Unpaid maternity leave?

Question

I am on unpaid maternity leave from my job at the moment, and have been receivign tax credits and housing benefit as normal. For the 6 weeks leading up to the birth of my child I received a small amount of income support in lieu of maternity benefits, and this stopped the day my son was born. I have now received a letter from housing benefit telling me that because this has stopped they have suspended my claim, and need to see all income details since then. What will happen when I supply it all?

Answer 1

If you have no income other then tax credits and child benefit, they will pay you in full any housing and council tax benefit your entitled to, if you get more income then they will allow you to receive full housing benefit they will deduct any additional income from your claim, meaning you'll still get some but not the full amount. Remember though whilst there assessing the new information they will not be paying your rent so you might need to pay it yourself for a while, this happened to me and i got into arrears for a month, my landlord luckily was a nice guy realised i couldn't pay it and let it slide but you can be evicted if you don't keep up with your rent, be careful and try and explain the situation to your landlord so he has a heads up on the situation!

Answer 2

Your claim will resume, but do it within 28 days or they will close your claim and you will need to claim all over again. As long as you are within the 28 days your claim is backdated so no arrears acumulate if your entitlement continues.

HB get notification that your IS has stopped and the seek evidence to support continued payment of HB, let them see details of all income and tell them about the birth of the baby. once they see this they will check that your are still eligible and restart the claim

It is nothing to worry about only HB procedure to ensure taht the change in your circumstances is reflected in your payments. Once you have the baby you will get Maternity Allowance, Child tax Credits and child benefit. It is likely this will be an increase on your IS amount so you may have to pay some of your rent

Answer 3

your case will be reviewed and a decision made  if any  type of benefit applies to you and you will then receive it , the housing benefit will not resume till you do this