talizman

iTrader: (1)

My missus is due to have our first sprog soon, and we have just found out that her fantastic employer only pays her for 6 weeks of her leave at 90%. She then drops to £106 per week for up to 20 more weeks. (Statutory maternity pay)

How the hell is anyone meant to survive on £100 per week?

Are there any benefits that families are entitled to, to make this paltry sum get even remotely closer to her current salary?

We both imagined that she'd stay off for between 4-6 months, however this may not be the case now......

Anyone?

fast bloke

I don't mean to be snotty, but why don't you keep her instead of me keeping her?

talizman

iTrader: (1)

If I had a salary as good as yours obviously is, I would

fast bloke

SO if you can't afford to have kids why rely on the state? how many steps are you from 6 kids and two unemployed parents getting 35k on benefits?

talizman

iTrader: (1)

So I can't afford to have kids now?

Typical ScoobyNet response I suppose.

fast bloke

erm- it seems that you are the one who created a post looking for a handout - think of how this might be funded?

talizman

iTrader: (1)

I am not asking for any handouts, I'm merely asking for advice on ENTITLEMENTS.

My wife and I have both paid tax and N.I. since we left school, so I don't see a problem in getting something back instead of giving all the time.

Cheers for making us feel/appear like bloodsucking layabouts though....

fast bloke

Unfortunately what you pay in and what you get out doesn't balance. I paid over 20k in tax and NI in 2001. When the company went down the tubes in 2002 I was 'on the dole' for 5 weeks. I got a grand sum of £54.00 a week. A bit sh1ty if you consider what I paid in, but a bonus if you consider the motivation it gave me. I don't want to make you seem like bloodsucking layabouts, but I know that before we decided to try for kids, we looked into all the implications and worked out a way to fund it ourselves. In fact, we fund everything ourselves, so if you can arrange it, I would like to opt out of tax and NI - it seems that I have to support my own wife and kids as well as everyone else who can't afford to support their own

Iwan

No offence to you but I sort of agree with FB, I personally don't think the government/state should pay anyone to have kids since it's a lifestyle choice. I mean I wouldn't get paid leave for 6 months if I decided to leave my job and go do charity work for 6 months etc - then expect my work to hold my job open if/when I decided to go back.

Regarding your original questions, I Imagine the CAB would be able to tell you exactly what you are or aren't entitled to claim.

Brit_in_Japan

Not an expert, but Family Credit should guarantee a minimum income. I have no knowledge of what this might be or how to apply.

Regards what it costs to have a kid, from my sister's experience I'd say don't go overboard spending lots on baby clothes, toys etc, you will be surprised how much stuff you will be given by family and friends.

The one thing it's not worth skimping on is a new rearward facing child seat. Never accept a 2nd hand one, you don't know the history.

m111usy

Me and the missus had a combined wage of £44,000 pound and this is what we got when our daughter was born 1 year ago.

You'll be entitled to a paltry £18 a week for family allowance, £80 a month to help out with childcare fee's once your missus place of work stop paying her maternity leave......but thats only for the first year.

After you son/daughter turns 1 the amount of family allowance stays at £18 but the cost to help out with childcare per month reduce to £30/£40.

The way things are set up in this country really does make me sick.
Seems if you dont bother trying at school and dont bother getting a job the government will give you a very cushty lifestyle for free.

Its amazing just how much the government pay you if your combined wages are less than 15k or your on disabilty benefit /jobseekers allowance etc...............go onto the government child benefit website and put a few figures in......makes you sick!

My partner now works 2 days a week and the childcare for these 2 days is £80, so the help with childcare payment she gets only covers 1 week child care out of the month.

If she wanted to go back for an extra day the amount of child benefit doesnt increase....stays the same.

To work out what It'll be like finacially, work out whether you can sustain yourself, your missus and your baby and everthing else thats comes with it (food, cloths, mortgage, bills, loans etc).
Then with what your missus earns from going back to work and in child benefit this should pay your childcare costs and you missus will have a few hundred in her bank each month for herself......thats how me and the missus work it.

so first year you be looking at roughly £140 a month thats providing you pay for child care.
and after that it reduces to around £80 a month.


My advice would be for you and your missus to quit work / be on the dole / claim incapacity benefit......you'd be far better off + you'd have the bonus of being with your child everyday as you dont have to send them to a nursery.
.....LOL

Leslie

The point is that if you can't afford to have children without relying on the State to support them then is it right to have them?

Years ago there was no such thing as maternity benefits whatsoever but parents still had their children and made the relevant sacrifices in order to do so. I think you are doing very well to get £100 a week paid for by the taxpayer. If it is that difficult then you may have to give up a few luxuries so that you can manage.

Les

Diablo

Might have been a plan to find out what the financials were before deciding to have a baby mate.

If you both need to work full time to maintain your standard of living then (IMO) starting a family was not particularly clever.

Or you change your standard of living.

m111usy

In his deffence though......not all children are planned, and not everyone is in the situtaion where they are prepared to terminate a life just because It'll be stuggle for the first 5 years.

6 weeks 90% pay from emplyer is fairly standard i think....thats what my missus got.

TBH mate i wouldnt worry.......Having a child more than makes up for lack of money / not being able to go out every night:>

amazinggrace

Im with you on this. My partner and I won't be having children but the goverment and my employer didn't give me money and time off when we got our kittens (they are my babies) There are millions of children around the world suffering and in need of familys, but no, people forget about them. They are consummed with having a child of their own, and getting the govement to pay them for it is taking this country for a ride.

This is my h'penny worth, call me an evil moo if you want, but we are all entitled to an opinion of our own.

Shonen

Well Said. To be honest I wouldnt worry about it too much as you will manage. You may not think it now but you will always find money for nappies and formula. As to your question about benefits, it all depends on your wage. At least you are working and supporting your family. Maybe some of the scoobynetters on here would prefer it if you didnt work and sponged off the state?

Jamo

iTrader: (23)

firstly let me say I am shocked by the replies from fast bloke.

your one of the few people on here I thought were sound, you should be ashamed of your replies imho!!

secondly talizman, congratulations on your baby

we are in exactly the same position at the minute, and this was a thread I thought about posting myself, we are in a similar position but not exactly the same, I also maybe losing my job, and am yet to find out, so it could be very bad for us.

its a worrying time.

tali if you find anything out will you pm me please mate

m111usy

yuo can tell who are fathers on this thread.......LOL

OllyK

Err - how much planning did you actually do before you dropped your muck in the misses? You may not intend to, but you come across as a scrounger. "We decided to get the misses up the duff as there's cash to be had, how much can we get?"

If you had explained what provision you have made, how you have planned and how you made a mistake in your calculations, people may have a little more sympathy, not much mind, but a little.

Hanley

My wife and I had our first son 5 months ago, wife is getting standard maternity pay now but she is taking 12 months off so for the last 6 months she won't get anything.

My wife earns over 24k a year so it's quite a loss, however, we saved enough to cover her salary for that amount of time.

Worth every penny though

m111usy

come on......no need for this.

Mistakes happen and he's just wanting to know if he's entitled to any help.

By the fact that he works i wouldnt exactley call him a scrounger.
If he came on here and said 'me and my partner dont work, what will we get in handouts from the government' it would be another story.

but he isnt.........so take it easy and stop getting so wound up.

OllyK

Amazing what can be done with a little fore thought and planning, well done and good luck!!

cookstar

iTrader: (6)

By the way, congrats on your up and coming addition to your family.


Secondly, to those of you who think that claiming maternity/family allowance is wrong then that is out of order IMO.

If you had a car accident for example, you would be picked up, fixed up and looked after. This is funded by the government to but i doubt if anyone would refuse this come the time.



Just seems like another thread with "I'm better than you" responses

OllyK

He hasn't stated if it was a mistake or planned, you seem to be making his excuses for him. I'm asking what planning he has done, either prior to the pregnancy or once he knew, if the answer is none, I have no sympathy whatsoever.

OllyK

No - most people don't "choose" to have a car accident. Having a child is a choice. OK, you may claim "un-planned pregnancy" but there are still choices at various stages from coitus right through to birth and even slightly beyond. It would seem that most people who have an unplanned pregnancy expect the state to pick up the pieces rather than considering alternative courses of action.

cookstar

iTrader: (6)

well when i had my son, he was'nt planned, other half took full maternity benefit from where she works, i saw/see no problem with this.

The benefit system is there for a reason, if used properly and fairly is is to help people that need and deserve it.

People fought for years to obtain such a system to look after our felow countryman/women, if its there it should be used. (Not abused)


Not everybody in this country can afford to start a family off their own finances entirely. I wonder how many of our parent could have afforded US at the time, along with the huge strain todyas property prices put on our outgoings.

Mrs WRX

So what would you prefer Olly? For somebody who is working and his wife is having a baby to ask about a bit extra financial help while she is on maternity leave or somebody like my friend who is on long term sick (and I use the term sick loosely) he and his wife have 4 kids and are trying for another because she is bored at home cause the little one has started school. She had never worked a day in her life and he is not much better. At least this blokes wife is working and paid into the system.

mightyyid

Chaps

You should also think that we in the UK are lucky - the USA and Australia for example have no maternity benefits given at all - you leave, they stop paying you but hold your job open. So anything is a bonus.

We had our first child 1 year ago and given that we had a combined salary that was very nice (I'll not say how much though) and that meant we had a good life. It was shock to suddenly lose half of that when one stops working - I know its fine for people to say you were earning loads, and yes, we were, but it also means it's a bigger amount to lose when you stop earning. It did mean that the Porsche I had then had to go as the repayments when we were both earning was fine (and she had no intention of going back to work) so we knew it was for good - hence a Scoob, my solitary concession! We saved once we knew she was pregnant but then we could. We have now just found out that number 2 is on its way, and they'll be no saving done now, as we've less than we had, although fortunately a few promotions have helped me.

The state does pay out limited amounts but it is better than others - Australia, for example, makes no concessions for prescriptions etc - you pay the same whereas you or your missus anyway, will get free prescriptions for her and the kid when he/she arrives.

It's not all doom and gloom, but your life changes not just because you have a child but because you suddenly stop a salary yet have more outgoings. But the benefits outweigh the savings.

I think it was a fair question to ask though, but you cannot say that because you have paid in x amount, you should get more back (although I understand the logic), because then you bring in the whole smokers issue, etc etc.

Think of it as a benefit compared to other countries if you like...

Congrats on the new arrival by the way! Great news.

mightyyid

Besides, anyone who say Wife Swap the other day, where two parents and their 5 kids felt, at the start anyway, that because they have a family, they deserve to stay at home and look after them and live on benefits. This is where I get annoyed and epitomises the case of people sponging off the state. She had the audacity at one point to say "It' doesn't cost you anything - it's the state money. That's why it's called state benefits". Lovely!

OllyK

Yes but I want a Mclaren F1, I can't afford one of those, why can't the state fund it for me. OK it's my choice to want something beyond my means, but it's only fair that everybody else should fund it for me.

Kids are a choice, yes if you fall on hard times once you have had the child then yes the state should provide support, but I'd like to see that in the form of food / nappy / child care vouchers and not beer tokens. I don't see why the state should pay from day one, just because people fail to plan and make provision to fund their choices.