Hi,
Just wondering if there are any benefits experts out there that could maybe give me an idea of what I am entitled to, if anything?
Me and my partner both work full time and have a combined wage of £33,500 a year. This is out first child so we do not claim any form of benefit at the moment and I am at a complete loss as to what we are entitled to. Our wage appears quite good when you look at it but as you all probably now after the hefty mortgage and bills have been paid the reality is a lot different Trying to get my head around it as it means I may be able to take more time off with my baby. I tried one of those online calculators but do not trust them as it said we were entitled to something now but we arent.
Can anyone help and tell me what I can claim for and really when I should start making these claims. I know I cannot claim Child Benefit until baby is here. I also plan to go back to work 3 days a week – 25.5hours so when and if I do make the claim for benefits do I put down my full time hours or the hours I will be doing when I go back?
Thanks in advance!
Hi – I am in a similar position and don’t really know the answer to wll of your questions. I do know that they look at your gross income as opposed to what you have left after you have paid mortgage, bills etc. You are entitled to health in pregnancy grant – I know that! Ask you midwife next time you see her. Sorry not to be of more help. Oh and tax credits is worth looking into as well xx
I would ask you employer what you are entitled to in respect to maternity leave and the pay you will receive whilst you’re away from work. You could also save up any holiday and ask if you can use it alongside your maternity and still receive your holiday pay. I know the government were also doing a one off payment for keeping healthy during pregnancy but I don’t know if that’s been scrapped with the new government.
Once you have found out what you can get from your work, go or speak to the citizens advice bureau (you can get you local number from the webpage attached) and ask them if you are getting a fair deal ad whether you are entitled to apply for anything else from the council. They can tell you exactly where you stand. Good luck.
you will probably be entitled to working tax and child tax credits, and of course child benefit.
Currently I work full time my partner part time (only 7.5hrs per week) hes a stay at home dad and our combined income from salaries is under half of what you both earn We have one child and currently receive £390 combined working tax and child tax credits and £81 child benefit, every month. We still need to pay full council tax and rent, I applied but wasnt entitled to any housing benefit and also I earned £10 too much for milk, fruit and veg tokens!
When on maternity leave my employers only pay the basic £124 per week, Im thinking when I go down to that I will probably be entitled to some kind of housing benefit , however I dont know for sure, but I dont think you will be as you do earn quite alot, thats why I didnt apply with my last baby as my partner had a better income then. I had to go back to work full time when my son was 4mths as it was such a struggle.
My advice is work as long as you can before you have the baby, and have longer at the other side. Also the way the tax credit system works, is you can tell them your current situation hours worked etc, which they take note of but this usually does not effect the amount you get at that time, it effects the next year, which can be annoying, as when you are on maternity leave and dont have alot of money you dont get that much tax credits (as its based on the previous year) but the next year when you are back at work you get alot more, as you hardly earned anything the previous year.
The best thing you can do is call your local Citizens advice centre – they will be able to help you with advice on all the benefits you are entitled to and give you a more accurate advice.
Good luck hun xxx
If you are getting Statutory Maternity Pay from your employer then there isn’t really anything else you could claim. If you do not qualify for SMP you may get Maternity Allowance instead although the rates are almost the same (£112 per week or 90% of your salary, whichever is less). You wouldn’t get anything on top of that.
A wage of £33k+ is generally considered to be a "good" wage and you certainly would not be entitled to any Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit or anything similar (the people who need these benefits are often living on less than £10K a year!!). Housing benefit won’t help with mortgages anyway, only rent, and most private landlords won’t even take it.
You wouldn’t get Working Tax Credit on an income of £33K. No way Jose. You’d need to be on £15K or less to get that.
When your child is born you will be entitled to child benefit (£20 per week) and you MAY be entitled to child tax credit. I say MAY because the Government now plan to restrict eligibility to those on incomes of under £30K, Previously, someone on a £33K salary could have claimed the "family element" of Child Tax Credit which is around £545 per year. I’m not sure when this change comes into effect however, as I beleive that most of these changes only take effect from April 2011.
When your child is born and you go back to work on reduced hours then your income will not be the same as it currently is – so thats the time to start looking into your eligibility. As I said, however, if you’re looking at an income of £25K-£30K you will not be entitled to anything extra other than your child benefit (which everyone can claim)