it's currently approx £20 a week for the first child, can't guarantee that will continue though. If you are talking a joint income of significantly less than that then you would be entitled to tax credits.

You yourself should be entitled to maternity allowance when you take time off to have the baby but that is only short term help to cover lost income while not working.

Like others have said it would depend on your household income with regards to whether you were entitled to something like income support/ tax credits after baby was born. During pregnancy you would be able to claim maternity allowance

Thank you so much for your help ladies, I will certainly google the correct terminology now! xx