When you have a baby, what money do you get from the government?

[dlpSteve]

I heard you get money (Family Tax Credit?) to help pay for nursery fees but when I entered figures into a tax calculator it said I wouldn't get anything apart from £68 a month which would be Child Tax Credit - we'd get £0 for Working Tax Credit. Are there any other benefits we'd be entitled to?

As it stands it doesn't seem lkike there is any incenctive for Denise to go back to work as her wages would just pay for nursey fees so she may as well stay at home. When you take into consideration mortgage, car loan, bills etc. I sometimes think we'd better off on the dole and claiming everything from the state, though I'd not be comfortable doing that.

No, we aren't expecting.

 

[Booknut]

Well you'd get a child allowance of around £18 a week I think. DH and I won't qualify for anything else although we'll get a bit of a discount on childcare through my childcare vouchers at work but it isn't much.

My sister stays at home too because it isn't worth going back to work for now. But time flies and before you know it they'll be in school and then things will be easier to work out (hopefully!).

 

[KayleeUK]

No, we aren't expecting.

That was my first question LOL!!!

You will be entitled to Child Benefit as well

For the tax year 2007-2008 you receive:

£18.10 a week for the eldest child.
£12.10 a week for each additional child.

 

[BRobson]

If you think about it too much there is never enough money in the pot to have kids but everyone gets there in the end. They are worth every penny

 

[irongirlof12]

It might not seem worthwhile going back to work, but it does keep them money coming in and you get a free child place from aged 3, so its a struggle for a while then it gets better.

Personally the thought of spending every day at home freaked me out, so I returned to work part -time and got the best of both worlds. and I love being a MUM

 

[wils]

As it stands it doesn't seem lkike there is any incenctive for Denise to go back to work as her wages would just pay for nursey fees so she may as well stay at home.

I worked with a girl who went back to work full time even though the net result was £0. She just wanted to work.

When you take into consideration mortgage, car loan, bills etc. I sometimes think we'd better off on the dole and claiming everything from the state, though I'd not be comfortable doing that.

We were talking about this yesterday as we know a very young runaway Mum-to-be who has excitedly just realised she'll get a council house. Give it a few more kids and she'll have a better house than us!

A guy from DH's work has twins and financially it was going to be better if his wife went back to work as a childminder and put their 2 into childcare (She decided to stay at home and they are managing)

It is, of course a huge financial undertaking. I'm a SAHM and we just save the pennies when we can (buying sale clothes for next summer now, using vouchers, having some cheap holidays) I wouldn't have it any other way though

 

[dlpSteve]

Thanks for the replies - we did lots of calculations last night and it seems Denise working for 3, maybe 4 days a week would be a good option and we would actually be better off financially.

Looking at our finances, I never realised how much money I 'wasted' every month, quite shocking really.

 

[natalielongstaff]

Looking at our finances, I never realised how much money I 'wasted' every month, quite shocking really.

we review our finances every so often..... as we are terrible for wasting money !

 

[natalielongstaff]

I
A guy from DH's work has twins and financially it was going to be better if his wife went back to work as a childminder and put their 2 into childcare (She decided to stay at home and they are managing)

its hard for a childminder with twins because you always have the two taking up spaces that would otherwise be paid for ! a very good friend of mine was in the same situation and her earnings shot up when the boys started school

 

[cstokell]

Thanks for the replies - we did lots of calculations last night and it seems Denise working for 3, maybe 4 days a week would be a good option and we would actually be better off financially.

This is what I did, I stayed home for 2 days with DD and she then went to a local Nursery for 3 days.

Another thing to check is if you are looking at child care is the "Childcare Vouchers" that many employees now offer, though it is a goverment run scheme. I am not entriely sure how they work but I think that the payment for childcare is paid to an agency direct from your salary, you then do not pay tax or NI on the first £55 perweek. My DH does it and all I know is that it saves us about £800 a year, as he is a higher rate tax payer and our childcare fees are now quite low at only £30 per week.