Teenage parents and benefits

I am working. What am I entitled to?

You are entitled to the maternity rights and benefits that all employees can claim, whether you live with your parents or not. For more information about rights to maternity leave and pay, contact Working Families for our factsheet 'Maternity leave and pay', or look on the website where you can download this leaflet.

If you work for 16 hours a week or less you may still be entitled to receive IS. If you work for more than 16 hours a week you may be entitled to WTC once the baby is born (but not before, unless your partner works and is 25 or over). If you are not living with your parents you may be able to claim Housing Benefit.

When your baby is born you will be entitled to Child Benefit, Child Tax Credit and, during your first six months maternity leave or whilst you get Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance, you may also be entitled to Working Tax Credit. You may be entitled to the Sure Start Maternity Grant if you get CTC of more than the family element (more than £21 a week), but make sure you claim within 3 months of the baby's birth.

Aged 18-24

The normal rules for claiming benefit apply, please see Working Families factsheets 'What to claim for a New Child' or 'Tax Credits and Benefits'. There are some differences in the rate of benefit that you can receive, so depending on your circumstances you may get less money than someone aged 25 or over, but once you have your baby there will be no difference.

What's available
A summary of benefits referred to in this factsheet.

Free NHS dental treatment and prescriptions
You will qualify for free NHS dental treatment and prescriptions if you are under 16 (or under 19 and in full-time education) or you are receiving Income Support or income-based Job Seekers Allowance, or you are pregnant or have given birth within the last year. The rules are different in Wales where everybody can get full prescriptions from April 2007.

Child Benefit
You will get Child Benefit, whatever your age, for each child you are responsible for, as long as that child is under 16 (or under 19 and in full-time education or approved training, eg Entry to Employment,Skillseekers etc). It is #18.10 a week for the oldest child and £12.10 a week for other children (April 07-08 rates).

Income Support (IS)
You may be entitled to IS if you are 16 or over and you are not able to work full time. You are eligible for IS if, for example:

• you are a single parent
• you are at least 29 weeks pregnant
• you are in full-time education or approved training and are estranged from your parents
• you are a carer of someone who is disabled, or
• you are too unwell to work.

If you are one of a couple, the person who is unable to work should be the person in whose name the claim is made (e.g. the person who is too unwell to work).There are two different levels of payment of IS if you are aged 16 or 17:
Lower rate £35.65
Higher rate £46.85

You will be entitled to the higher rate if you are disabled or if you are living apart from your parents and you can show that you cannot live with them because, for example:

• you are an orphan and have no one acting as your parent
• your parents are chronically sick or disabled, or in prison, or are unable to enter the country
• you have to live away from your parents because you are estranged from them, or you are in physical or moral danger, or there is a serious risk to your physical or mental health.

IS is means-tested so whether you get it depends on the amount of money you have coming in and the amount of savings you have.

You should claim IS from your local Jobcentre Plus.