Benefits enquiry

[DANIELLE27]

Hi im 7 months pregnant and still working but cant go back to work once the babies here as theres noone to look after our child so i will be at home taking care of the baby for awhile. My husband works and earns around 20,000 a year but without my wage we will struggle is there any benefits we are entitled too? Hope to hear from you Danni

[ummmm]

You should be entitled to tax credits. Go on to www.hmrc.gov.uk click on tax credits and then to do i qualify. It will tell you how much you can get. If you qualify, which you should, you'll be entitled to child care costs (about 70%) and free dental treatment etc.

[bednobs]

you will also get family allowance

[themas]

You will get Child Benefit (used to be family allowance years ago) of about �17 per week. Also Child Tax Credit. If you had not been working then - on the figures you quote and assuming your husband works 30+ hours per week - this would be about �26 per week, reducing to about �16 when the baby is 1 year old. However, for this tax year your earnings are also taken into account, so the figure would be lower until next April.

If you did go back to work and had a registered or approved childminder then you would probably also be eligible for Working Tax Credit including part of the childcare costs. The amounts would depend on your income and child care charges.

[KLAND]

I am currently on mat leave and am due to start back at work in Jan.

I have 2 children, however when I looked into benefits etc of staying at home, I was better off going to work and putting them into a childminder!

Hope you get a better result!