Sure Start Maternity Grants
What is a Sure Start Maternity Grant?
A Sure Start Maternity Grant is intended to help you pay for the immediate needs of a new-born baby if your income is low. It is paid from the Social Fund as a lump sum, and you do not have to pay it back. A Sure Start Maternity Grant is paid when the conditions below are satisfied. It is not limited by a budget and everyone who is entitled will get a payment or grant.
The grant is £500 for each baby.
Who can get Sure Start Maternity Grants?
You are eligible for a Sure Start Maternity Grant if you or your partner are getting Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Pension Credit, Working Tax Credit where a disability or severe disability element is included in the award or Child Tax Credit at a rate higher than the family element.
If you have a partner, either of you may apply for the grant. But if your partner applies, the name of the child’s mother should be included.
If you are adopting a baby
If you are adopting a baby you can apply for a grant as long as the baby is not more than 12 months old when you apply. You must apply for a Sure Start Maternity Grant within 3 months of adopting the baby.
Surrogate births
If you and your husband or wife have been granted a parental order in respect of a surrogate birth, you can also apply for a grant.
You must apply for a Sure Start Maternity Grant within three months of the date of the parental order.
If You Have Any Savings
Savings do not affect Sure Start Maternity Grants.
How Sure Start Maternity Grants are paid
Payment will usually be made by Direct Payment into a bank, building society or Post Office card account which you have nominated.
How to claim
You can claim from 11 weeks before the week your baby is due, until your baby is 3 months old.
Contact your Jobcentre Plus office or social security office and ask for claim form SF100 (Sure Start). For details of your nearest Jobcentre Plus office or social security office, look for the display advert in the business numbers section of the local phone book.
Claim forms can also be accessed at the Department’s website: www.dwp.gov.uk
Details of the benefit rates of all Social Security benefits are available in leaflet GL23 “Social security benefit rates”. You can get this leaflet from your social security office. It is also available at your post office.
What information do I need to provide?
You will need to tell us the date your baby is due (sometimes called the expected date of confinement). If your baby has already been born, tell us the date of birth, adoption or surrogacy.
For a Sure Start Maternity Grant you will also need to show that you have received advice on the health needs and general welfare of the new baby and, if you claim before the baby is born, on maternal health. There is a certificate on the back of the claim form for this.
The certificate must be signed by a health professional, for example:
- a community or hospital midwife
- a health visitor
- a practice nurse.
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Sure Start Maternity Grant
