Maternity Pay

[Cromiem]

Hi my wife was self employed before she had our son now the maternity pay is about to stop and she will no longer be going back to work for a while is there any other assistance we can receive as I am a low earner?

[Cromiem]

Forgot to say we also get child/tax credits also

[leemack]

Have you informed HMRC about your wife's amended income. Many people when calculating their yearly gross income, forget that they need to subtract the first £100 a week of maternity allowance (or the whole of the weekly payment if lower than £100 a week) from the year's gross income figure before giving it to HMRC. Also if your income this year will be lower than last years income then you may be entitled to increased tax credits by asking HMRC to base your award on this years predicted income, rather than last years. Of course if you already get the maximum it won't matter.

 

You also may be entitled to some help with rent or council tax if your income is low enough.

 

You can put the figures into this benefit checker to give you an idea.

 

http://www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx

[Nystagmite]

You may get help with council tax and if you rent, your rent.