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Can a husband claim a sure start maternity grant for his pregnant wife who has NRPF?
This feels like such a simple question and I have probably missed some really obvious source of info but I have searched all over the government website and the CPAG handbooks and can’t find anything.
The husband is a British citizen and gets income-related ESA which is a qualifying benefit for a sure start maternity grant. I know that normally a pregnant woman can make a claim if her partner gets a qualifying benefit but in this case she has no recourse so I don’t think a claim can be made in her name. Can he make a claim as the father of the child or does the claim have to be made by the pregnant partner? Does the mother having no recourse make a difference to whether the father can claim?
According to Maternity Action, the partner can claim https://maternityaction.org.uk/advice/no-recourse-to-public-funds-money-for-parents-and-babies/
He can claim.
1. See reg. 5 of the Social Fund Maternity and Funeral Expenses (General) Regulations 2005.
2. Specifically, the husband meets the second condition in reg. 5(3)(a):
(3) The second condition is that—
(a)the claimant or, if the claimant is a member of a family, one of the family is pregnant or has given birth to a child or a still-born child;
because reg. 3 defines her as a member of the family.
3. There is no additional recourse to public funds in this type of case as far as I can see. The additional amount is not paid because of her but because of the coming baby.
3. There is no additional recourse to public funds in this type of case as far as I can see. The additional amount is not paid because of her but because of the coming baby.
Maternity expenses payments are listed as public funds though.
A Social Fund maternity expenses payment made under section 138(1)(a) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 Yes (Maternity expenses, funeral expenses, cold weather, winter fuel, budgeting loan payments, are covered under the term ‘Social Fund’ in S115 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.)
Surely though it’s the fact that it’s the husband who is claiming that means this shouldn’t be a problem for the wife?