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Would I be entitled to any benefits?

Hi girls,



I am not pregnant but g/c as though you ladies would be clued in on the current maternity benefit rules. Anyway long story short hubby and I are living abroad but want to move to UK in the next year (both british anyway so wanna get back home!) We are thinking of waiting until back before ttc but time is a ticking for me (or at least I feel it is!). So if we move back I know I would have have been in work 26 weeks by the 15th week before my due date (if I got that right). But do you know if I'd be entitled to anything is I was pregnant when started a new UK job or if I decided not to work until after baby born?



Also how long generally do you have to be with an employer before they give you their own more generous maternity leave (I know not all employers do but for those who did)?



Thanks in advance for your help!

Replies

  • hi, im g/c too but seen your post.

    if your hubby gets a job and you decide to wait until baby is born you could claim working tax credits (depending how much he earns) and once baby is here you can get child tax credits. if you are acitivly seeking work you can put in a claim for job seekers but again it would depend on i your hubby was working and stuff.

    if you are going to rent and only one of you is working, again depending on how much the income is, you can apply for council tax beneifit and also housing benifit.

    be warned they are clamping down very very hard on people not working and they are not so giving with beneifits now so you may have to prove why you have decided not to work.

    with your question about extra maternity pay, all i know is the nhs will pay more maternity money if you have been working for them for a year before getting pregnant but the clause is that ypou MUST return to work for them for 3 months after your maternity leave or pay back to money (anything above statatory maternity pay- speaking from experienceimage )

    good luck with your move back home x
  • Thanks iwantanotherpls (hope you get another soon!). I probably should have been more specific I really did just mean the SMP part of benefits in the first 6-9 months post-birth (and I guess the month before birth too). I wouldn't feel right about taking any other benefits if I decided not to work as that would be my choice and up to me to fund. I guess I am just wondering what maternity payments if any I would be entitled to. Basically I want to start trying asap on return to the UK and would love FT job and then to go PT once baby arrives (all going well!) but I feel that I don't want to screw a new employer over by starting and then announcing pregnant within a few months of joining them!



    Interesting about NHS being a year before entitled to extra - I guess most public employers will be able the same and guessing private will be same or even longer. I am thinking there is no way I will get that unless ttc takes quite a while which it might do.
  • hello,



    i started a new job at 6 weeks pregnant and am currently on maternity leave, i get SMP which is just over ??500 a month, theres quite a lot of info here about entitlement



    http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Expectingorbringingupchildren/DG_10018741



    like iwantanotherpls has said there are tax credits you may be entitled to if one of you is working as well as help with childcare costs although this is dependant on income, i think the new threshhold is income under 40k although its familys i think on 16k or less that get more help understandably, there is child benefit that everyone gets that is about ??20 a month although they want to phase this out from next year



    HTH
  • Thanks piggypops - I really thought there was no SMP if you were pregnant before starting a new job so I am pleased to read your post. Can I ask whether your new employer knew you were pregnant when they hired you? How did it work out when you told them you'd be on mat leave so soon after joining? I guess that worried me most.
  • luckily i worked for the company before so knew them well, they didnt know until i started although pretty much told them striaght away as i have a high risk job and needed them to know, they were fine, i only worked part time so i dont think it was too much of a problem as they didnt need to cover me, they also dont pay the SMP themselves



    the company is on dodgy ground if they were to be funny about a pregnancy so very few would risk not being nice!



    you can also apply for maternity allowance if your company cant give you smp thats in the link too,
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