maternity help

[fever28]

Hi can any one suggest any routes i could take, baby due next month, both my self and partner earn a good wage, so not entitled to any benifits, partner earns more than me, but her wage is about to drop to 100 a week, morgages, nursery loan repayments etc add up to a lot more than are income will be after her wage drops, I find it a shame that paying alot of tax for the last 15 years, means when i am in hardship i am not entitled to anything, or am i? is there benifit avaiable for those on maternity pay? as �100 a week doesnt cover food let alone all the rest (my wage covers, nursery for other children and transport and living cost but not mortgage and bills.

[fever28]

I have been to reality a few time in my life, nothing to cut corners on as such. its all just standard mortgage, nursey fees, and bills. yes its a big house expensive nursery etc, but there inst anything else in the area. I should rephrase the question, when your wage drops over a �1000 a week and you end up with �100 a week does that count as low income, as with anything the amount of put goings are proportinate to earnings so all though wages are high so are all the bills. im not saying we wont mange it just struck me as odd, if my partner was a high earner and single how would she be able to pay all bills and out goings with �100 a week? I know a lot of peopel are a lot worse off and unemployed or low income, but they get all sorts of other benifits to compensate, mortages are paid etc. The tax issue is more of annoyance nealry half our wages go on tax and we dont get anything for it, no party is tax free either so its not like my vote can change anything..

[stoo_pid]

perhaps I've missed something here but we found that by far our biggest costs were nursery & childminding fees and travel to & from nursery / childminder - if your partner isn't working won't you save a small fortune by having the children at home?

[fever28]

Fair point, but if it all possible would rather the 3 year old stayed with his friends and occupied all day, there is a very good chance the new one will be via a c section and that means quite a while not being able to entertain a toddler all day every day, im dropping to a 4 day week to save a bit from nursery but anything more defeats te object.

[Kit]

Sometimes there is no help. My other half got made redundant a month after ours was born, so we went from 2 good jobs to none - and because it didn't happen in the reference year, we got not a single penny in tax credit. I stayed at home to look after littl'un while other half got back on his feet workwise. It's tough but survivable - and we really ate into the savings. Like you, we'd paid a lot of tax in our time, and yes it does feel unfair.

[vicars]

I guess your biggest outgoing is your mortgage - if you need to change it do it now with proof of income or fix it for 2-3 years in case rates rise and it becomes even more costly. As soon as your income drops you will not be able to do a lot.

[Gef]

Like fever28, I also pay tax but I seem to get something for it - defence, police, NHS, fire brigade, motorways etc etc. Seriously though lots of us have faced the same (or worse) difficulties whilst trying to bring up a family. All I can say is that all the sacrifices and debts were worth it and I"m sure that my three twenty or so year old children would agree.

[Tilly2201]

Hi there, I can completely understand what you are saying because I am in exactly the same position at the moment.  The only help I can give you is that Statutory Maternity Pay should be 90% of her salary for the 1st 6 weeks and the remainder (20 weeks) paid at �106.00 per week.  You will receive child benefit when baby comes and you can also claim for child tax credit.  At the moment I feel like my 16 year old neighbour who has just left school and never worked is entitled to more benefits than myself and I feel this is very unfair considering I have worked hard my entire life and I have paid tax and NI contributions but there you go and yes we do have services such as police, defence etc etc however it really does stick in my throat that certain individuals who have either never worked or are not prepared to work receive alot more support from the government at a time like this and they also receive the same services such as police and defence etc etc.