Hi All

Mrs-g leaves work tomorrow to start her maternity leave with baby-g arriving no later than the 23rd of May.

She has been working as a temp through an agency for the past 2 years so she will be getting 6 weeks pay at 90% of her usual earnings and then 33 weeks of statutory maternity pay, about 120 quid a week, although technically she will not be on maternity leave as they dont have to keep her job there for her.

I need to find out what we will be entitled to in the form of tax credits etc, how they work and how we go about getting them. Who do I speak to, can I do anything now or do I need to wait until he/she is born.

Any help appreciated

Steve

http://campaigns.direct.gov.uk/benefitsadviser/

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Moneyandworkentitlements/index.htm

Law centre or CAB or whatever advice shop your council has.

To claim they will give you the forms when Mrs-g is discharged from hospital/midwife care. From what I remember your given 3 months to get the forms (and an original birth certificate) to them

I can’t afford a ferrari, do you think the govt will help me out as well?

Or maybe, as i can’t afford one, perhaps i shouldn’t have one?

dont worry mos, when steve-g’s child has grown up and is paying you your pension you might be able to afford it then.

So for tax credits do they give me or her tax money back or do they just take less tax from me in the first place?

For child allowance money I remember my mum going to the post office with a book each week, is that still how it’s done?

As she is a temp and won’t be on maternity leave but will be unemployed but receiving stat maternity pay is there anything else she would be entitled to?

So for tax credits do they give me or her tax money back or do they just take less tax from me in the first place?

In a similar position to you they seem to do a bit of both but understanding the notification form or how they calculate it requires a detailed knowledge of accountancy, wicca & astrology

tick…
(wife who was just made redundant, then job given back (after they admitted mistakes being made) now on maternity so can’t work but technically in employemtn but about to start getting SMP, but was unemployed but is now (arrggghhhheadspinconfusion)

It get’s paid straight into your account so no trecking to the post office.

Very handy when caught short filling up the Fezza :O)

Hi m-f, thats why I was asking here. As with most things I think they make it as hard as possible at the best of times for people to get what they are entitled to, then throw in an unusual situation and you’ve got no hope

It all gets paid into the bank – I seem to recall that the family tax credits are paid based on your previous years income, then you send them a statement as to what you actually earned, and they then screw you over the following year if they’ve overpaid you.

It’s not a bad system, just more complicated than it needs to be – I seem to remember as a kid that my dad’s tax code just changed to allow for such things, thus not requiring so many civil servants to administer it

I’d think very carefully about applying for family tax credit, it’s a total **** nightmare. Personally, if I you can manage without it, i’d avoid it like the plauge.

We’ve been getting it since it started [morphed from something else]
AFAIK – it just happens if you’re on PAYE
Certainly never had to send any forms in – they do send me one each year though – actually, they send one to me & one to the wife, posted in separate envelopes 😕

You’ll get given all the forms when the sprog arrives.

Child allowance – fill out the form & it goes straight into the bank account every month

Child tax credit – fill out the forms and it gets paid into the mothers bank account every month, you’ll get a a little bit for the first year and not very much after that – if you’ve got several degrees in tax accountancy you MAY be able to work out if they are paying the right amount. If the monthly amount pays for anything more than nappies then they are probably paying you too much so save it & wait for them to demand it back next year.

Working tax credit – unless you are on the breadline you’ll probably earn too much to be entitled to this.

Child trust fund – you’ll be sent a voucher for £250 to invest as you wish & give the ungrateful sod a pot of cash to spend on beer & dope in their first term at university.

It’s not actually very difficult, they send you all the forms, you just have to remember to fill them out in your sleep deprived state.

Tax Credits are an income related benefit, dressed up as something else. There’s 2 types, working and child tax credit. you apply for both at the same time and they can also cover childcare costs. higher earners will likely only get child tc.

You should read the notes that come with the form, to see how maternity pay is treated – part of this is disregarded. sorry can’t remembr off the top of my head.

as said above, they are initially based on your income for the previous year, however, you can call them and correct this if your household income has changed this year. someone up there has said don’t apply because they are a nightmare. it’s true that they can cause many problems, mainly via their poor administration, and then responsibility for the error is usually passed onto you. They way to avoid this is to be careful and record the date and time when you call them and the name of the person you speak to.

you have to make sure you do respond within their time limits if they ask for more information as well

both tax credits and child benefit can be backdated 3 months automatically (assuming you’re entitled)

there’s also something new called a ‘health in pregnancy’ grant of err £190 i think. googling should find details for how to apply

i’m a benefits adviser, so feel free to email me if you have any specific questions. i’ll give you a better answer than most on here

Ok so as I earn a resonable amount I will just get the child tc and that will be paid to the missus, and as payrises were cancelled this year the silver lining to that will be my payment based on last years earnings will be correct first tim e around.

The child allowance will also get paid straight to the missus so no hassle there either.

Oh and for anyone who is interested you get the health in pregnancy grant by filling in a form on your first visit to your midwife, we havent received the grant yet as they have a backlog of forms to deal with so she will get her health in prenancy grant a week or two after the baby is born. Numpties.

Cheers for your help guys

As with most things I think they make it as hard as possible at the best of times for people to get what they are entitled to, then throw in an unusual situation and you’ve got no hope

Indeed – still trying to get them to work out the correct payments for when I started getting nursery vouchers 6 months ago (they keep wanting irrelevant documentation from my work which I don’t have). We’ve now had 2 more changes in circumstances since then, so who knows when they’ll catch up!