Pregnant and on Maternity Leave

v.confused_2

I'm a very regular poster on MSE but as I would like to keep my news very quiet I have used a different username. If anybody could help I would really appreciate it!

Background:
I got headhunted for a job and took it, starting July 2007. The same week I started I found out that I expecting. As I had not been with the employer long enough, I was entitled to MA and not SMP. I started mat leave at the beginning of March 2008 and am due to go back to work March 2009.
I am also registered self-employed as I do mystery shopping but as I cannot carry out self-employed work until my MA payments stop (except for the 10 KIT days) I have not made any arrangements to either pay the class 2 NICs or get an exemption cert.

I have found out today that I am expecting again and the baby is due at the beginning of July. Having done a bit of research I am really confused. I understand that if I was on SMP my mat leave would count as continuous service and I would not need to return to work but Maternity Allowance payments do not count and so I would need to be working at my old job or be self-employed for 26 weeks before I could claim MA.

I understand that if I paid class 2 NICs for 26 weeks as a self-employed person, I would qualify for MA. My question is, is it wrong to pay Class 2 NICs when it is highly unlikely that I would be earning over £100 a week from mystery shopping? Would I have to prove thorugh invoices on the 13 best earning weeks that I have made over £100 for those weeks?

Please do not berate me on this point. I am just trying to work out the best course. I could try and return to work in March and leave a few months later but there is a very big chance that I won't have a job to go to (they have made most of the company redundant).

The problem has arisen because I left my former company! Previously I had been in continuous employment for 15 years.

Has anybody got any experience/advice of this please?

Becles

You don't have to prove any earnings to claim MA as a self employed person. You just pay the NIC's for 26 weeks and then put a claim in, and you get it!

shirlgirl2004

Yes Becles is right. I did the same. I was earning way below £100 a week but I made sure I paid my class 2s and had no problems claiming, well except for a 3 month wait for the payments to start.

v.confused_2

Ok, so I just phone up HMRC and say that I want to voluntarily pay class 2 NICs. Do they ask why or get you to justify your earnings? And then I just make sure I pay that for 26 weeks before baby is due.

Did I understand correctly that I don't have to prove anything? DWP just contact HMRC to make sure I have paid 26 weeks worth? I don't have to send in invoices or anything? Would HMRC ever ask me to prove that I had earned x amount? How much would I get as I read somewhere about it being 90% of the average earnings or the £117ish whatever was lower. Do I need to be concerned about this bit?

Do you just then phone up and tell them you are on maternity leave and to suspend the payments (as I understand you are exempt from paying them when claiming maternity allowance).

Thank you so much for your help. It is a huge weight off my shoulders if I can get MA this way. Sorry for all the questions but as you can tell I am sh*tting myself that it won't work!

Becles

Phone the self employed helpline. The number is on www.hmrc.gov.uk Tell them you want to pay Class2 NI and they will sort it all out for you. I pay by monthly DD, but there were other ways to pay. Say you don't want a small earnings certificate and you do want to pay the contributions.

For MA reasons, if you are paying Class 2 with no small earnings certificate, you are assumed to be earning enough to get the £117 a week. No questions asked and no need to prove anything!

If you do have the small earnings certificate, you only get £27 a week, so it's really not worth having one for maternity reasons.

I don't think the 90% rule applies to MA - I think that is for SMP.

Going from memory here, but I think I filled the MA claim form in at 29 weeks with the date I thought I wanted to stop work.

They sent another form back to fill in on my last day to confirm the date I did stop working. You can be flexible here and stop later or earlier than the date you first gave. I claimed a couple of weeks earlier than expected as I was poorly.

Once that form gets back, the MA people contact the NI people for you and your payments will stop. When your MA runs out, they contact NI again for you and they'll start taking payments again.