Maternity payment during IVA mind put at rest!

[getdebtfree]

Hi All

I am looking for fellow IVA'ers that have experience getting maternity pay during IVA when currently not working.

I already wrote a post about this, but the general advice was ask my IP.

It takes a while to hear back and I didnt get the info I need and need my mind put at rest.

Basically I informed GT how much im getting and for how long. I have to do this in writing. And they also want receipts of anything I have bought for the baby to take into consideration.

Thing is baby is due 20th March, we are not sure what to buy and if new or old as we dont know how much maternity pay GT will take.

Our IVA was worked out on our main wage and tax credits NOT maternity pay, as this is now an additional award we got just after IVA was approved.

Our biggest worry is that GT will want it all, but buying stuff for the baby and having a little put by incase of unpaid leave and such is going to add up.

Some good advice from a fellow IVA friend I had was to write out a list of things we need for the baby and send that to GT, with my new income and expenditure sheet. Plus of course proof of maternity payment.

Just so worried we wont have a penny to spend on baby stuff, as we sort of started to rely on this maternity pay to give our baby a few nice things.

Thanks

Marcus

[Adam Davies]

Hi Marcus

Maternity pay will be classed as income so GT are correct in asking for details. You need to do as they ask and list any extra expense that you have had, any balance I believe will have to go into your IVA. Your general expenditure will increase once the baby is born as you have another mouth to feed so list your new income and expenditure including child benefit/tax credits but offset with increased expenditure such as food and nappies

Regards

[getdebtfree]

Hi Andy

Thanks for the reply,

My income is already lower by £150, so I will factor that in. They didnt ask for a new income and expenditure sheet. But I definately need to do that as when our IVA was first worked out we were pretty tight on our figures.

So we didnt leave ourselves much at all, now if we factor in this new income that we get for nine months. Maybe we will have a bit more money to spend on other things.

Thanks

Marcus

They didnt ask me to fill

[abbiesmum2003]

what maternity package are you entitled to? i am at start of iva journey and baby due any day. We knew from day 1 about maternity package from my employer so when started looking into iva a couple of months ago we have been able to work around it with our IP and the income/expenditure calculations. Babys dont need everything brand new. This is number 3 so slready have stuff but have bought a lot second hand/borrowed from friends/family. If baby duein march how come you have only just become aware of maternity pay? employers have varying degrees of package but you should have been aware before now as need to claim by a certain stage of pregnancy and obtain a Mat B1 form from midwife to be able to claim (HR drpt/employer will need this form) All new mums entitled to 39 weeks maty pay if meet guidelines of length of time in job (check out website www.gov.uk i think for full guidelines) but some employers pay additional 'occupational' maty pay. You need to look at contract/speak to HR dept to find out entitlement but again should have been in progress before now. I hope you can get advice on what pay you will get and for how long. Good luck with baby. Ask friends/family about what you truely need and shop around/borrow. New parrnts can be easily sucked into buying latest (expensive) gadgets which simply arent required.

[getdebtfree]

Hi Abbiesmum

Thanks for the reply,

My wife was a self employed childminder up until 20th July, she has been unemployed since then. We started looking into IVA's in October, and our IVA was approved late Jan 2013.

We didnt know we was intitled to maternity payments you see but applied early January.

Just trying to find out how much we can keep as we are a family of 3 living on just one wage and tax credits.

Overall I guess our income is pretty low compared to living costs so it would be nice to enjoy a little extra money from the maternity pay and actually be able to afford good food for nine months.

[abbiesmum2003]

Ahh I see!! thats good you are entitled to something. I hope you can get things sorted out snd you can have a plan arranged to allow for expenditure that comes with baby. Our IP has taken into account our significant cut in wages and is devising an appropriate and hopefully realistic/fair proposal taking into account drop in income snd raise in expenditure do I hope yours will do the same and you can enjoy the arrival of the little one (mines a week overdue today lol!!!)

[getdebtfree]

Hey abbiesmum

Oh dear hope little one pops out soon

ours is due 20th March

Yes our maternity is different as instead of a cut in wages we are actually getting more as my wife has no income.

I was just hoping to find someone in a similar situation to see what happens.

[debt tired]

Abbiesmum, if you want to get things moving have a curry and an early night with your husband (if you know what I mean). It really isn't just old wives' tales. When we tried this at 7 days overdue, baby put in an appearance next evening. Good luck anyway and I look forward to hearing your good news soon.

[abbiesmum2003]

Thanks debt tired! Ive tried it all seems quite happy to stay where it is though! My daughters have been 7 and 12 days late respectively so expect this to be too!!!

[luluj]

Abbiesmum....good luck in the next few days ..look forward to hearing the news !!