Financial advice
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Try the entitled to website. I doubt you'll be able to get any benefits, just depends on how much your partner earns when you'll be on mat leave,.if you have much in savings etc
Do you not have savings to cover your mat leave period? When is your mortgage up for renewal? Only other advice I can offer you is try and work up until the last week of your pregnancy if possible (save as much of your salary as you can), buy second hand everything. Buggies, clothes, toys etc. Most will practically be brand new anyway and you’ll save so much money.
I believe you can take a mortgage break if absolutely necessary. We are not entitled to any help at all so have saved a small pot to top up my wage if necessary each month. I'm working until 38 weeks to receive full pay for longer too. It seems daunting but you do manage x
Thanks everyone. I’m hoping that the help from others in terms of hand me downs and whatnot’s will help ease the stress. We remortgage in December this year. I’m due in October so all fairly new and probably the last thing to be worrying about right now. Thank you all for advice
Whatever you do Incog, DO NOT take a mortgage break. This will fuck up your credit history for the next 6 years! If your remortgage is in December you are in luck because the BOE dropped the base rate to 4.5% today and the next rate is also predicted to fall to 4.25% in June. Given you are allowed to lock in rates 6 months in advance, you can potentially save yourself hundreds every month by getting a good remortgage deal. If you can possibly hold off until Jan 2026, the rates are predicted to go as low as 3.8%. The last time the rates went that low, I got a remortgage deal at 1.92%.
@NeenaIt’s actually the 2nd January 2026 Is when our fix term ends. Would be nice to get a mortgage as low as 3.8% it was so frustrating last time when we remortgaged. We went through a broker and she was horrendous. I ended up complaining to financial ombudsman about her as she took our money and didn’t update us with our mortgage and it was 4 days before the financial cut off at Christmas and new year and we tried to get in touch with her and got nothing. But as soon as I complained she sent me a nasty email like I was the one in the wrong but I had no choice as she hadn’t sorted anything then it was a made dash to try and get our mortgage completed. Hopefully it’s a better outcome this year.
Incog you don’t need a broker in order to remortgage, it’s very simple and straightforward and you can do it yourself. I’ve done the last 2 myself. Make use of the MSE remortgage calculator and deals, choose one that suits you, and fill in application yourself. https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/best-buys/?journeyType=remortgage&propertyValue=120000&mortgageAmount=90000&depositAmount=30000&term=25&repaymentMethod=Repayment&sortBy=MonthlyRepaymentAmount&pageNumber=1&addFeeToBalance=false&productNoFee=false&noEarlyRepaymentCharge=false
One word of advice would be you may have to lock in a deal after the June rate comes out because if you’re due to be off on mat leave in Oct, your income will drop and this will affect your salary figures for the remortgage. What is your current rate at the moment? How much is your annual salary individually? How much is your home worth? What balance is left on your current mortgage? How much do you pay monthly for your current mortgage? I can run through some figures for you, so you can potentially see how much you could save.
Have you looked at the maternity grant? You might not be able to get it but might be worth looking into. You might be able to speak to your local job centre for advice too as they cover UC and might be able to point you in the right direction. I was a student when I get pregnant with my little girl so was only getting my student loan in. My partner wasn't working my whole pregnancy either so it made things tough. I graduated October and we've moved to a 2 bed house so things can be tight but we've made it work. We cut back on lots of unnecessary expenses too like do we really need 2 amazon prime accounts for 1 house hold? And do we need to pay this subscription? Some months are tough but you find a way of making it work.