What Entitlement/benefits Can We Get? (baby)

[BIG SPUDS]

Thanks for the last lot of replies Re: Claming child benefit.

I just have a few more questions that i cant seem to find the answers.

1. Child benefit, i can claim as a British citizen being the father. But when do i make the application? Am i right in thinking its when the baby is born?

2. Maternity pay/leave. My Wife works and has been working since November. Will she be entilted to maternity pay? Is maternity pay classed as public funds (same as above?) I understand the british mother is entitled to get payed by the employer if she has worked for the previous 26 weeks (for the company) before 15 weeks before the baby is due. Is this the same for my Thai wife? Maternity leave, if she does not get paid is she entiltled to time off, time off that will not affect her job, ie will not get sacked for time off?

2a. I am entitled to time off when the baby is born, how long is this and is it paid?

3. What is working tax credit?

4. I want to take out some kind of insurance covering me and the Mrs should one of us or both of us die. Can any one advise? What is an endowment policy? (sorry to seem thick but i have never had to deal with anything like this before but now the family is growing, time to learn)

5. If there is anything else we are entilted to, or we should do please advise, as im only a learner!!!!!

[BIG SPUDS]

somebody must know something!

Scouse?

[caledonia]

Okay I know some of this but not all

1) You apply when the baby is born as you need to send the Original Birth certificate with the application. You are given a pack from the hospital in the UK that contains information on how to apply along with the info on registering the baby.

2) Not sure what rights your wife has - I would assume she will be entitiled to what every other female is offerred by her employer. Some employers pay you full pay for the first 3 months, some only top up stat maternity benefit, some don't give anything over stat maternity benefit. Whether your wife is entitled to stat maternity benefit I do not know but regardless she should be entitled to up to 12 months off work without her employment being affected. In most cases the last 6 months are not paid with the weeks running up to that being made up of stat maternity benefit - which the more I think about it the more I think your wife may not be entitled to. BUT her rights within her employment are seperate to this. Your wife's employers should have all the answers on this and if they are unsure check with the CAB. If she works for a small scale employer they themselves may not know the situation! Although they should!

2b)You are entitled to time off - I think paternity pay just got upped to two weeks aswell. Not sure if it is paid though - might depend on your employer.

3)Working Tax credit is for those on low incomes (less than approx 11,000 pound for singles and approx 18,000 for couples without children). What you may be more interested in is Child Tax Credit - it gets mistaken for Working Tax Credit a lot of the time but they are actually two different things (often with payments lumped together hence the confusion).

Either way any family with a combined income of less than 58,000 are entitled to something. Child care costs are also taken into acocunt. So basically if you and your wife earn less than 58,000 between you then you will be entitiled to an element of Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit! Again this is applied for after the baby's birth and again the original birth certificate is required (along with proof of income for the last tax year). You will need to apply for this as your wife will not be eligible, all they ask is that the baby's main carer receives the money - I don't think they will question who exactly that is!!

4) Sounds like you are wanting to take out normal life assurance or a combination of life assurance and critical illness cover. An endowment policy is a bit different in that it is for a fixed term normally and is invested - so the value of your money can go up or down (as all these folk with endowment mortgages are starting to discover!!). Normally if you cash in an endowment policy before it's term you loose a lot of the value and to be honest they are not very popular these days as returns have not been good for a few years now. Normal Life assurance is just that -if anything happens to you or your wife then a lump sum is paid out. If you are not very clued up then go see an IFA - they normally cost nothing as the Insurance company 'pays' them through commission on bringing them business.

5) Not anything else I can think of - basics are family benefit and child/working tax credit. Your wife is working so is not entitled to milk tokens or a sure start maternity grant - although I am not sure whether she could have got those given her immigration status anyway. Your baby will ofcourse be entitiled to the new child trust fund payment of 200-500 hundred pound depending on your circumstances.

Anyway what i would say is don't worry about all these things - that is what your wives Health Visitor and Maternity staff can also help with - they see new parents everyday and no one has a clue first time round. I just deal with this everyday in my job - but I am mostly dealing with people on benefits hence being a bit rusty on work rights!! (not having had a baby yet myself!).

All the best for your wifes pregnancy, those nine months sure do fly!!

Any other questions feel free to ask.

[marshbags]

Any other questions feel free to ask.

[/quote

What are the qualifications for child tax credit please and entitlements.

And additional info also advice for C.T.credit.

thank you

marshbags

[BIG SPUDS]

Thanks alot caledonia much appreciated!

[caledonia]

Well I was about to post the link to the EXCELLENT tax credits calculator that they had on the Inland Revenue but seems it has been taken off as they were getting a lot of fake application through the net!! hmmmmm

Here is the link anyway - has handy numbers on it!

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxcredits/downtime.htm

Marshbags I am not sure what requirements you mean - basically for working tax credit you need to be working more than 16 hours a week, for help with child care one parent needs to be working more than 16 hours a week and have the family needs a combined income of less than 58,000 (although I figure 40,000 to 58,000 prob wouldn't get very much!!). As I said earlier - really not sure how immigration status affects all this but as lone parents can claim I imagine at the very least the parent who is British can apply themselves!

The advice line is very good - they should help with specifics!

Just a shame the on-line calculator is off!!!

[marshbags]

Well I was about to post the link to the EXCELLENT tax credits calculator that they had on the Inland Revenue but seems it has been taken off as they were getting a lot of fake application through the net!! hmmmmm

Here is the link anyway - has handy numbers on it!

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxcredits/downtime.htm

Marshbags I am not sure what requirements you mean - basically for working tax credit you need to be working more than 16 hours a week, for help with child care one parent needs to be working more than 16 hours a week and have the family needs a combined income of less than 58,000 (although I figure 40,000 to 58,000 prob wouldn't get very much!!). As I said earlier - really not sure how immigration status affects all this but as lone parents can claim I imagine at the very least the parent who is British can apply themselves!

The advice line is very good - they should help with specifics!

Just a shame the on-line calculator is off!!!

Thanks Caledonia

I was thinking about Thai one parent families with uk dependants i.e. widows who where married to a u.k. citizen, i,ll look at the web site later anyway.

marshbags

[caledonia]

Well I was about to post the link to the EXCELLENT tax credits calculator that they had on the Inland Revenue but seems it has been taken off as they were getting a lot of fake application through the net!! hmmmmm

Here is the link anyway - has handy numbers on it!

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxcredits/downtime.htm

Marshbags I am not sure what requirements you mean - basically for working tax credit you need to be working more than 16 hours a week, for help with child care one parent needs to be working more than 16 hours a week and have the family needs a combined income of less than 58,000 (although I figure 40,000 to 58,000 prob wouldn't get very much!!). As I said earlier - really not sure how immigration status affects all this but as lone parents can claim I imagine at the very least the parent who is British can apply themselves!

The advice line is very good - they should help with specifics!

Just a shame the on-line calculator is off!!!

Thanks Caledonia

I was thinking about Thai one parent families with uk dependants i.e. widows who where married to a u.k. citizen, i,ll look at the web site later anyway.

marshbags

I think that would depend on whether she was resident in the UK or not.

have you had a look at this

http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/JCP/Custom...008421.xml.html

I only looked at this quickly but does not say you need to be a UK citizen - might be worth a look at. The DWP can have quite good info on their site - just a pity none of their staff know the info themselves!!!

[marshbags]

For caledonia, Thanks again for the additional and much appreciated research and time

marshbags

Edited January 21, 2006 by marshbags