Make the most of benefits
1) Claim Child Benefit
You can currently claim Child Benefit as soon as your baby is born - just fill in this form.
You'll get £20.30 a week for your eldest/only child, and an extra £13.40 for any additional children. It's currently not means-tested, so you can claim it no matter what your income is. However, from 2013, if you earn £44,000 a year or more, you will no longer be eligible for such payments.
Find out more here.
2) Start a Child Trust Fund while you still can
In order to help your kids build up some decent savings for later in life, the Government used to hand over a £250 voucher once the child was born to open a Child Trust Fund, a long-term tax-free savings account which cannot be accessed until the child reaches the age of 18.
However, this has now been slashed right down to £50.
What’s more, children born from January 2011 onwards will not qualify for a Child Trust Fund account and no further government payments will be made. So if you’re one of the lucky ones and your child still qualifies for a Child Trust Fund account, ensure you make the most of it.
4) Claim tax credits
When you have a baby, you may be able to claim tax credits. However, there are plenty of changes on the way here.
How much of a credit you can claim obviously depends on your circumstances, and it’s worth having a little play with the HMRC tax credit tool to see if you qualify, and how much for.
So what’s changing? From April 2011, these tax credits will not be available to families earning more than £40,000. What’s more, the baby element of the tax credit will be removed, so the amount you can claim in year one is reduced.
Watch our video guide on how to cut the costs of having a baby!
Want some more advice on baby benefits? Why not ask a question using our Q&A tool? You may find that other members of lovemoney.com have experiences they can share which will help you.
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