# Notes

## About Greg
- UK-based. NHS pathway.
- Partner (girlfriend) is the pregnant one; Greg is the non-birthing parent.
- Near-zero prior knowledge. First child.
- Goes by **Bean**. Partner is **Hannah** — **call her Pud Pud** (asked for explicitly, 31 Aug 2026).
- **LMP 2 Aug 2026 → EDD Sunday 9 May 2027.** Was 4+0 weeks on 30 Aug 2026. Confirm at dating scan.
- **Greg**: sole director + sole employee of **TWP Agency**, newly started. No cover, no colleague. **No SPP — settled 1 Sep 2026.** In 2026/27 he drew ~**£10,000 PAYE from a previous employer**, left, and has paid himself in **dividends** from TWP since; ~£2,000 of personal allowance left. SPP is tested on AWE in the 8 weeks to the QW (30 Jan 2027) from a current employer — he fails on both counts, and engineering it is worth ~£80 net. **His 2026/27 state pension qualifying year is already banked** (£10k > £6,708 LEL); the decision returns 6 Apr 2027. **~£40,000 of dividend headroom before 5 Apr 2027** under the £50,270 / 10.75%→35.75% cliff. **SPL is moot** (she must stay employed until the week before it starts; contract ends 28 May 2027) — don't raise it again. The live money question is instead **means-tested**: UC → unlocks Sure Start Maternity Grant £500 + Healthy Start.
- **Hannah**: Herman Miller, 1-yr maternity cover contract ending **28 May 2027**. Qualifies for SMP (started ~May 2026). SMP survives the contract end; enhanced pay would not.
- Key computed dates: qualifying week **24–30 Jan 2027**; MATB1 from **20 Dec 2026**; earliest mat leave **21 Feb 2027**; SMP exhausted ~**23 Jan 2028**.

## Teaching preferences
- Extremely concise. Sacrifices grammar for concision in his own writing; likes the same back.
- Wants the map before the detail (front-load).
- All four fronts matter to him: supporting her, logistics/decisions, birth, newborn care.

## Working notes
- Lessons are the unit. Keep them ~10 min. One win each.
- Reference docs must print well — he'll want the checklists on paper / phone.
- Recompute all dates against the scan EDD once known (dating scan 11–25 Oct 2026).
- Lesson 3 (30 Aug 2026) introduced `assets/triage.css` — reusable three-tier red-flag card. Reuse for third trimester, labour, newborn.
- Quizzes now carry one **spaced question from a previous lesson**. Keep doing this every lesson.
- **Open questions**: whether Herman Miller offers enhanced maternity pay and any repayment clause (*asked 31 Aug, he's checking*); whether TWP runs a salary in 2027/28 for the pension year (~£6,708, costs the company ~£256 employer NI; sole directors can't claim Employment Allowance); whether Herman Miller's scheme changes the £14,530 SMP gap — now the highest-value unknown in the whole workspace.
- **He argues back on money, and he is often right.** He challenged the SPL flag on 1 Sep 2026 and the challenge held. Pressure-test entitlement claims against *their* specific facts before putting them in a lesson; don't pass on generic risk.
- **Trust: North Cheshire and Mersey NHS FT** (formerly Warrington & Halton / WHH — old whh.nhs.uk links 301-redirect). Warrington Hospital, Lovely Lane, WA5 1QG; maternity in Croft Wing. **EPAU (under 18 wks) 01925 662320 · Maternity Triage (over 18 wks, 24h) 01925 275200 · community midwives 01925 662092 · antenatal clinic 01925 662260 · Birth Suite 01925 662334 · The Nest (MLU) 01925 662043.** Birth options: home, Birth Suite, The Nest.
- **Self-referral submitted** (confirmed 31 Aug 2026). Booking appointment expected 27 Sep–25 Oct.
- **Buffer sized (1 Sep 2026).** Hannah net **£2,750/mo** → gross ≈£41,000, £788/wk. SMP: 6 wks @ £710/wk (no gap), then 33 wks @ £194.32 = **−£440/wk, −£14,530 total**; from ~23 Jan 2028 −£635/wk. Greg draws ~**£2,000/mo dividends**; each month off costs that. **Tier 1 target £17,700** (SMP gap + 4 wks off + £1,200 kit); **Tier 2 £26,000** (adds 3 months past the SMP cliff). Rule given: **live on her salary, bank the dividends** — £2,000 × 8 months = £16,000. Hold the bulk as retained profit in TWP (19% CT), draw in 2027/28 against a fresh allowance/band. His 2026/27 total income ≈£34,000, so ~£16,000 of room left under the £50,270 cliff.
- **UC is definitively out** — the buffer crosses the £16,000 capital limit. So is the £500 SSMG. Stop planning around both.
- **Lesson 6 = money follow-up** (his choice, 1 Sep 2026), deliberately blocked on two inputs: the accountant's reply and Herman Miller's maternity scheme. `reference/questions-out.html` written to unblock both — drafted accountant email + handbook checklist. Don't build L6 until at least one lands.
- **New levers found while writing that card**: accrued-but-untaken annual leave, payable in lieu when her contract ends 28 May 2027 (several weeks' pay, routinely forgotten); employer pension contributions continue during paid maternity leave at notional full salary.
- Wills/guardianship and the Jan 2028 childcare cliff both offered as L6 and not chosen — keep queued, wills before May 2027.
- **Scan lesson is time-boxed** (11–25 Oct, screening cut-off 14+1 wks) and money is not. If he keeps choosing money, push the scan lesson anyway by late Sep.
- Still unknown: whether Pud Pud has symptoms yet.
- **They are not married.** Real financial consequences: no spouse exemption from the settlements legislation (so gifting her shares to use her unused allowance is not safe), no IHT spouse exemption, no intestacy rights. Wills + guardianship is an unbuilt lesson, needed before May 2027.
- 2026/27 figures verified 1 Sep 2026: dividends 10.75/35.75/39.35, allowance £500; basic band to £50,270; PA £12,570; LEL £6,708; secondary threshold £5,000 @ 15%; SER 109%; HICBC £60k–£80k; UC capital limit £16,000; SSMG £500.
- Lesson 4 (31 Aug 2026) = booking appointment. Booking window **27 Sep–25 Oct 2026**; combined screening hard cut-off **14+1 weeks**.
- His ad-hoc questions become a section of the current lesson rather than a chat-only answer (water → L4 §4).
- Glossary grown with NIPT, amnio/CVS, family origin questionnaire, FW8/MATEX.
- **Lesson 6 (5 Sep 2026) = the dating scan.** Corrected my own timeline: combined-screening window is **20 Oct–9 Nov 2026** (CRL 45–84 mm = 11+2–14+1), not the 11–25 Oct I had written. Action given: check the offered scan date is on/after 20 Oct. Fallback = quadruple test 10 Nov–20 Dec.
- **Recompute every date in the workspace the day the scan EDD lands.** He's been told to text it same-day.
- Money follow-up still blocked on both inputs; wills/guardianship + second trimester also queued. Offered all three at the end of L6.
- He engages with specifics about his own situation — generic content will underperform. Lead with what applies to *him*.