Maternity Allowance - Self Employed

Becles

My friend does a few hours a week cleaning and ironing in other peoples homes. She earns on average £80 a week. She has a small earnings exemption certificate, but has been paying Class 2 NI on a voluntary basis thinking it would cover her if she needed to claim benefits in the future.

She is heavily pregnant and enquired about claiming maternity allowance. The advisor she spoke to said that because she has a small earnings certificate, she will only be entitled to £30 a week MA. Apparantly her voluntary contributions do not count towards MA, if you have a small earnings exemption and you only get £30 a week.

She is extremely worried as she thought she would be getting 90% of her average wage, so was expecting to get around £70 a week. Her husband is on a low income, so she will stuggle having £40 a week less than she thought.

Is the information she was told correct? Please advise as she's talking about going back to work as soon as baby is born, which I think is unwise as she'll not be fit enough to do heavy housework and I'm worried about her.

zoezoe_3

if you are self employed and paying NI you get the full £108 a week. They dont even ask for your weekly earnings. She can apply 11 weeks before the baby is born so she should appy now.

zOe

Becles

That's what I thought.

However it appears if you have a small earnings certificate you only get £30

D_e_n_i_s_e

A girl that lives across the street from me is preganant - shes is just 20, has just started final year of university commuting to and from uni daily 30miles away, her husband, 23 is also at uni 2years into a four year course. they both pay together £70 week rent for the house.

she was telling me the other day that they are not entitled to
Maternity allowance or surestart support.

there baby is due in December.

As students they can apply for loans - which isnt much ALL which are repayable
the only plus is that the council waives there council tax as they are students.

there total income for the year £5000 (student loans)
in which both have to travel to and from uni - £1000 year commuting costs
books and literature costs - £200
food and drinks cost £1600 @£30/wk
House Rent £3500
Mobiles and Telephones and Internet £250/year
Electric and Gas £1000
Car and home insurance £1000
BABY COSTS - (cot, buggy, pushcahir, nappies etc ?????)

Incoming (loans) = £5000
Outgoings = £7500 (1000 + 200 + 1600 + 3500 + 250 + 1000 + 1000)
SHORTFALL OF £3500

after hearing this i thought how lucky i was that under the tory government - yes the tory government i got free schooling, got paid to go to uni, and didnt have to worry about repayments at a later date.

At this young stage of there lives i think its so sad that there isnt much help out there from this useless govt of ours. As you may have noticed the list above doesnt include socialising or going out costs - cos theres no way they can enjoy themselves with the money they have.

This is DSS reply to them
'As neither of you are working there are no additional benefits we can give you'
'you would need to be working to et working tax cred, child tax credit, family tax credit, income support etc'

zoezoe_3

Becles wrote:

That's what I thought.

However it appears if you have a small earnings certificate you only get £30

Why bother asking if teh information was correct if you have decided that it must be ?

zoezoe_3

D_e_n_i_s_e wrote:

she was telling me the other day that they are not entitled to
Maternity allowance or surestart support.

They are not entitled to help yet but once the baby is here they can apply for the grant and tax credits and any otehr means tested benefits.

zoezoe_3

D_e_n_i_s_e wrote:

This is DSS reply to them
'As neither of you are working there are no additional benefits we can give you'
'you would need to be working to et working tax cred, child tax credit, family tax credit, income support etc'

This is a complete lie !! In fact I would complain. income support and child tax credits ARE paid to this who are not working in fact they would provide most if their income, BUT they wont get them until they have the baby.

Becles

zoezoe wrote:

Why bother asking if teh information was correct if you have decided that it must be ?

I haven't decided that it must be true. There is no need to be so agressive

I know it is true that you get full MA if you pay Class 2 and do not have small earnings exemption, which you stated.

I don't know if it is true that if you pay Class 2 but do have a small earnings exemption that you only get £30. This is what I am trying to find out the answer to.

zoezoe_3

I was wrong anyway

from here

http://www.dsdni.gov.uk/index/ssa/benefit_information/a-z_of_benefits/maternity_allowance.htm

"If the woman is self-employed and has a small earnings exception certificate she will be treated as earning £30 a week for any week covered by the certificate

If she pays Class 2 contributions she will be treated as earning an amount 90% of which equals the standard rate of Maternity Allowance due at the end of the week covered by the Class 2 contribution. This means for tax years:"

so unless she can use another test period it will be 90% of £30.

zoezoe_3

dont forget she can claim tac credits and possibly the surestart grant as soon as baby arrives.

Becles

Thanks. They've already budgeted in tax credits and the maternity grant. The are really struggling financially due to past problems. The baby wasn't planned, so it's added to the struggle.

From that link it seems she's entitled to 90% of £30 which is £27 a week. It's really not fair when she's paid NI voluntarily, to protect herself in case a situation like this arose

Looks like she'll be working till she gives birth, then going straight back to work