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Hi, first of all, i'm due to become a father for the first time in about 5 weeks time to a daughter, were both very exited and have spent the last 6 months reading and speaking to as many people as we can regarding what to expect during the pregnancy and what to expect when the baby arrives. I can see myself becoming a regular visitor to this forum as and when the problems and challenges arrive!
The one thing that i havn't really looked into in any detail is the financial help available to new parents. I've spoken to a few people and keep getting conflicting info so was wondering if the dad's on here could clear a few things up for me.
Our situation currently is as follows:
My income (Salary) is £32k
Girlfriends wage on average is £10k
We own our home (Mortgaged) and have no other income, in a weeks time my girlfriend is going on maternity leave with a view to going back to college once the baby gets to about a year old alongside her current part-time job.
Has the £250 savings voucher been scraped?, are we entitled to help with childcare costs?, is there anything else out there to help out new parents financially?
Regards, Chris
Hi there
Welcome to Dadtalk and congratulations - you must be getting excited.
The childcare voucher scheme is still in existence and you should be able to claim upto £250 per month but this is a salary sacrifice scheme so will come out of your wages pre tax. You will need to set this up either through your work or your partners. Certainly worth investigating as you will save money.
Hi Chris, and welcome.
If you are referring to the Child Trust Fund which gave parents of newborn children £250 to put into a trust fund, then that has been abolished.
If it's the Childcare Vouchers that SM mentioned above, then those are still going. You can claim up to about £250 per month per parent, and as SM says, it's a salary sacrifice scheme, so if you claim the full £250 per month, you sacrifice £3000 per year of salary. This means that you get £3000 worth of childcare, but the sacrific costs you less because you would have paid tax and NI on that money. As an approximation, for someone on your income, it's going to save you about a third of childcare costs.
However, a few things you need to bear in mind. Firstly, the fact that you are reducing your income means that if your employer pays into a pension, this could, in theory, be reduced, and likewise, if you get a payrise of a certain percentage, it could be slightly less because it's based on a lower salary. Hpwever, a good employer will often base both pension and pay rises on your salary before the sacrifice, and even if they don't, the saving would usually far exceed the negatives.
Next, you can only use the vouchers (which can be electronic, and personally I'd always go for this option) for approved childcare, and the provider has to be able to accept the vouchers, so you can't use them to pay relatives/friends to look after your child unless they are registered childminders. With very few exceptions, you are also tied into the vouchers for a minimum term (I think it's a year) before you can cancel or vary the amount. The vouchers can be used for holiday schemes etc.There is a bit of admin for your employer, but they do also save on employee NI contributions (because your salary has reduced) so there is an incentive.
That all sounds very good, but there is a snag. I think with what you and your girlfriend earn, you should be eligible for child tax credits if you are using childcare. The snag is that it's partly based on childcare costs, and if you care using childcare vouchers, then these can't be included in the child tax credit calculation so there's a bit of juggling as to the best way to do it - however, this link to HMRC should help you to work out what's best http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/calcs/ccin.htm
FInally, of course, you will be eligible for child benefit.
Hope this helps
hello room
i am in a pickle i have been told that because i have been to court and been awarded my children 14 days over the month i can claim childbenifit and tax credit from my ex who is not willing to share i am only on jsa at the moment and am strugling to make ends meet is it doing the right thing to claim or in the eyes of the court would i be a glod digger and just after the benifits i dont want to be displayed like this to the court and christmass is almost apon us
any advice would be gratefull thankyou
andrew1972,
In my opinion, If you are entitled to claim the money then claim it mate. It is to help you pay for looking after your kids. No one is going to consider you a gold digger mate - trust me.
Gooner
I Agree with Gooner 100%
You should claim the money - it supposed to be to help bring up the kids, sounds like you have them almost half of the month so you should get some financial help. Is the amount of time you have your kids taken in account when maintenance was calculated ? I would imagine it would have an effect on that as well.
andrew1972,
.... No one is going to consider you a gold digger mate .....Gooner
well one person will, but would you really worry about the opinion of your ex 😆
I agree with the others - if you are struggling, part of the reason is because you are spending money on your children, so it's perfectly right that since you have them for so much of the month, the a fair proportion of the money the government pays for their support and welfare should come to you.
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