thinking of stopping work..advice

[aussiebird]

Hi,

It's my first time on here so i hope i'm doing things right. i went back to work after my maternity leave finished but am finding it hard to do both the job and be a mum. I even dropped my hours down to 16 a week but it still gets to me. I'm now seriously thinking of becoming a stay home mum and am wondering what the situation of income support would be? would i be entitled to it as it's my decision to leave work and if i did get it is there a time limit to how long i can get it for. My partner earns a deccent wage and we can afford for me to not work but it would be tight without that second income. would his wage come into account with the income support? aghh i'm all confused and dont know what to do.
please help!

try [www.entitledto.com] it will give you a really good idea, I hope it works out for you x

sorry www.entitledto.com

you would be unlikely to get income support if your partner is working, as it is based on household income (and I don't think you would qualify immediately anyway, even if you did as you are voluntarily stopping work) - however you may get (or get more if you already get it) tax credits.

PS I'm on a career break after my m/l with DD, and yes things are tight on one income, but it really is suprising how quickly you adjust & how little money you can actually spend if you put your mind to it (and realise how much you used to "waste" before )

Just gone to the income support factsheet on direct.gov.uk and it says you can't get income support if you have a partner who works over 24 hours a week. I'm a SAHM through redundancy, and can only claim tax credits. Agree with Betsy, it can be done, you just have to adapt (oh and we took a mortgage holiday for a year as well, which has helped)

thanks everyone for the advice. am looking into it now.

cheers