A new guide is available to help parents through the financial maze of bringing up baby.

Burnley MP Kitty Ussher – herself a recent new mum to baby George, born on 3 January – launched ‘The Parent’s Guide to Money’ at the Chai Children’s Centre in Hurtley Street.

She is hoping that the simple, comprehensive information it contains will guide parents through their childcare journey from pre-birth to returning to work. Ms Ussher said: “I have one message for parents– don’t miss out on this guide. It’s free and it will make you richer! There is a lot of help out there and people don’t know about it.”

She added that in one area where the guide had already been piloted, the take-up of benefits had increased. The free guide takes the form of a robust hard-backed A5-sized folder, packed with bright and jargon-free information on budgeting, benefits, savings, work options, borrowing, and baby’s first years.

There is also a CD-ROM with calculators to help mums and dads balance their family finances on a computer. The Financial Services Authority – the government’s financial watchdog – has created the guide with help from parents and parenting organisations, and regional trials began in the autumn of 2007. Children’s centres and midwives will be handing out the guides to expectant parents in Burnley and the FSA hopes to make them available in all regions of England by the end of summer 2008.

Marcus Johnstone, Lancashire County Council’s cabinet member for children and young people, said: “Bringing a child into the world and all the responsibility it entails is a daunting enough job in itself without the addition of money worries.

“This guide is like a friend along the way. Giving it out via children’s centres and midwives is just right because parents are already feeling supported in those environments and are much more likely to get help from either staff or each other.

“If the guide can help reduce financial strain with clearer information, or relieve poverty with better benefit uptake, it has to be good news for young families in Burnley – and soon, hopefully, the rest of Lancashire.”