am i entitled to any thing whilst on maternity leave?

[lisabast]

hello all,
does anybody know if there is any extra help out there for me and my family??
im 21 and on mat leave from my full time job so my wages have been halved and im really struggling for money at the mo, my partner works full time but his wages dont cover rent council tax bills etc and my �400 a month dont go very far to cover the cost of living either!
every thing ive looked into says im not entilted to a penny help as they still class me as working full time and because my partner works too? is this right? it seems very unfair to punish the hard working familys who need a little help when having a baby, yet people that dont work get everything?
any body got any ideas of what if anything im entitled to?
ps ive got no problem with single parents that dont work if it has come across that way!!
thanks guys

[another-view]

Surely, you looked into all this before you planned the baby?

[bednobs]

i dont know why people seem to think that being on benefits means you are creaming it in What do you and your b/f earn between you? I would be willing to bet it's more than most people on benefits "earn".
if you cant afford a baby, then dont have one, simple as. Contraception is free.
also, you are not being "punished" you chose to have a baby and you are geting maternity pay - getting paid to not work! and quite frankly i dont see why the tax payer should pay for you to start a family, when its your choice to do so. When you have the baby you will be getting money in tax credits too, as well as whatever they call family allowance these days as well as maternity pay.
Also your child will be born at the taxpayers expense and educated at the tax payers expense.
i probably sound bitter but really really i dont understand why people have children if they cant afford them, yet expect other people to help out!.

i suppose the only thing i can suggest is that you look into renting somewhere cheaper to reduce your outgings

[another-view]

I totally agree bednobs. Why people do things like this and expect others to foot the bill is beyond me.

[lisabast]

yes i was told i was entitled to things but as i came around to ask for the help i was told no as i was under 25.
i am not an idiot, i have a child already and we knew what we could afford and what we couldnt. how ever what we did not plan for was a giant leap in our household bills in the last couple of months which is what we are struggling with.
we work hard and have saved our money for our family but that money is now going to pay for gas, water bils etc.
please dont think im young and stupid because im not, i just asked for some helpful hints not judgement

[lisabast]

actually me and my partner would be better of if we didnt work everything would be paid for us! but why the hell would we want to do that?? at what point did i say i wanted people to pay for my child! how dare you, i pay my taxes every month and where does that go??? to people that CAN work but choose not to! and when i need a little help for a few months until i return to work full time i get people talking to me like i sponge and want people to pay for my children.

[redcrx]

working tax credits, child tax credits, child benefit.

Thats the most youd be able to claim depending on income.

You know you dont have to take all your maternity entitlement you know. You can return to work 2 weeks after baby is born.

Having already had a child you ought to know exactly what you are entitled to try and claim for.

[themas]

Add to redcrx list housing benefit (if you are renting) and council tax benefit (both depending on income of you & partner). And when the baby is born child benefit and additional child tax credit. Even if you are not entitled to tax credits now (& you probably are, as a small amount is paid where the joint income is as high as about �50,000 pa) look into it again because the calculation will alter when the baby is born & entitlement will be higher.

[sheffielder]

Stop judging. Who made you judge, jury and executioners?! She was asking for advice! I hate people who think that they can be so GODDAM nasty.

[whambam]

Welcome to how the governement runs things. punish the hard working and make it easy for the benefit culture.

I am not saying that anyone on benefits are doing anything wrong. I am merely saying that the way the governement has things right now it is more affordable to be on benefits than it is to work in most jobs.

It isnt the money each week that makes it this way, its the "extras" such as NHS prescriptions being free, the council tax paid for, etc that make it so much harder for people on benefits to go back to work and actually be on equal terms let alone better off. In most cases (as the poster is finding) employed people are often worse off than full blown benefit people. I read somewhere that for every 10 benefit fraud cases, only 3 of them were genuine freeloaders, the other 7 were people desperate to get back into work but literally could not afford to do so and so chose the only option they had, to somehow work while on benefit, or stay on benefit when no longer sick/being offered work.

My advice is to cut out the luxuries, buy cheap value brand foods where possible, get all the money you can from what your entitled too and if really struggling, or possible you may have to take further time off looking after two kids, come out of work and onto benefits for the time needed (year or two) before heading back to work.

[Nosha123]

I dont have kids yet cos frankly I cannot afford them.. nor could I afford childcare and dont have family I can rely on for child care so I use FREE contraception.
I think I should get tax relief from the govt since I dont use the schooling sytem, and put less pressure on the NHS and local authority!
I also dont know whether I will ever be able to afford to have kids since full time childcare down in the South looks something like �1000 per month...
Yes its my choice.... but it is also something my partner and I have sat and thought about and made a conscious decision about.

[Belliot]

its simple... you made your bed you lie in it! Welcome to the world of budgeting and cutting back! Maybe more education on the real world of having a baby so young!!!

You say you are 21... and pay you taxes and have a child already.... well to me it seems you have not be paying tax for THAT long really!

Good luck! I will keep working hard to fund these government handouts!

p.s I have a friend who has a baby and has more disposal income than me! Grrrrrrrrrr!

[Tezzabell]

you guys are sick!!! she came on here for advice, not to be slammed.

for all you losers, it's not a real world to think that everyone who has a baby is loaded! babies may be planned or not planned, contraception is not 100% and without bein stupid, genuine mistakes CAN happen! would you prefer someone to abort a healthy baby because they didn't have a tonne in the bank?

i'm sorry lisabast as i don't really have any information to help you but i recently found myself in the same struggling boat and the stupid stupid STUPID people that gave you answers really angered me!

good luck! x

[chantelleamy]

whta has deeply annoyed me here is the fact that u say the baby will be educated and brought up by the tax payers expense when we actuali pay tax out of our maternity pay.at least we got off our arses to go to work and when we decide to have a baby and a family we have our more halved yet the doleys who chose to sit at home doing nothing all day feeding off our taxes have kids left right and centre and get paid more for doing so.the way the world works now is you have more money on the dole.cant wait for the government to change and stop all you lazy gits from sponging of tax payers (me 20 year old mother on maternity leave) and get u to start paying your way.bunch of freeloaders.