Child Tax Credit and Child Benefit while on Mat Leave?

Hiya,

This may have been addressed before, but my brain isn't working.

I am due in October with my first and occassionally have a panic about being able to afford to be on maternity leave for as long as I want.  My husband is currently out of work and so I am the only income.  When I go on maternity leave my/our income will decrease; I'll get my 90% for 6 weeks and then I get 50% plus SMP for the next 12 weeks.  This is ok, we'll manage, but I'd like to take off at least 6 months if possible. 

I'm thinking that I will definately get Child Benefit when I'm on mat leave since everyone is entitled to it, but what about Child Tax Credit?  The info from directgov is making my brain hurt and is confusing. Everything I see about the CTC is refering to being able to keep it if you already get it, but nothing about starting it while on Maternity Leave. Actually I did see something but that said you had to wait till the new tax year, it wasn't on directgov though.

Can anyone help?  Money's even more of a worry at the moment as they are talking about how my department is overstaffed and 'restructuring' it.  We all know what restructuring means...

Pengi

My experience is sort of like yours so perhaps you'll find this helpful.

I had my baby in mid-September 2009 and started to receive WTC and CTC of about 145 pounds per month, based on a salary in the low 20s. I also began receiving Child Benefit, which you will definitely get.  My husband was also not working but as he had just completed his PhD and we had some savings, was not able to get any jobseeker's allowance. 

I finally received my tax credit renewal form in May and because of my pay being significantly lower from the previous tax year, my credits about tripled. I am in the USA on holiday and haven't seen the whole breakdown yet but when I used the online calculator, this was about right (husband still hasn't found work, still not able to claim anything).  I'm pretty sure that you cannot get this until the new tax year, as your credits are based on the previous year's income. If you haven't changed jobs, you won't really benefit from this until the following year (if the Tories let us!)

I'd never claimed any kind of tax credit or benefit and was new to this but phoned in and they told me I'd done this correctly.  Unless you are entitled to more b/c of your husband's situation, I don't think you'll get too much more.  I had the same breakdown of pay from my employer and only really saw it drop dramatically when my baby was 4 months old, as you get 50% + the SMP for the 12 weeks. 

Hope that helps!

thank you! That really does help put my mind at ease a bit. Our situation does seem quite similar. We've done the on line calculations and I'll be honest I was really happy with the figure that came back, only I just started panicing when my husband questioned whether we'd get the tax credit while I'm on leave.

my husband is going to look into job seekers allowance, but we always assumed that we wouldn't' qualify because 1) I was working and 2) I make too much (also low 20s). We also wondered if he could apply after my first 18 weeks when I'm on only smp. I guess that's all for the benefits office to decide and who knows what will happen now.   

Thanks again!

I'm thinking that I will definately get Child Benefit when I'm on mat leave since everyone is entitled to it, but what about Child Tax Credit? 

Both of these are public funds, so as long as you are allowed access to public funds, you can apply for them.

I don't have a lot of knowledge on these credits so I can't really offer any info but I can say that the customer service people have always been really nice and helpful for us.  Give them a call if you have questions and they should be able to help you out.  Also, AFAIK you don't have to be working to claim these, so if you're not eligible (due to immigration restrictions), your hubby should be able to claim them.