sorry ladies im just having a minor breakdown and a major confusion - i know that some people won't be happy giving me this info but i don't need figures just a sort of idea...

if you stay at home voluntarily (i.e left a job after maternity leave or left to look after your child) do you receive any help from the government?

do you receive child tax credits or anything else?

it seems that we would be worse off if i went back to work as we both work shifts so childcare will be costly...and if i go back part-time most of that will be either eaten up by childcare or taken off the tax credits so not really worth it?

i know ive posted about this millions of times but im totally stuck i don't particularly want to rely on benefits at all as i am able to work, but hubby's income is only around £600 a month and we cannot live on that!

I'm sure you would be entitled to tax credits but i'm not sure of the amounts tbh.
You may be able to claim housing and council tax benefit, but it will be income based so again don't know how much.
You wouldn't be able to claim job seekers but you may be able to have income support, although i really am unsure of that one as i don't know the criteria for it.
I would say contact the job centre plus, and also your local council as well as tax credits
x

Just read your other post hun, i'm confused! how is your oh classed as in full time work if he is a student??
Surely the title says it all, student nurse?

your tax credits, housing and council tax will be based on his income and as thats quite low, you should be ok on benefits.

I have no idea.
OH works for Job Centre so will ask when he gets back as he may know xxx

thanks emz!

Quote :

i'm confused! how is your oh classed as in full time work if he is a student??
Surely the title says it all, student nurse?

confusing isnt it! it's because he is classed as an nhs employee so his bursary is 'pay' for placements and he isnt entitled to take out student loans or access other university funding - archaic i think really but i think its always been different for student nurses (in scotland at least). it makes filling out forms impossible!

At least he doesn't have to pay it back x

Mari, ill pm you when my little monster is in bed x

I was made redundant at the end of my Mat leave with Thomas so I am a SAHM (although not through choice - might sound selfish but I am so ready to get back to work in some capacity). I then found out I was pg with Hannah anyway so fortunately I was able to claim MA but that stops in two weeks .

I am now in a position where if I go back into work on a similar salary to what I had before I will only be £200 better off a month and although I would love a job I just can't justify putting my babies in full time childcare for so little reward.

When my MA finishes next month I will be entitled to the minimum CTC (approx £80 at the mo because Hannah is under 1 but will reduce to approx £40 when she turns 1) and CB - that's it.

Basically it depends on your household income (so OHs salary) so I think you should be entitled to much more CTC than me. I have absolutely no idea about other benefits because I'm not entitled to anything because of OHs salary (every penny of which is spoken for each month ). Hope someone can help you more.

xx

xx

I may be wrong but as your oh works over 16 hours a week and is on a low wage you will get working tax credit.

I'm in a similar situation to debs. If I go back to work after this baby I will be putting so much fuel in my car, covering nursery fees for Aimee and all for 3 hours a day.

My salary is good but I just don't think it's worth it. X

thanks terri!

thanks debs - see, you DO know everything i asked if i could take voluntary redundancy instead of 'give up' my job, they said no chance haha. is that £40 a week? (stupid question?) i still can't get over how much we get from them now it's insanely high...

even 200 a month would be enough, we could just manage the rent etc on 800 a month but obviously it would be hard.....we manage on not much more than that now - but i would so much rather stay with my little baby than send him off and go to work for the same financial outcome???

i dunno if im just being really selfish.....

You're not being selfish at all hun, I'd absolutely stay at home with my little boy if I could. I'm trying to work out some way of not going back too! I was trying to persuade hubby to let me get pregnant again and go straight on to another lot of maternity leave but he's having none of it Can you speak to citizen's advice? They worked out for me my tax credits for going back to work 2 days and 3 days so I could see what difference it made xxx

My situation was different as Stuart doesnt live here but just to give you an idea of how my income changed when I gave up work at end of Mat...

On Mat leave I got...

SMP £123 a week
WTC £70 a week (roughly)
CTC £60 a week (I think)
CB £20 a week
It was too much imo as pre Caitlin i only earnt £180 a week so I was better paid while on Statutory maternity leave than when in work, though I suppose I needed more money than I did before, was still a shock when the calculation was made.

Now I get
Income Support £65 a week (not sure if you qualify due to hubby, you could claim JSA which is the same amount however you would have to seen to be job searching)
CTC £60 a week (could be less now she is one... not sure)
CB £20 a week
I dont get WTC but you may continue to get it due to OH
+ 85% of my rent paid (while on Mat leave I prob got about 30% paid)

My income dropped by 50% but it was made up a bit by getting the extra help with rent. If I went back to work though I would certainly see a big difference. Id love to work now that Caitlin's a toddler, but like you didnt want to leave them when they still a lil buba....

Check out this site
http://www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx

Its really simple and quite accurate.

Hope that was useful. Suppose the main thing is your OHs income, everyone's situation is different. x

No hun, £40 every 4 weeks.

I would be suprised if you didn't get at least £200 a month combined CTC and CB when your OH is on such a low income at the moment.

xx

I didnt go back after lillie, like rest say I sat down and worked out petrol, child care I would be taking home about £30 a week!! phaaaa seriously whats the point.

so I gave up work. but we only get tax credits, working tax as OH on a low income. thats it. nothing else. I went to the job centre and they told me for my OH to quit work!!!! seriously something wrong oif the jobcentre are saying that!! then we'd get rent/ c.tax all paid. but I wont do that!!
So ok we struggle as I was the main earner before I gave it up. but we get by!! just means no treats, holidays etc but whn we have a take away its special lol sounds quite sad hey excited about a takeaway! mind its gettung to the stage of chocolate!! how expensive has that got?!?
anyway I dont miss work at all!!!! love being home with them!! mind im not saying that today! pulling my hair out!

LMAO at the price of chocolate - bloody true but! A Mars bar at the garage is about 65-70p I remember them being 25-30p

i'm sure you'll get council tax reduction and housing benefit on that wage mari,

haha we did consider just having baby after baby but then the reality of being pregnant crept back into my mind and i am having second (and third) thoughts

we get about 100 wtc per week and 60ish ctc plus cb which with smp adds up to almost my full time wage...like i say hubby is only on 600 a month so hopefully ctc would keep going and we could manage with that...

we get excited if we have some pennies and realise its two for tuesday at dominoes hahaha but we don't need that stuff at all - wouldn't be able to pay for baby classes and things but i really think it would be a compromise worth making - i don't want someone else to see my baby's first steps!

thanks so much ladies, im starting to see some kind of light at the end of the tunnel - it's just never simple but i can't imagine leaving elijah with a virtual stranger and going back to a job i hated...

As long as it's not going to financially cripple you in the sense that you cant pay your bills then I think staying at home would be lovely! x

go on to hmrc.gov.uk and look at tax credit theres a calculator thingy ma jig you input the details and it estimates what you can claim and how much £..
Dont claim jsa if your not actively looking for job its pain in the arse them chasing you..
James is self employed, reasonably low wage.
I do have 3 kids though 11,6 & 1

Child tax credit (Lowest band) so get dentistry prescriptions..
Child benefit
James gets working tax credit
I cannot get income suppport, jsa and I own my home (mortgaged) so they dont help with that.. It works out better for me to stay home - thnakfully

Stu brings home approx. 300 a week and I'm down as bringing in 16 a week (Avon) . I get 81.20 every 4 weeks child benefit and 29.45 a week CTC.

Go to your local citizens' advice and talk to them, that's what they are there for

BTW I get sod all except CB and will be losing that when they change the rules.

thanks ladies! i am ringing tax credits tomorrow and having a meeting with work on weds...we live in an absolute crap hole and really have no money for anything, but i suppose that is the compromise we need to make for now (although if i went back to work it seems we would be pretty much the same ?!)

i definitely wouldn't apply for jsa or anything because i kind of consider that lying! i wouldn't be actively looking for a job so wouldn't expect to be getting paid to

im off to hit the calculators!

Did you get thru to tax credit helpline - reckon it's all as clear as mud now eh ???

im waiting for little babyface to go to sleep so i can ring (expecting to be on hold for a while )

hahaha ho hum well i wouldn't say i have been enlightened by tax credits...but at least they were friendly