Universal credit

I applied last month, baby girl isn’t due until Feb, but it can take a while for everything to get set up. I had to attend two appointments. I’m self employed, so not entitled to SMP. But now it’s all set up, been told my payment date and when baby arrives they add any extra payments to it!x

I’d apply now it can take a while for things to go through and you’ll have to have an appointment and to put your pregnancy in once it’s all been set up

I would start applying now. With my first I think we had one or two months of 0 payments as I was still full time employed but once baby arrived it changed so it's better to get it out the way now. Also if you have applied for UC and been set up, you can apply for sure start maternity grant if it's your first baby and you're in the UK x

Will apply today! Thanks ladies ❤️

Is there anyone on universal credit who is not currently employed that wouldn’t mind me messaging them about a couple things? I went from full time studies and have now been unable to secure employment whilst pregnant. Have applied for universal credit and had my first meeting yesterday but some things didn’t seem correct.

Everyone is entitled to child benefits too (I think)… but gov website says you can only start your claim this 48 hours after you’ve registered the birth of baby xxx

@Josephine yes if you don't earn over 50k a year I think. And you need birth certificate to get them registered for child benefit x

@Alina hey sorry to jump on but are you entitled to benefits if your workplace are paying your maternity leave? Or could I still get the maternity grant as the gov website says you can claim if you or your partner already get benefits so because neither of us do could I not apply? X

@Kas which benefits are we thinking? Are you currently getting anything?

@Alina I’m going on mat leave next month but the pay isn’t very good so I just wondered if I’d be able to claim anything and if I’m still entitled to the maternity grant for £500’x

@Kas it's hard to tell if you would be able to claim or not. Technically yes but it all depends on the household income. If you're in a couple/ single and how much your partner earns. If it's "too much" then no. If not then yes you can. There are some benefit calculators to try out on the gov site. You type in earnings etc and they can roughly calculate if you'd be entitled to any universal credit. And sure stat maternity grant is only available to people who claim some sort of benefit. Usually universal credit. So if you won't be entitled to UC you won't be for sure start maternity grant unfortunately. Hope that helps!

@Alina ah lovely thanks so much xx