Maternity Allowance Help - Strange Circumstances

andyh2003

Hi All,

Not 100% sure where to post this as its a bit related to many things.

Basicaly, wife and i would like some advice on Maternity Allowance etc.

Situation is.

Both worked all our working lives, never claimed benifits.
We had first baby 21 months ago, wife had maternity package through NHS...... shortly after the end of the maternity leave we moved to my parents so we could save for a house..... wife is now a stay at home mum as fulltime childcare almost outweighs working!!

we have now changed our plans a bit and are looking to move (rent) in aprox 5 months time, we are also considering having child 2.

Problem is... we'd ideally like to be preg by the time we move in 5 months which means wife wont be able to get a job which covers statuatary maternity leave. (we are moving 200miles)

we have also considered her setting up an ebay shop- - im wondering, if she registers as self employed, pays class 2 NI Contributions and runs a small ebay business (declaring tax etc) would she then be eligable for the "Maternity Allowance?"

does anyone know what the maternity allowance £ is? - in the case of a self employed person - whos income would vary possible quite a lot month to month?

any advice would be great?

Becles

If she is self employed, doesn't claim the small earnings exemption and has paid enough Class 2 NI, she will automatically get the full rate MA which is about £120 a week.

However she wouldn't be able to work on the shop while she is claiming the MA.

andyh2003

Hi Becles, thankyou for the quick reply!


assuming the online business would be brand new, income wouldnt be massive..... would the MA be around the £120 a week or would it be capped at 90% of avg weekly earnings? (or doesnt this apply when self employed?)

I know she would be ok on the class 2 NI, it states on the website these need to have been paid for 13 weeks... also states that you need to be self employed for 26 weeks... do you know if the 26 weeks is at the time of preg? or at the time of 15 weeks beforee due date as per employees in a company? or 26 weeks BEFORE conception?

doesnt seem to be much info avail online about these situations!


Thanks in advance for your advice!

Becles

The 90% of earnings applies to employed ladies. You just get the flat rate of £120-ish regardless of your actual self employed earnings.

Don't get the small earnings certificate as you only get about £27 a week if you hold the certificate, even if you have paid the Class 2 NI.

There are qualifying periods and I can't remember how the dates work now (my youngest is 4 now so a long time since I claimed!). If you go on the DWP website, there is a downloadable booklet somewhere that explains how it all works.

clairec79

with 'normal' MA it's ANY 26 weeks in the 66weeks before the due date - I assume that self employed MA works in the same way

mrsmac1

Your wife will have to have worked 26 weeks out of the 66 weeks up to the Saturday before the week her baby is due to satisfy the employment test for MA. This can be a combination of employed and self employed work. The standard rate of MA at the minute is £128.73