Dadtalk

Finance - benefits, tax credits, child support, wills

Benefits

There is a wide range of financial help available for families. Some is available to all, some only if your income is low. From pregnancy through to your child reaching age 20, there are state benefits available to help with the cost of raising family. Make sure you claim everything you are entitled to. Download the factsheet from the FSA outlining state benefits for families.

If you or your child has a disability, there are also state benefits to help with the extra costs. Disability benefits are not paid automatically so make sure you claim as soon as you think you may be eligible. Download this factsheet from the FSA for further advice

Tax credits

Extra money for families - Nine out of ten families with children can claim child tax credit. Working tax credit can help you pay for childcare and top up low earnings. Tax credits need to be claimed as soon as possible and if your circumstances change you will need to inform HMRC as soon as possible. For more information visit the tax credits website.

A tax credit estimator can be found on the Working Families website.

Child Support/Maintenance

If you’re separated from your child’s mum, what agreement do you have for sharing your child’s living costs? Have you got a child maintenance arrangement in place? If not, it’s something you need to sort out.

To help you find out what to do, here are the details of two organisations that can assist you in setting up child maintenance. They provide two very different services – one offers information and support, and the other collects and enforces child maintenance.

Child Maintenance Options

This is a free service that provides impartial information and support to help both parents make an informed choice about child maintenance. This is the place to start when setting up child maintenance.

As part of its service, Child Maintenance Options:

• Can help you identify the best arrangement for your circumstances
• Gives practical support to help you put the arrangement in place
• Provides a simple online calculator to enable you to work out how much child maintenance to pay or receive
• Can talk to you about whether your current arrangement is the best one for your circumstances
• Offers information about legal rights and ways you can stay involved in your child’s life
• Can handle enquiries anonymously and confidentially.

Call them on             0800 988 0988      

Child Support Agency (CSA)

The CSA is one of the options for arranging child maintenance. They put in place child maintenance arrangements according to legally-binding rules, for parents who want a third-party organisation to manage their arrangement for them. The CSA doesn’t charge for its services.

The CSA:

• Sets strict rules governing how much maintenance payments will be and when they will be paid
• Monitors and enforces arrangements if payments are late or missed
• Can handle payments from the non-resident parent to the parent with care
• Answers case-specific enquiries from clients in relation to existing CSA arrangements.

Call them on             08457 133 133       

The government's child maintenance calculator will also help you estimate how much you might be asked to pay (or receive) for child maintenance.

Wills

Do you have a current will? Writing a will is not a fun activity, but if you have children you should make one. ‘Which’ provides some useful advice on their website.

Financial jargon buster

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has a website called MoneyMadeClear designed to cut out the jargon and help you make informed decisions on financial matters.