what is maternity allowance ?

Leedash

hi what is maternity allowance ? do have to claim when your employer wont ?

karenx

you can get it if not entitled to maternity pay from employer or your self employed. There are some conditions to meet though in order to qualify

Leedash

well my company is not paying mp so gave me this form ?

dmg24

You are not giving us a lot to go on. Why are they not paying SMP?

Leedash

think it because i had time off sick for a operation on my foot,ni was not high enough

karenx

maternity pay from employer doesnt go by ni. Goes on how long you have been there etc

Leedash

its my wife,around 2 years but was off a couple of months sick pay

karenx

I think she needs to speak to her employer and find out whats going on. As neither of you seem to know why employer isnt paying maternity pay

chrisbur

If you are not entitled to SMP then your employer should give you a form SMP1 that looks like this
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/advisers/claimforms/smp1_print.pdf
and also returned the MatB1. Instructions what to do next are on the MatB1.
The SMP1 will give the reason why SMP is not payable, from what you have said before it sounds like the average earnings during the test period were below the lower earnings limit, £97 a week from memory. If you feel that they have worked this out wrongly let us know the expected date of childbirth from the MatB1 and if paid weekly or monthly or otherwise, and I can tell you which payments need to be checked for the average.