Built for planning, not pressure
The site is here to help you ask better questions, spot the important dates and understand the broad money picture before decisions start to feel rushed.
About Family Money Helper
Making family money rules easier to understand
Family Money Helper exists to help UK families make sense of important money information around pregnancy, maternity leave, childcare and life with a baby.
The goal is simple: take information that can feel confusing or scattered, explain it in plain English, and give families tools that make the numbers easier to plan around.
Why it exists
Family finances can change quickly
Maternity pay can drop, nursery invoices can be hard to compare, funded hours are not always as simple as the headline figure, and Child Benefit has rules that are easy to miss. This site brings those topics together in one calmer place.
Plain English first
Family money rules can be full of official wording. The aim here is to explain the important bits in normal language.
Useful before perfect
The tools are designed to give families a helpful planning estimate, not a false promise that every payslip or nursery invoice will match exactly.
Transparent assumptions
Where the site uses rates, dates or assumptions, it tries to show what those are so you can sense-check the result.
What this site is
Helpful explanations and planning tools
- Plain-English guides for common family money questions.
- Free calculators for quick planning estimates.
- A spreadsheet planner for a more personal maternity and childcare budget.
- Links back to GOV.UK pages so you can check the official rules.
What this site is not
Not official advice
- It is not GOV.UK and is not affiliated with GOV.UK.
- It is not payroll, tax, benefits, legal or financial advice.
- It cannot replace your employer policy, payslip, nursery quote or official eligibility check.
- Estimates may differ from what actually lands in your bank account.
How the information is used
Based on official sources, explained simply
The calculators and guides are built around GOV.UK figures and rules where possible, then translated into simpler wording. The site also links to sources so you can check the official version for your own situation.
Calculators
Quick estimates for maternity pay and nursery fees, designed to help you understand the likely shape of the numbers.
Try the calculatorsGuides
Plain-English explainers for topics like Statutory Maternity Pay, funded childcare and Child Benefit.
Read the guidesSpreadsheet planner
A downloadable workbook for people who want to add more personal details and keep their own planning file.
See the plannerStart somewhere simple
Use the site in the order that helps you most
If you want a quick answer, start with a calculator. If you want to understand the rules, read a guide. If you want to keep your own numbers in one place, use the spreadsheet planner.