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Rights and benefits HEALTHY START Who gets it? You can get free vitamins and vouchers to buy milk, fresh fruit and vegetables, or infant formula from Healthy Start if you are pregnant and getting Income Support or incomebased Jobseeker’s Allowance. If you have a young child, receive Child Tax Credit but not Working Tax Credit and have an annual family income of £14,495 or less you may also qualify. Pregnant women under 18, on benefits or not, can get help from Healthy Start. How do I claim? You can apply when you are 10 weeks pregnant. Leaflets that include an application form are available from most GP surgeries or health centres, or you can order one by calling the Token Distribution Unit on 0845 850 1032. The leaflet for Healthy Start is called A healthy start for pregnant women and young children (267679). You will need your midwife to fill in their part of the application form or send a letter saying you are pregnant. Entitlement cannot be backdated, so apply as early as you can after you are 10 weeks pregnant. Once your baby is born, you should claim Child Tax Credit so that you will keep getting help from Healthy Start if you still qualify for it. HELP WITH HOSPITAL FARES Who gets it? If your family gets income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance or Income Support, you can get a refund for fares to and from the hospital (including visits for antenatal care). This can cover normal public transport fares, estimated petrol costs and taxi fares if there is no alternative. You may also be entitled to help if your family has a low income or if you are in receipt of tax credit or pension credit. Check your award letter for details. How do I claim? If you are claiming one of the benefits mentioned above, you can claim at the hospital at the time of your visit by showing proof that you get the benefit. Alternatively you can claim within three months of your visit by filling in form HC5, which you can get from the hospital or the Jobcentre Plus/Jobs & Benefits office. If you are not in receipt of one of the above benefits and your income is low, you must first fill in form HC1, which you can get from your doctor, hospital or Jobcentre Plus/Social Security Office/Jobs & Benefits office. Depending on how low your income is, you will then be given either certificate HC2, which means you qualify for free services, or certificate HC3, which means that you qualify for some help. You show the certificate when you go to the hospital, or you can claim within three months of your visit on form HC5. M ATERNITY B ENEFITS MATERNITY ALLOWANCE (MA) • pregnancy; and/or • • For women who are self-employed. For women who have changed jobs during For women who have had periods of low earnings or unemployment during pregnancy; and/or What is it? A weekly allowance for women who work just before or during their pregnancy but who can’t get Statutory Maternity Pay. You may also get it if you are selfemployed, if you stopped work or if you changed jobs during pregnancy. Who gets it? You can claim Maternity Allowance if you have been employed and/or self-employed in at least 26 of the 66 weeks (known as the test period) before your expected week of childbirth. You must also have gross weekly earnings of at least £30 a week in any 13 weeks in the test period. You should choose the 13 weeks in which you earned the most. In your chosen weeks, you can add together earnings from more than one job, including any self-employed work. How much is it? Maternity Allowance is paid for 39 weeks at a flat rate of £112.75 per week or 90% of your average earnings if this is less. When is it paid? Maternity Allowance is paid for up to 39 weeks. The earliest that Maternity Allowance can start is 11 weeks before the week your baby is due and the latest is the day following the birth. If you are unemployed, your Maternity Allowance will start 11 weeks before the week your baby is due. If you are employed or self-employed at the start of the 11th week before the week your baby is due, you can choose when to start your Maternity Allowance. You can even work right up until the date the baby is due, unless: • you are absent from work because of your pregnancy at the start of or in the last four weeks of your pregnancy. In this case your Maternity Allowance will start automatically the day following the first day of absence from work for that reason; or 136
• your baby is born before your Maternity Allowance is due to start. Your Maternity Allowance will start from the day following the birth and will last for 39 weeks. How do I claim? The rules are complicated so if you are not sure whether you qualify, make a claim. Incapacity Benefits Branch, Castle Court, Royal Avenue, Belfast BT1 1SB, will work out whether or not you can get the benefit. You can claim Maternity Allowance from the 14th week before the week your baby is due. Fill in form MA1 available from your local Jobcentre Plus/Social Security Office/Jobs & Benefits office or antenatal clinic and send it to Incapacity Benefits Branch. You must also send your maternity certificate (form MAT B1) which is issued by your GP or midwife from 20 weeks before the week your baby is due (usually the 21st week of pregnancy). If you are employed and do not qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay, you must also send in form SMP1 from your employer to show why you don’t qualify. Claim as soon as you can, even if you are still at work or if you do not have the medical certificate, or cannot provide any other information needed to complete the claim form. You can always send them in later. You must claim within three months of the date your Maternity Allowance period is due to start. If you delay, you will lose money. How is it paid? Maternity Allowance is paid directly into your bank account, weekly or every four weeks in arrears. You may do up to 10 days work and still be paid Maternity Allowance, but after that you can only get the allowance for weeks in which you are not working. You must tell your Jobcentre Plus/Incapacity Benefits Branch about any work you do. Anything else? If you are not entitled to Maternity Allowance, your Jobcentre Plus/Incapacity Benefits Branch will automatically check whether you might be entitled to Incapacity Benefit (see below). For further information about Maternity Allowance, see leaflet NIL17A (A guide to maternity benefits) available from the Department for Social Development website: www.dsdni.gov.uk (Social Security Agency leaflets section). INCAPACITY BENEFIT (IB) • For women who have paid some National Insurance contributions during the last three years. Rights and benefits What is it? A weekly allowance which can be paid to women who don’t qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance. Who gets it? You get Incapacity Benefit if you have enough National Insurance contributions in earlier tax years. Claim if you have paid any National Insurance contributions during the last three tax years that do not overlap the current calendar year. If you are not sure whether or not you qualify, claim and you local Jobcentre Plus/Incapacity Benefits Branch will work out whether you can get the benefit. How much is it and when is it paid? It is £61.35 per week. It is awarded from the Sunday of the sixth week before your baby is due until two weeks after the baby’s birth. As with all Incapacity Benefit claims, it is not paid for the first three days of any period. How do I claim? Use the Maternity Allowance claim form MA1 which you can get from your Jobcentre Plus/Social Security Office/Jobs & Benefits office or your antenatal clinic. You also have to send your maternity certificate (form MAT B1), which you get from your midwife or GP when you are about 20 weeks pregnant. You don’t need to send in a sick note from your doctor. If you are not entitled to Maternity Allowance, the Jobcentre Plus/Incapacity Benefits Branch will check automatically to see if you qualify for Incapacity Benefit. It can be paid directly into your bank. You must claim within three months of the start of your entitlement. The Work and Families (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 introduced the following rights from April 2007: • nine months’ Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay and Maternity Allowance, with the aim of increasing this to a year’s paid leave by 2010; • a new right to an additional period of paternity leave for fathers. This will be introduced at the time the above benefits are increased to 12 months and will enable fathers to benefit from leave and statutory pay if the mother returns to work after six months but before the end of her maternity leave; • extending women’s eligibility to additional maternity leave; • the introduction of ‘Keeping in Touch’ days so that, where employees and employers agree, a woman on maternity leave can go into work for a few days without losing her right to maternity leave or a week’s statutory pay; 137
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Pre the nancy gbook Your complete g
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Pre the nancy gbook Your complete g
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11 LABOUR AND BIRTH Getting ready f
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Your pregnancy at a glance 16-20 we
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Introduction Every parent is differ
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Your health in pregnancy • Eat pl
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Your health in pregnancy VEGETARIAN
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Your health in pregnancy S MOKING W
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Your health in pregnancy P HYSICAL
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Your health in pregnancy Foot exerc
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obstetrician. If you do catch toxop
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2 Conception To understand about co
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Conception T HE WOMAN’ S MONTHLY
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Conception T HE BEST TIME TO GET PR
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Conception K NOWING THAT YOU’ RE
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How the baby develops WEEKS 4-5 Wee
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How the baby develops WEEKS 15-22 T
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4 Deciding where to have your baby
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Deciding where to have your baby HO
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Deciding where to have your baby B
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5 Feelings and relationships From t
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Feelings and relationships WORRYING
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Feelings and relationships FAMILIES
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Feelings and relationships C OPING
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6 Mainly for men Some pregnancies h
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Mainly for men PRACTICAL SUPPORT Yo
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7 Antenatal care and antenatal clas
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Antenatal care and antenatal classe
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The feeding question B REASTFEEDING
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The feeding question Support contac
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The feeding question HOW OFTEN AND
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The feeding question B OTTLE FEEDIN
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The feeding question The temperatur
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9 Problems Your body has a great de
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Problems FEELING HOT IN PREGNANCY D
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Problems can empty it properly. The
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Problems VAGINAL DISCHARGE Almost a
Page 87 and 88: 10 What you need for the baby This
Page 89 and 90: What you need for the baby O UT AND
Page 91 and 92: 11 Labour and birth This chapter de
Page 93 and 94: Labour and birth PAIN RELIEF IN LAB
Page 95 and 96: Labour and birth • your contracti
Page 97 and 98: Labour and birth AT THE HOSPITAL Go
Page 99 and 100: Labour and birth • The heartbeat
Page 101 and 102: Labour and birth You can have your
Page 103 and 104: Labour and birth treatment takes ab
Page 105 and 106: Labour and birth A vaginal breech d
Page 107 and 108: When pregnancy goes wrong been due.
Page 109 and 110: 13 The first days with your new bab
Page 111 and 112: The first days with your new baby c
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Page 115 and 116: Babies who need special care I NCUB
Page 117 and 118: The early weeks: you L OOKING AFTER
Page 119 and 120: The early weeks: you T HE ‘ BABY
Page 121 and 122: 16 The early weeks: your baby The b
Page 123 and 124: The early weeks: your baby Sadly, w
Page 125 and 126: The early weeks: your baby CHANGING
Page 127 and 128: The early weeks: your baby WASHING
Page 129 and 130: The early weeks: your baby W HERE T
Page 131 and 132: as green, leafy vegetables and brea
Page 133 and 134: Rights and benefits How much is it?
Page 135 and 136: Who gets it? Pregnant women and new
Page 137: Rights and benefits You must have n
Page 141 and 142: Rights and benefits (MAT B1 form),
Page 143 and 144: Rights and benefits Giving notice f
Page 145 and 146: Rights and benefits If you return t
Page 147 and 148: • state that this is an applicati
Page 149 and 150: USEFUL ORGANISATIONS Some of these
Page 151 and 152: In Northern Ireland: Northern Irela
Page 153 and 154: INDEX A abnormalities tests to dete
Page 155: The Pregnancy Book “It contains e
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