Disability Living Allowance, financial support for carers, child maintenance, Child Benefit, benefits and support for working parents and those on low incomes.
If you have a job and have children or are pregnant, you could get:
Use benefits calculators – GOV.UK to check exactly what benefits you might be entitled to.
Most parents are entitled to money while they have a baby. This is through maternity pay or maternity allowance.
You will get maternity pay – GOV.UK if you are an employee who:
You could get Maternity Allowance – GOV.UK if you’re:
If you are an employee, you are entitled to maternity leave. Maternity leave is time off before and after your baby is born. It includes:
You will get maternity leave no matter how long you have been in your job or how much you earn.
If you are a worker or self-employed, you are not entitled to maternity leave.
Fathers, partners and same-sex partners might also be entitled to paternity leave and paternity pay – GOV.UK.
If you are an employee, you could be entitled to both paid and unpaid time off.
You will get paid time off for antenatal care. This can include time for medical appointments and antenatal or parenting classes, if they’ve been recommended by a doctor or midwife.
If you are an employee and have worked at a company for more than a year, you could be entitled to 18 weeks’ unpaid parental leave – GOV.UK for each child and adopted child, up to their 18th birthday.
Unpaid leave can help you do things like:
The father or pregnant woman’s partner also has the right to unpaid time off work to go to 2 antenatal appointments.
If you are working but on a low income, you could get the child element of Universal Credit – GOV.UK. This replaces Child Tax Credit which is now only available if you or your partner are getting the Severe Disability Premium.
The child element of Universal Credit helps with the costs of raising a child and can help you to claim back up to 85 per cent of eligible childcare costs.
If you are working but not eligible for the child element of Universal Credit, you can still get help with childcare costs. This could be by using childcare schemes like 30 hours and tax-free childcare.