my girlfriend has recently had a baby just wondering what if any benefits shes entitled to currently shes getting Income support and child benefit is there any other benifits shes entitled to to help with the new born baby also does anybody know if we can get any help towards buying a cooker as we have just moved into a new 2bed flat with NO cooker whatsoever

Has your girlfriend claimed the Sure Start Maternity Grant yet?

The sure start maternity grant is a one off payment worth £500, from the social

fund, which does not have to be paid back. There is a low take up of the

maternity grant by people who qualify through tax credit entitlement. In some

areas the take up is as low as 50%.

The grant can be claimed from week 29 of pregnancy and up to three months

after the birth of the baby, or on the adoption of a child who is less than 12

months old. It can also be claimed for a child that is still born after 25 weeks of

pregnancy.

To qualify for the grant either partner must be claiming a qualifying benefit such

as:

• Income support

• Income based jobseekers allowance

• Child tax credit, which is being paid at a higher rate than the family

element only

• Working tax credit, which includes the disability or severe disability

element

• Pension credit

Procedure for claiming the Maternity Grant

• Fill in form SF100 through local jobcentre plus office or alternatively the

form can be downloaded from Jobcentre Plus

I've included a link which lists other benefits that she might entitled to.

http://www.eastriding.gov.uk/corp-docs/cis/Having%20a%20baby%20Entitlements%20&%20benefits.pdf

enamae

thanks for the quick reply as far as i know shes had the sure start maternity grant but reading through the link you posted she may be entitled to tax credits (something we never knew about)

so will be on the phone to them in the morning to Enquire about that one

once again thanks for the swift reply

If Income Support is paying for the baby then if she claims tax credits this will stop. You cant have both IS and CTC for the baby

im kind of confused with all this benefit lark after a phone call to the tax office this morning they confirmed that shes entitled to tax credits but after reading the last post will this tax credit application cancel out her Income support claim?? hope not cos the tax credits award is lower than income support can any 1 shed any light on this please

thanks in advance

They deduct the ammount of tax credit from your income support payment. You will get the difference between the tax credit and the income support you used to get paid as normal on income support day.

thanks for the quick reply`s people i appreciate it and sorry for asking what are prob very dumb questions but i dont know much about this subject at all lol

Not dumb question at all. I only know because mine recently changed:D

No you should get thse same from tax credits for your child as you get for the child off Income Support.

For Income support to be paying for children now your partner must have children born before 2004 and IS must be already be paying for them

If CTC gets awarded for the new baby then it will have to pay for any other children she may have on her claim.

You cant have both.

Lou has got it a bit wrong.

they dont deduct tax credits from yor IS

Have you any other children

all i know is that she was put on income support after jsa made her go on that after she was 29 weeks pregnant so today after some helpfull advice from this site (which i really appreciate) we rang tax credits and they said shes eligable for child tax credits

as far as i know income support are not paying her anything for the baby the income support payment is just for her

Woops. But it works out you get the same money, there just changing the way its paid and by who.

Hope so or mines still wrong

Mikey knows what hes talking about he helped me:D

No problem then should get about £57 ish off tax credits

Is she claiming for you

now i am confused over all this lol

guess i`ll just wait and see what shes awarded and will have to take it from there

her income support is £64 a week and what iv been told the child tax credit will be (Estimated) £63 pound a week

so if they deduct 1 from the other shes going to be 1 pound worse off lol

No she will get both

I.S for her £64.50

whatever they told her CTC you said £63

and child benefit of £20..

Sorry for confusion, thats my fault. I'll step back as I'm obviously still learning myself. Good luck with baby by the way:D

thanks again for the replys on this subject im glad you people know how this stuff works cos i really dont have a clue lol

shame the benefits people never tell you what your entitled to and what your not entitled to lol ah well guess in an ideal world this wouldn`t happen

Hope you ok Lou

and heard about your arrears

thanks for the good luck message loopinlouie i think im gonna need luck with the baby as its our 1st one and what a learning expreiance it is lolz

and i thought i knew what sleep depravation was untill baby was born hahaha

Yes Mikey will update later.

Mikey's spot on with the tax credit advice. You will get both the IS and CTC.

Just a reminder as i saw you were moving in together. remember to notify IS that you are now a couple living together and make sure you put both your names down on the tax credit claim.