Let’s face it… Raising a child is not cheap.

Nappies, Bootles, Formula Milk, Clothes, Buggy, Crib, Sleeping Bag, Sudocrem, Bathtub, Calpol, to name a few of the necessities. Plus many other things you could get away buying but you want your child to feel good (or so you feel better) so you buy fancy clothes, toys, accessories, etc. which cost a fortune.

Therefore to support a family (and for many other reasons) you decide to go back to work.

Facts

If you have family members helping you with childcare, lucky you- Childcare in the UK is super expensive. According to Gov.uk, only 13% of children are in the home childcare and 34% of children go to nurseries/playgroups compared to 53% being looked after by a childminder.

Also as to the cost of the childcare, it can vary from ~£100 to ~£150 per 25hr week which equals to £400- £600 per month on a part-time basis.

In the UK the families spend up to a third of their income on childcare alone. This makes us a Top Most Expensive Country in the world in the Childcare Cost (according to OECD).

 

In the UK the initial 9 months of maternity leave is paid and further 3 months can be taken as unpaid leave.

If you do work, the money you earn most likely doesn’t stretch too far and you must be good at planning your budget and sticking to it to be able to survive.

Depending on the number of hours you work and the amount of money you earn you can be entitled to certain benefits. The government in the UK is turning into the one that helps those that do work more so than ever before where it used to support those that cannot/do not work only.

Disclaimer (I am not a financial adviser and this post is for the information purposes only) for full information of the benefits system in the UK please refer to www.gov.uk website)

Below is the list of the benefits available for working parents in the UK. There are more benefits available for none working parents that aren’t covered in this article.

1. Universal Credit

This is slowly replacing the previous benefits know as:

• Child Tax Credit
• Housing Benefit
• Income Support
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Working Tax Credit

If you currently receive any of the above-listed benefits, you cannot claim Universal Credit at the same time.

This benefit is for those on low income and if the savings do not exceed £16000.

As to how much you will get this will depend on your circumstances but you can check this on the gov.uk website here

Both I and my husband are working and we are not eligible to claim Universal Credit. However, I am sure many single mums or even couples on a lower income can take advantage of it.

2. Child Benefit

If you are bringing up a child, regardless of whether you work or not you will receive a child benefit. This is a nontaxable benefit but the benefit could make you liable for tax charge if yours or your partner’s income exceeds £50k/year (once earnings are above £60k- you will not be receiving it anymore).

For your eldest child you will receive £20.70/ week and every other one £13.70/week paid usually to mum’s account every week or every 4 weeks.

I have 3 kids and receive £192.40 every four weeks.

You will get the forms from your midwife with the forms to claim the Child Benefit but if for any reason you won’t get them from the hospital you can always apply for Chil Benefit on the Gov.uk website.

 

3. 15 hours free childcare for 3 and 4 years old

If you and your partner are both working over 16 hours a week (or if you are a single parent working over 16 hrs/week, you can take advantage of the additional 15 hours of free childcare  if your child is in the “approved childcare provider” (i.e. nursery, a registered childminder or playgroup)

Once your child starts nursery you are entitled to 15 hours of standard care, but with these benefits, you can ask for an additional 15 hours. You need to register on the Government Gateway and check if you’re eligible and if you are, you will get a code that you will need to provide your nursery (or playgroup, childminder) to be able to take advantage of it. Check here for more information.

You will also need to reconfirm those details once every 3 months to carry on taking advantage of this benefit. The message prompting you to do so will be sent to your phone.

In my opinion, this benefit is one of the best ones and we have taken advantage of it as soon as my middle son went to nursery (as this was only introduced in 2016). I felt like finally, the government is supporting working parents. We will take advantage of it again next year once my youngest son will go to nursery.

4. Free school meals for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 children in Government-funded schools.

This is normally given without any form of a sign-in but you can opt-out by choosing a packed lunch. This also is not an income-based benefit so no matter how much you earn the children in qualifying year groups (KS1) will get their free meals daily during the school/term time.

We do take advantage of this as it’s just easier for me and the meals are quite good. My children are not fussy eaters, so they always eat what’s given.

Summary

To be honest the UK is one of the best countries to be in to raise the family when it comes to help from the government. It is expensive to live in the UK but the benefits system does help those less advantaged.

The country I come from (Poland) or my husband (India) the system does very little in comparison to the UK’s government. Yet you do find that a lot of people abuse the UK’s system hence it is getting harder than ever to get any benefits. This also impacts on the time such claims are processed.

I hope this was informative enough but please let me know in the comments below if you need any more info

Thanks for reading