Sure start maternity grant!!!

[hayley]

How would I find out if i'm eligible for childrens tax credit or working tax credit. I have no idea what these stand for. I work full time and DH is self employed. Will the wage accountant at work just give me childrens tax credit when i go on maturnity leave or will i have to apply for it?

Also I'm paying back my goverment student loan which is £50 a month - (a lot I know.. tut tut - but it comes out my wages before i even get them - like national insurance) when I go on maturnity leave will i have to keep paying £50 a month? seems alot if maturnity pay is just over £100 a week....

Sorry I have another question... when we're on maturnity leave and picking up maturnity pay do we still have to pay tax and national insuranace - I can't see this £100 a week going far!

I also get really annoyed that we work full time, pay our national insurance and tax - then when we're off having a baby we get no help at all.....

 

Maternity pay isn't taxed or NI taken from it.

This site should be able to help you more regardibg tax credits.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/MoneyTaxAndBen ... port/fs/en

You claim this from the government and based on yours and your partners earnings, they tell you if your entitled to it or not (Child tax and Working tax credits).

hth x

 

[tracyM]

sami,

if you give tax credits a ring (if you've got hours to spare while they answer that is!!!) and tell them your circumstances have changed, they should adjust your claim now to include damien which will then include the child tax component and you can apply for the grant. the cut off is something like £60,000 per year to get the child component.

When we phoned up, it only took them a few days to send us the paperwork showing our new entitlement so we could apply for the grant

It drove me mad trying to sort it all out - I really didn't want to take maternity leave but by doing so for just a few weeks it's made us loads better off - it makes you wonder if it's really worth working sometimes.

Tracy xx

 

[weestar21]

hi traci i totaly agree with u on weather it is worth your while working but last year my oartner lost his job because he was training to be a driving instructor i was working but wages were crap i was lucky if i was getting £160 a fortnight we lost our house because he was unemplyeed for 6 months all we got from benefits was £68 job seekers allowance to keep me him and adele plus to pay the house and all the other bills. i think its shocking the way the system works!!

finnaly we are getting back on our feet but im not working now lost my job because im pregnant i tried sewing them but didnt have a leg to stand on and as for the maternity allowance i should be entitle to it but my last emplyer payed me cash in hand i didnt know i wasnt through teh books untill i aplied for maternity allowance now because they are refusing to sign a forum saying i worked their for 8 months im not getting it im so gutted!!!!!!

prob my own fault for being stupid working as a cleaner and accepting cash in hand i should have knowing better but im suffering for it now because something i am entitle to i should be getting but because of them basicly i have to go whistle for it. what makes it even worse is they said if i go tell the inland revenue that they havent been paying any of my contributions or tax they said they will deny i ever worked for them so i have no proof what so ever of me working for them

 

[Amanda]

Sami - thanks for the link. I've checked it out and we may get more.

As the amount of tax credit you get depends on your annual income (or joint income if you are part of a couple), you should tell HMRC about changes to your income.

If you expect your income for the year to be less than your income for the previous year, you may be entitled to extra money.



I'm the major wage earner, and once I go on maternity leave, my allowance and my DH's wages will not even cover the bills, ever mind any food. Looks like we may at least be able to get some help. Fingers crossed as we're hoping to buy a house before the baby is born. If the worse comes to the worse, I'll just have to come back work before the 6 months if up.

Hayley - If you speak to the student loan people, you should be able to freeze it for a while. After all, you are supposed to be on a certain wage before you have to start paying it back, and you won't be on that in 2006!! And you will have to apply for everything. The only thing that the government does automatically is to STOP your child benefit once they are 16!!!! Speaking of child benefit (pittance!), I didn't realise that it is less for your second child. Does the second one cost less than the first?? I think not!!!

Weestar - you sound like you are really going through it at the minute. Have you tried getting in touch with the Citizens Advice Bureau? What your ex-employer has done to you is awful! You should be able to really get them in trouble with the tax people for this. How many other people are they screwing over???

 

that means we may get more too tankett - never saw that before.
should I re-apply?!!

tracyM - i wasnt on credits before hun. im under 25 so for some reason that on its own made me and mark not eligable - grrrr

 

[Amanda]

Definitely reapply Sami, they can only say No.

How can you not be eligible when you are under 25??? Another STUPID government rule. On one hand you hear all these reports about how bad it is for women to leave it late to have children, then you can't get the tax credits if you are young!!!!

 

[weestar21]

tankett

yes ive been to citizens advice all they said was its my word agains them and clyde property being such a large company they will win hands down. i only worked their for 8 months and their was an old lasy who worked their for 13 years and retired i got her job. She was also paid cash in hand so im guessing she was teh same as me they didnt inform the inland revenue. only thing that C.A said to me that was if i could get her to back me up i might have a case but i only met her twice dont know anything about her where she lives ect so i just need to face up to reality and learn that never to take a job again that pays cash in hand. I just thought with them being suck a huge company everything would have been legal but turned out not to be and now im suffering for it.

just hope i win the lottery soon....lol (dreams on yet again)

 

[weestar21]

sami

im only 21 hun i get childrens tax credits in my name and my partner gets working tax credits in his name cos he works.
whoever told u you cant get it because your under 25 is talking crap call them again and demand to speak to a supervisor all these wee people that just look at a computer and says the computer says no (little britain...lol) needs a good slap!!

try again hun and keep trying you are entitle to it lets face it all these junkies perverts and so on get everything!!!!!! makes me sick

 

sami

im only 21 hun i get childrens tax credits in my name and my partner gets working tax credits in his name cos he works.
whoever told u you cant get it because your under 25 is talking crap call them again and demand to speak to a supervisor all these wee people that just look at a computer and says the computer says no (little britain...lol) needs a good slap!!

try again hun and keep trying you are entitle to it lets face it all these junkies perverts and so on get everything!!!!!! makes me sick

PMSL laughing at the Little Britain quote!! hahahahaha

Rang them up again and the claim is going through. They have based our eligibility on my taxble pay from April '04 - April '05 (which was £8,500) BUT I have £7k less taxable pay this year and it obviously won't change before the end of the tax year because I'm on MA so they are going to base it on £1,500 instead which means more money - yippee!!

Still waiting to hear about my sure start appeal - PLEASE let me get it!! Don't mean to be greedy but.....

 

[weestar21]

listen sami no way are you greedy your only claiming for what you are entitle to just a shame the system is so fucked up to busy helping out all the junkies and so on

ive got my fingers and toes and legs crossed for ya hun hope u get it!!

im feeling really down today about the whole money situation and ive been having pains too think im stressing to much.
feel like my pelvis is going to snap when i stand its sooooo painfull ive got the midwife tomorrow so hopefully they will tell me whats up.

take care let me know as soon as you hear about your apeal
xxxx

 

[tracyM]

Is it just my job centre that has all the chairs bolted to the floor and screens protecting the staff???? I did used to wonder why, but now I understand.

Almost 7 weeks and we're still waiting for MA - wondering if throwing a few chairs around might help. Spoke to them on Monday to let them know I'd gone back to work - but I'm not allowed to tell them that until we hear about the claim . At least they told me the cause of the delay - Alex arrived early and over Christmas / New Year, in between me applying and the claim going through so my test period changed, and the number of weeks I was self employed / employed has to be changed.

<sarcasm>we must tell our babies to arrive on time, we musn't get pregnant in April / May just in case, and we musn't change jobs in the 66 weeks before having a baby!!!!</sarcasm>

Tracy xx

 

[lauramumof2]

Our job centre is also like this but my sister who claims jsa says it makes her feel safer when she goes in. She claims jsa because she is registered blind but wants a job and they do nothing to help her. She has a sort of person to help but you could get an audience with the pope quicker than get in touch with this person.
Anyway, thats off the point but I really get annoyed with the jobcentre on every level.

Grrrrr

 

[Amanda]

Sami - I'm really chuffed you rang them again. You should be getting much more money, and this way, it should be backdated!!! Let us know how you get on.

 

[Dee1985]

hi i wrk 22hrs a week and get £11,000 a yr and get wrkin tax and child tax credits will i be intitled to the grant does any one no???

 

[weestar21]

dionne all u can do hun is apply for it the worst they can say is NO.
still think its crazy how the system works where u need to be a junkie, pervert have a drink problem or just tell loads of lies to get any money what so ever from teh social security.

give them a call or go to your local job centre and let me know hoe you get on hun.

take care xx

 

[Dee1985]

cheers for that hun.. b wkd if i got it could realy do with it x x x

 

[weestar21]

Every penny helps hun when it comes to having a baby. i'll keep my fingers legs and toes crossed you get it. Let me know as soon as you hear anything

 

[Amanda]

I had a good one last week......

For the past couple of months, the Tax Credit peeps have been writing to me saying that I was overpaid by £55.70 in 2004-2005 and they would contact me shortly to let me know how to repay it. I got the letter on Thursday with a Giro asking me to pay it. That same evening, I received a call from someone at Tax Credits asking me to confirm my earnings for 2003-2004 as they were currently closing off my claim for 2004-2005. I confirmed my earnings to him, then asked how they could write to ask for money back when they hadn't even closed the year off yet!! He had no idea but told me to phone the helpdesk on Friday.

I did, and it turns out I do owe them the money, this was basically the stamp on the form to say everything was corect. Anyway....... The good thing is that he then happened to say that my claim for this year had now been closed and I wouldn't be receiving any more money until the new claim started in April. I knew nothing about this, and pointed out that I had only got £400 something so far and the minimum is at least £545 (or near enough). He agreed, looked into it and said I am still owed £118!!! He's now put in a new claim for me, but if I hadn't said anything, would I have this?????

As he was being so helpful, I asked him about extra money on Maternity leave. He checked what DH's wages are and said he couldn't give me exact amounts, but I would definitely be entitled to "much more" that we currently get!! Horray!!!! And he than said that I was not to forget to apply for the Sure Start Maternity Grant as well as he thinks we should get that as well.

Life isn't so bad after all!!!!

 

[weestar21]

Thats great hun glad you got somewhere with tax credits. At my end with tax credits its all a big fcuk up...lol excuse the language but we got out a summary fo the year and on it saying i was earning over 30,000 and my partner was earning something like 12,000 now if this was the case i would be aplying for tax credits...lol i wasnt even earning 5,000 let alone 30,000.

anyway we called then up and told them it was all worng and gave them our total incomes for the year and that was fine thought it would all get sorted as they stopped our money just before x mas.

got the new award in today saying that we owe them 2500 they have over paid us and they still have me earning 13,000 i dont work and havent done since septemeber so gawd only knows how they get these figures its all messed up.

called them today and told them once again out total income so hopefully 3 rd time lucky it will be sorted dont want to call them with all this going on and having to tell them we have a new baby aswell think that would be to confussing for them to work out....lol

will let yous know as soon as i hear anything