My partner works full time and earns a tidy wage and i work part time and the moneys ok. I have no problem with people who genuinely need benefits because they can't work, whether it be through disability or no available childcare etc. However friends of mine who are single mothers have stayed at home to bring up their kids and have been able to claim income support etc. I would love to be able to stay home to look after my babies ( aged 2 and 10 months) but as my partner works,i would therefore be entitled to nothing, which would make mortgage, bills etc impossible. I do believe that any mother who chooses to stay at home to care for her children herself should be entitled to the same, regardless of whether their partner earns or not. Its almost like the people who put the most in get the least out and vice versa. I also think that when the kids go to school full time then there is plenty of opportunity for the mums to work during school hours, as there are plenty of flexible hours available, so at this stage staying at home to look after the kids (when theyre actually cared for for free 6 hours a day) is no longer a valid reason for not working.Just my personal opinion x

now now mumto2,24 no need to be harsh we are mearly pointing out that some people rub it in your face! i am a sahm i dont work but i dont claim benifits either,its the people that could work but dont and get everything paid for that gets my goat! and wouldnt it be nice if we all got the ssmg, but no coz it goes to the needy ,well i bloody needed it too!

It is definitely the system that fails ultimately - the basic principles (in theory) are good but in practice, it stinks lol When I was first pg, that ssmg was graded so that even if ur family income was slightly above average, you still got something. That yr I got £200 of a possible £300 but the full £300 with my 2nd as my dh was not working due to a spinal injury meaning we were on disability benefits at the time. Now it's all changed and seems to be 'all or nothing' which I personally think is wrong.

I do also agree that once kids are in school there's no real reason to stop a mum (or sah-dad) to get a part-time job! Plenty of places will adapt a working role around school time now-a-days. I myself will be looking for work in Feb/March (bub's will be 3-4months by then) in somewhere like Tesco's as I can go for evening work, tying in with when my dh will be home to have the kids. A friend of mine works for Eon (power people) in the call centre and does a cpl of evenings and some weekends so that she doesn't have to fork out for childcare. There are options out there if people bother to look and I think what prettygirl is getting at is the audacity of those that just can't be bothered.

I totally agree with mummyx5, like she says there is lots of oppertunity for people to work these days. Obviously its a Different situation if your a single parent or physically unable to work. I went back to work when my son was 9 weeks old, simply because we couldnt afford to pay all the bills ect on just my oh wage. I went from being a supervisor of a very high profile fine dining restaurant, to working 3 nights a week in a brewers fair just so the hours would suit and fit around my oh working hours.
My best friend has 2 children, one at school and one in full time nursery (which gov pays for) She lives with her oh (who earns very good wages) but doesnt declare that hes there so gets basically everything paid for her. Shes my best friend of 8 years but it disgusts me what she does!
Then theres my mum, who is 49 yo, always work and has now got nuropathy (meaning she cant walk) and is confined to a wheelchair, but the goverrnment recently sent her a letter saying she need to attend a back to work meeting or her benefits are stopping (she get £45 pw and has been claiming it for 6 weeks) Out benefit system stinks x x

That is sick hun - this government really does need a kick up the ****!! I know that that sort of letter is a bog standard one that the computer spits out but it's still not nice. Doesn't your mum claim disability allowance or such-like????

"I think the governments system is what makes people so reluctant to get a job cos its soooo easy to get JSA. "

Sorry but no it bloody well isnt!!!!!

I was self employed running my own pub before i got pregnant - it was my pub only myself worked there. So you can imagine that I can no longer throw/shift 9gallon barrels around when preg(real ale pub), but the pub didnt take enough money to employ someone to do it for me(i didnt even have a wage), so i had to sell up (and to be honest the money i got back just about covered the debts the pub racked up).

I paid a vast amount of NI contributions while self employed, and went to see if i could claim anything shortly after moving in with my OH. I was entitled to NOTHING!!!! Absolutely bugger all, and all because i had been self employed. So i paid lots of money to be told I'd basically pissed it up the wall.
So no, it is not bloody easy to sign on!
I applied for 28 jobs in the first week after selling up, and because legally i had to tell them I was preg (health and bloody safety issues) not one of them would take me on. (but i couldnt prove discrimination). The second week i applied for a further 12 jobs - went in for my appointment at the job centre (which i was told to do or my benefits would stop - even tho i wasnt being paid them!) and I was shouted at for applying for TOO many jobs!!!!!! WTF??
For the next 8 months my OH worked a 60-70 hour week to support us until the maternity allowance kicked in. Boy were we so grateful for an extra £100 a week, it meant I could actually see my OH occasionally instead of him working every hour god sent (often from 6am to 9pm) then going straight to bed.

Now I go out to work in the evenings to bring a bit of money in, and my Oh still does some overtime - but at least he's not having to do it all himself and killing himself doing it - he'll get time with Ollie, if not me.

It can be easy, for the people that know the loopholes, and claim fraudulently - but for genuine people who really need it? "sorry youre not entitled to anything..." Its a farce!

Prettygirl/ckib - if you recieve tax credits within 3 months of your baby being born you are entitled to the SSMG, and it is still based on your circumstances how much of it you can be awarded. We got the full £500.

I have to add - does anyone know the truth behind the CTF voucher - do people who are on benefits get £500 for their children as opposed to the standard £250???

xxx

Shit S.Y i really feel for you, your story is unbelievable, this is what pisses me off, my friend was 18 and was living at home with her parents she got £700 a month tax credits (cos she was still on maternity leave), but she didn't have to pay anything!!! her parents bought her everything. We got £11 a week and could barely even afford to live, we got in £8,000 worth of debt and all because we couldn't afford to pay the rent, childcare etc, but no one wants to help you!!! ahhhhhhhhh makes me so F***ing angry!!!! luckily we were given a loan to pay it all off so we just pay a certain amount every month instead of having to pay of a loan here, a loan there, an overdraft, a credit card etc!!! but if the goverment would just take more things in to concideration we would all be a lot better off!!!!!! xxx

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with regards to the ctf, i think the extra money gets added on when the child is 11 or something equally ridiculous!! (they prob just wait til your not entitled anymore and say NO, LOL)

that just seems to be the way aint it,. people who know what to ask for seem to get it and when everyone else gets into bit of trouble we are told where to go. where is the sense in that what a bloody farse.

I agree with everything about the government too. They make it so easy. My mum also worked for 33 years as a nurse and had to retire last year due to ill health and no fault of her own. The benefits office sent her a letter a few weeks later asking her to attend a return to work meeting. She had never claimed a benefit in her life until last year when she was sick and she is 50. I think it is ridiculous that others can get it handed to them with no questions asked. This subjects really annoys me as there are far too many taking the p**s and I work hard for my money and so does my husband just to keep a roof over our heads.

S.Y, I do agree that it isnt easy when you should be entitled to something but aren't and my point was that it is the people who shouldnt be entitled to it that get it so easily. When I was 5 months pregnant and very obviously so, I had just finished a temporary job and deffered my place at uni so I applied for benefits and was told I was entitled to JSA. I didnt see the point as I was so obviously pregnant but I still applied for jobs etc. I had been going to sign on every fortnight for 2 months (with no money) when I got a letter saying that actually I wasnt entitled to ANYTHING because I was in "full time education" (I had deffered my place at uni and was not attending, I was fully capable and willing to work so i should've been entitled to it, but no.) And yet, when my boyfriend left school, he was still living at home and couldnt be arsed to get a job, he successfully claimed benefits for 3 years! It's mad. He'd never do that now as he works hard but it just shows that the people that should get benefits get bugger all!!! x

Shouldn't all children get the same amount in childcare vouchers? It seems very unfair that my children will probably get less than somebodys who is on certain benefits. Its not the child's fault whether their parents choose to work or not work,so they should all be entitled to the same amount x

i agree why should some kids be given more than others. we are both working but are not in much of a financial situation to put money away although we do try our best.

We are the same,nearly all our money goes on mortgage,bills, car, groceries etc so its not as if we have loads left over to spend on or save for the kids so they should definitely get the same amount as children who's parents do not work.

Wondered if anyone else had noticed about the CTF vouchers! TBH that makes me absolutely livid, I don't understand why some children will need twice as much money on reaching 18 than the rest. It is just putting families who don't claim benefits under pressure to 'top up' their kids trust funds, something which lets face it, most of us can't afford to do. In a sense we are lucky, my fil died while I was expecting Millie and left oh a substantial amount of money which paid off a large proportion of our mortgage. I have absolutely no idea how we would manage otherwise as we still run out of money every month! I do see that for some people benefits are a life line but I think it is high time that the system was changed to make it harder to exploit.

i thought each child gets £500 is that no longer the case? x

ive just been on to website. its says that all children born after march 2006 get a further payment of £250 at 7 but lower income families will get £500. i didnt realise they got another payment so i suppose thats a bit of a bonus

Thats right. I got £250 for Kara and she gets another £250. Low income families get £500 when born and then £500 when they are 7. I don't know how they can justify this. 18 years is a long time and just because the families now are low income it doesn't mean the child will be in 18 years time.

as regards to the ssmg i did apply but they said i wasnt entitled to anything! the goverment do give out jsa to easy so thet why i hoping the conservatives get in as they are all for working familys and are going to put a stop to people who just will not get a job when they can! mad mad mad!!

i can understand kids in low income families getting help with upbringing (ctc) but not a savings bond every child really should be equal. as you say louise it doesnt mean they going to be in the same situation at 18. what if by that point i am then a lower income family are they going to give my child that money. dont think so.