I’m often asked about what support my clients can get from the government. Whilst it is not my area of expertise, I thought it would be useful to give a brief overview of some of the main sources of support along with links to find out more. This will be broken down into a different posts for each type of support, starting with the support available for families. For full details about all of these, you can visit the government website here.
There is a lot of different types of support which will obviously not apply to everyone. I would recommend reading through to the end of this post as there may be some forms of support that you are unfamiliar with which you may be eligible for.
Pregnancy and post-birth support
Most people know about maternity pay. This is available if you are an employee and will be paid at a statutory rate, although your employer may pay you more if they chose. The best way to claim this is to speak to your employer’s HR or payroll department and they should guide you through the process. You can also get support to attend appointments or if there are complications during the pregnancy. You can check your eligibility here.
Paternity pay is available to employees and will entitle you to 2 weeks leave, although some employers are now offering 4 weeks leave. It is also possible to opt to share 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay between partners, although there is a minimum amount of time that the mother must remain off work before returning.
For both benefits, there are certain deadlines by which you need to apply, so it will be a sensible idea to do so as soon as possible. Not to mention that nearer to the birth you will have a lot of other things on your mind!
If you are ineligible for maternity pay, for example if you are self-employed, then you may instead be able to claim maternity allowance. There are certain criteria that you need to meet to receive this, but you should get the support for 39 weeks. For more detail, the HMRC guidance is here. There is unfortunately not an equivalent paternity allowance.
Depending on your situation, it may be possible to claim a one-off payment of £500 as a Sure Start Maternity Grant. You or your partner will already need to be receiving certain benefits (those eligible include income support and universal credit) and it will need to be your first child, or you would need to be expecting a multiple birth.
Adoption support
If you are adopting a child, you should qualify for adoption pay. You may also be able to take shared parental leave with your partner. Generally, the qualification criteria are similar to that required for parental leave.
Leave after birth
If you wish, you can take unpaid parental leave. You are entitled to 18 weeks’ leave for each child and adopted child up until their 18th birthday. There is a maximum of 4 weeks in a year per child (although employers can agree to increase this). You might not need to give a reason for wanting to take the leave – examples given are to look at schools, settle children into childcare or just to spend more time with your children.
Child Benefit
All families are eligible for Child Benefit. I wrote a full blog about this here. This is paid at a set rate per child, and if either you or your partner earns over £50,000 you will need to pay at least part of it back – however it might still be worth claiming and repaying if one of you isn’t working as it provides National Insurance credits.
Childcare support
From the age of 3, you may be able to get Tax-Free Childcare. The government has recently announced that they are going to lower the age you can claim this from, and it is currently also possible for those receiving certain benefits to claim from the age of 2. The way this works is that you pay into your childcare account and when the payment clears, the government add the tax back that you would have paid on these earnings and then you pay your childcare provider directly. Some of this support can continue whilst they are at school for things such as breakfast clubs or after-school clubs.
Support when studying
For younger parents, there are two schemes to assist with childcare. These are the Childcare Grant and Care To Learn. You will need to be studying to be eligible and the difference between the schemes is the type of education you are in.
If you are a full-time student over the age of 20, then Parents’ Learning Allowance might be more appropriate. This allows you to claim between £50 and £1,915 in a year depending on your household income, if you are taking a full-time undergraduate course or Initial Teacher Training course and your household income is under the threshold (currently £18,740). This is paid on top of your other student finance but does not need to be paid back.
Support with food
If you are already claiming certain benefits (including income support and universal credit) then your child may be eligible for Free School Meals. If a child is eligible, then they will also qualify for the Holiday Activity and Food Programme – the programme famously supported by Marcus Rashford to allow children within families with low income to continue to get free meals during school holidays.
The Healthy Start programme allows anyone who is more than 10 weeks pregnant, or who has a child under 4 to get support buying healthy foods and to get free vitamins. You will need to either be claiming certain benefits or be pregnant and under 18 to qualify for this programme.
Support for children with additional needs
If your child has additional needs, you may be able to claim the Disability Living Allowance. The amount of this varies depending on the amount of support your child needs. There are various criteria for who can qualify and that can be seen here. If you need to make changes to your home, it may be possible to get Disabled Facilities Grants to help with the cost of these. Again there is a lot of criteria on who qualifies, and how much you can get and so I’d advise reading the whole details here.
Support for separated families
For separated families, you may want to claim Child Maintenance. This can be worked out privately between parents, although if you don’t agree, want an intermediary or don’t wish to talk to the other parent for any reason, you can get the Child Maintenance Service to sort out the arrangement.
Supporting a child whose parents have died
If you are brining up a child whose parents have died, you may be able to get guardian’s allowance. This is £20.40 per week and can be received on top of Child Benefit. There are certain conditions which allow you to claim this if there is one surviving parent, such as not knowing where the surviving parent is, or if they are in prison or hospital by a court order.
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