Benefits Available (UK)

[retrodon73]

Hi
For a baby due in September, what would be the benefits available for a single mum who has been working (though not with the same employer long enough to be eligable for any emploter maternity pay) for the duration of her pregnancy and still is?
I understand she wiill be entitled to 20 weeks state maternity pay and working tax credits once she returns to work, but what of housing benefit and other entitlements?

[zelda]

You probably need to look at the site for the department for work and pensions. Only they can tell you how much you are entitled to as it depends on an evaluation of your circumstances. You don't get anything automatically, you have to apply. The citizen's advice bureau can help explain things for you.

For housing benefit they take into account how much the residents of your dwelling are earning, if the house is appropriate for a family of your size etc. If you are fairly comfortable you will obviously get less than a family in abject poverty. And yes I think single parents get a premium of about £20 per week.

I personally find it quite saddening that you are already budgeting in hand-outs from the state. Surely a responsible parent will have been saving to ensure that their child is well provided for?

[xXx.Lesley.xXx]

You need to go to your local council to see about housing benefit and council tax benefit.

Lastly who the hell do you think you are zelda! This lady works but after having her baby she will need maternity pay. The money she gets will not cover her full rent and council tax as well as everything else she needs in the first few month of the baby being born.

Being a responsable parent is doing what is right, and if that means asking for help then good on her for doing that. There is hundreds of people don't get the money they are entitled to due to the fact they are scared of getting looked down upon by small minded people like you.

[zelda]

Well, Lesley, that's what I'm talking about... this 'entitlement' culture. By virtue of having a baby people thing they are entitled to all sorts of things, not just what they are allowed under the law but more generally in society, i.e. taking liberties at work because they now have the baby as an excuse.

I personally don't agree with it. Ideally, benefits should be a last resort for people who are in desperate need, not for people who can't plan and save for their future children properly. If anything it incentivises having more children when one cannot afford them because people think they can rely on benefits.

Yes, there is a case for parents who find themselves in desperate need to claim when they really need to ask for help and they shouldn't be afraid of doing that. But IMHO there's no excuse for planning to rely on benefits to support your child. Pregnancies can be planned and I find it amazing that in this day and age people can just -oops!- find themselves pregnant. So yes, in some ways I do look down on people who blatantly do not care enough for their future children to plan and save properly. It just seems that they aren't being responsible parents. I think the stigma associated with being on benefits are caused in part by people who think they are entitled to sit around and pop out as many kids as they link and the government will pay for them.

[The-Prophet]

zelda you know why the government is doing this, its because in the long run more children is BETTER for the economic growth of the country. so by people having more children the country is better off. oh and alot of people are choosing not to have children.

[zelda]

Well, prophet, that is a whole other argument. As far as that goes, I would say that the growth of a country depends on as supply of well-educated, employable workers who aren't a drain on public resources. It's my fear that in incentivising having children on state hand-out we are creating a nation of children who grow up and feel entitled to do the same, because their parents did it, and so on. It creates a cycle of dependence.

But my main point that it does not show good parental responsibility to be relying on benefits from the get-go. It just doesn't show much planning or foresight on the part of the parent. My parents saved for my birth and I'm glad that they did. They weren't rich and it wasn't down to luck, they just planned and used birth control until they felt they had enough resources to cope with a baby. It's called personal responsibility and there's far too little of it around nowadays.

[The-Prophet]

thats a fair enough view zelda. i shall think on it a bit, i'm not likly to post again as i'll only do it if i feel i can argue agaist what you just said.

[xXx.Lesley.xXx]

It's my fear that in incentivising having children on state hand-out we are creating a nation of children who grow up and feel entitled to do the same, because their parents did it, and so on. It creates a cycle of dependence.

My dad left my mum when I was 6 month old. She had the 3 of us. Aged 3, 2 and 6 month. He never ever paid a penny towards our upbringing. He didn't even bother visiting us. Anyways, my mum claimed Income Support while we were young. Back then they had no such thing as Tax Credits to pay for child minders, and top your income up. When I was at school full time my mum got a job that she could fit around school times. It was cleaning. Not much but it was something at least. By the end of the week she was gettin less than £70 to support herself and 3 children. If it wasn't or the fact the council was paying most of our rent we would of lost our home.

If I am ever in need of benefits I will get them. Not because my mum did it, but because they are there to help you. Just because my mum did something does not mean I am going to do the same. Growing up living on very little would make you more determaned to provide a good life and a good income for your own children. It has with me.

But my main point that it does not show good parental responsibility to be relying on benefits from the get-go.

All this lady asked is what help she can get while on maternity leave. You do not know her circumstances so don't judge her.

It just doesn't show much planning or foresight on the part of the parent. My parents saved for my birth and I'm glad that they did. They weren't rich and it wasn't down to luck, they just planned and used birth control until they felt they had enough resources to cope with a baby. It's called personal responsibility and there's far too little of it around nowadays.

A lot of pregnancies are unplanned. How can you save for something that you didn't expect to happen? I was using birth control when I fell pregnant with my 1st baby. I had the pill injection but it didn't work. I have also fell pregnant when I've had the coil in.

I suppose I am lucky in a way. My partner has a good paid job so we don't need to claim anything, so I get away with not being looked down on by people who fail to grasp the fact that mistakes can happen.

[retrodon73]

Thanks Lesley!
The initial question was asked on behalf on a female friend who is expecting next month and has not planned on "scrounging" but, in light of the fact that the unstable relationship she was in has broken down (for the best I believe, for her and the baby) and her recent employment has only been fairly low-paid jobs, the duration of which was mere months (and, for what it's worth, the pregnancy was unplanned), advice was sought as to her state entitlements. She is not happy to be in the situation of reliance on the state (and she is not totally, still doing a full working week at 36 weeks) but as I have told her, she needs to know what she can get for piece of mind if nothing else.
It is not mine, nor anybody elses, business to comment on the situation it is a matter of helping her help herself to what she is entitled (having paid her tax and n.i. since she was 16) so that her life and that of the baby suffer minimal disruption and discomfort.

[LINDILOU]

As a lone parent advisor at a Jobcentre I am pleased to see that the lady concerned is looking at all her options. Its not just single mothers who claim from the state. My husb and I receive WTC and CTC.
Loads of single mums work and claim help with rent and tax credits- GOOD LUCK TO THEM!!!!!!!!!

[fairytale05]

I agree with Lesley on this one.
Whilst I agree that there are people out there who 'play' the benefits system of our Government to their own advantage, I think it was harsh to immediately accuse the original poster of being one of these.

Yes, educational awareness of the importance of contraception has improved in this day and age, and with the readiness of the morning after pill (good or bad - debatable) unplanned babies could be argued to come with little excuse. Having said that, not all protection is reliable, and unplanned babies can come along through no fault of the parents.

However, I think zelda was perhaps referring to teenage parents or parents too immature to consider protection during their sexual relations. And to this, I think more people should respect the fact that they are going through with the pregnancy at all. No, relying on government benefits is not an 'ideal' way to bring up a child. But abortion is a method too readily available, and for the hundreds of women desperate for a child, it seems unfair. A member of my family has gone through a lot of problems with infertility and IVF, yet the media show everyday that teenagers and parents can get abortions pretty much by saying to the doctor that they wouldn't be able to cope. I don't want to generalise and I'm sure many people have genuine reasons to want an abortion. All I'm saying is hats off to those who carry through with the pregnancy, and bring a healthy child into this world. Don't solely judge them on the fact they need financial support. It may seem like the 'easy' option, but surely the easy option would have been to not carry through with the pregnancy at all. I say congratulations and good luck with the baby.