Can I claim any benefits?

Hi all, so I recently became unemployed during my maternity leave. I have a mortgage and bills to pay and wondering if I would be entitled to anything? I was earning £70k a year, then was on statuary maternity pay now nothing. I have a mortgage and bills to pay and am a single mother. Am I entitled to any benefits like UC or anything? I may be wrong but I have always believed that because I earned over a certain threshold and have a mortgage, I wouldnt be entitled to anything even once I stopped earning. I obviously will be planning to go back to work in a couple months once I secure a new job. Just wondering if I can apply for anything to get by in the meantime?

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Unemployment Should be different than welfare. In the states at least, unemployment is based on your highest paying quarter. Welfare is for anyone under a certain wage bracket, but now that you aren’t working—your wages are £0/yr so I would imagine even tho you previously made 70

@Carissa Im based in UK so my question is for UK govt based benefits x

To answer your question, it’s likely you would qualify. But you’ll need to have less than 15K in savings. There’s job seekers allowance too which you could look into. However, if you lost your job while on maternity you might want to get a no win no fee lawyer as the rules in the UK surrounding maternity and loss of work are quite strong. You could potentially sue your old employer for that.

@Hind Thank you 🙏🏽

You should be entitled to statutory maternity pay. Go to gov.co.uk.

Google the charity Pregnant then screwed. They provide advice to mothers who face unfair repercusions from employers after pregnancy. Gather all the evidence you have and seek a lawyer. As for the benefits you are entitled to, you can also get in touch with Citizens advice bureau.

https://pregnantthenscrewed.com/support-services-2/

You would be entitled to uc but you would need less than 15k savings and you wouldn’t get any help paying your mortgage only singles allowance, child allowance, I think that’s it x

Check one of the online calculators. You’d probably be entitled to UC but not the housing element as I don’t think they do that if you have a mortgage.

Also, ask your bank for a mortgage free year, while on maternity leave

I would pay some money for a solicitor to look at your case. You could be offered a settlement with literally just a letter.

Previously when they had housing benefit in place, if you had a mortgage you could help towards the interest element of the mortgage so that’s worth looking into - unsure of the rules with UC but would imagine there is something similar to assist when things like this happen

Thank you everyone for your advice ♥️

Go on the gov uk website and look on the benefits calculator. That will show you what you could be entitled too x

https://www.acas.org.uk/ go to them if you think you have been unfairly dismissed. Surely they can't fire you when on maternity. You should be able to claim maternity allowance and universal credit and potentially you may be able to get an smi loan to help towards mortgage payments. May also be worth talking to citizens advice bureau

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