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mom on maternity leave
in General chat
Hi, I'm a mom of 5 months old boy. I'm on my maternity leave now and return to work on april. So far i get paid on maternity leave, child benefit and child tax credit.
my questions are, if i wont return to work can i claim any other benefit? My husband days off are changing every week, it will be hard to let my employer know what day i can work and i have to pay for mortgage.Am i entitle to any other benefits other than child benefit and CTX? 
Thanks 
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Replies
Hi there. I went back to work for 1 month so I didn't have to pay them back any maternity pay. After that I got nothing as I wasn't looking for work so can't get jobseekers. Lee isn't on a low enough wage for income support. Our tax credits did go up a little but not loads. If you are with Northern Rock for your mortgage it might be worth giving them a call as we got to take a 6 month payment holiday because we had had a baby. It's really tough when you don't go back to work and have a mortgage and not rent as there is little help available.
I hope you are ok. Let me know if you find anything.
Hi sym, thanks for reply. My mortgage with HSBC.
My friend never go to work and have 2 kids, she claim a lot of benefits and her total income is more than my family, for me it wasn't fair because me & my husband was working hard and we earn less then them
Is it different between child tax credit and working tax credit?
Thanks
We didn't qualify for working tax credit because that was assessed on the wage income. We only got child tax credit which was about £35 p/w when we had Mia after she turned 1. When we had Ava, I didn't know but you get a second child element which boosted it up by quite a lot more and doesn't drop as drastically when she turns 1.
I've been getting quite cross at the moment. There are so many people with both parents not working and they get so much but the minute one or both work it is a real struggle. We are having our first holiday this year in 7 years and some of my friends don't work and go abroad a few times a year. Madness.
Citizens Advice Bureau offer free advice and let you know which benefits you might be entitle to and how to claim them. They're quite good for stuff like that.