maternity allowance

henroo

Hi any help would be great. I am 20 weeks pregnant I recently started working for a family business, I was 9 weeks pregnant when I started I don't qualify for statutory maternity pay but I have been told I should clam for maternity allowance but my employer has kindly offered to carry on paying me when I'm on maternity leave, will I still qualify for maternity allowance?

karenx

No you won't qualify if your still getting paid

Emmamumof2

DWP website says:

How payments from your employer affect MA

Occupational maternity pay, payment in kind or any other payments made to you by your employer will not affect the payments of your MA. But remember that you cannot get MA if your employer pays SMP to you.


So if your employer is paying you out of the goodness then I read it you could still claim MA, if you were getting SMP then no.

Here is link:

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/publications/specialist-guides/technical-guidance/ni17a-a-guide-to-maternity/maternity-allowance-ma/extra-benefit-for-your/#howother

Are you eligible for MA?

Eligibility

You can only get MA if you cannot get SMP from your employer.
To qualify for MA, you have to satisfy two basic rules:

• the employment rule; and
• the earnings rule

You have to satisfy these rules in a test period. The test period is the period of 66 weeks up to and including the week before the week your baby is due.
To get MA you must not be eligible for SMP from any employer.
The Employment rule

You must have been employed and/or self-employed for at least 26 weeks in your 66 week test period. The 26 weeks do not have to be in a row and it does not matter how much you earn.You do not have to be actually physically at work to be employed or self-employed; you might be off work sick or have been on Statutory Maternity Leave for an earlier pregnancy for example.
Weeks when you have not worked a full week count towards your 26 weeks.
If you are self-employed, you must be registered as such with HM Revenue & Customs according to their rules.
The Earnings rule

To get MA your earnings, on average, must be at least equal to the Maternity Allowance Threshold (MAT) which applies at the beginning of your test period. The MAT is £30 a week so you must earn on average at least £30 a week. If you have more than one employer, all earnings will count when working out the average.


If you can get MA under these rules and your employer is paying you just to be nice then it sounds like you can get both!

xnatalie81x

Sorry to hijack - i am 18 weeks pregnant, self-employed. Do you need to be paying NI contributions to get MA.....By law i have to take 2 weeks off after the birth of baby :mad: - obviously i would rather not but apparently can get fined so could i claim MA for the two weeks even though i do not currently pay NI or tax???

Thanks

henroo

xnatalie81x wrote: »

Sorry to hijack - i am 18 weeks pregnant, self-employed. Do you need to be paying NI contributions to get MA.....By law i have to take 2 weeks off after the birth of baby :mad: - obviously i would rather not but apparently can get fined so could i claim MA for the two weeks even though i do not currently pay NI or tax???

Thanks

no worries from what I've read i think you do need to be paying ni contributions but if you don't qualify for ma then you should be entitled to employment and support allowance for i think it said 2 weeks before the baby's born and 6 weeks after hope this helps and i notest your kids ages are all the same as mine just mine are all boys lol how mad

henroo

Emmamumof2 wrote: »

DWP website says:

How payments from your employer affect MA

Occupational maternity pay, payment in kind or any other payments made to you by your employer will not affect the payments of your MA. But remember that you cannot get MA if your employer pays SMP to you.


So if your employer is paying you out of the goodness then I read it you could still claim MA, if you were getting SMP then no.


Are you eligible for MA?

Eligibility

You can only get MA if you cannot get SMP from your employer.


To qualify for MA, you have to satisfy two basic rules:

• the employment rule; and
• the earnings rule

You have to satisfy these rules in a test period. The test period is the period of 66 weeks up to and including the week before the week your baby is due.
To get MA you must not be eligible for SMP from any employer.
The Employment rule

You must have been employed and/or self-employed for at least 26 weeks in your 66 week test period. The 26 weeks do not have to be in a row and it does not matter how much you earn.You do not have to be actually physically at work to be employed or self-employed; you might be off work sick or have been on Statutory Maternity Leave for an earlier pregnancy for example.
Weeks when you have not worked a full week count towards your 26 weeks.
If you are self-employed, you must be registered as such with HM Revenue & Customs according to their rules.
The Earnings rule

To get MA your earnings, on average, must be at least equal to the Maternity Allowance Threshold (MAT) which applies at the beginning of your test period. The MAT is £30 a week so you must earn on average at least £30 a week. If you have more than one employer, all earnings will count when working out the average.


If you can get MA under these rules and your employer is paying you just to be nice then it sounds like you can get both!

thank you this is really useful i couldn't find it myself :T

xnatalie81x

henroo wrote: »

no worries from what I've read i think you do need to be paying ni contributions but if you don't qualify for ma then you should be entitled to employment and support allowance for i think it said 2 weeks before the baby's born and 6 weeks after hope this helps and i notest your kids ages are all the same as mine just mine are all boys lol how mad

wahoooooooo another mad person lol :eek:. Finding out the sex of this one on 6th July - will have to look into ESA??? I don't know if it could be worth the effort for 2 weeks lol. I cannot take time off as no one can do my job (as well as me lol)

How do you find it with the 3 with the age gap lol. I get asked it 3 times a day and have always wanted to ask someone else