Maternity Allowance 18 April 2016 at 2:02PM in MoneySaving mums 3 replies 1.7K views

gangaftaglee

I'm wondering if any if you have claimed maternity allowance recently. It says on the .gov website that you can only apply from being 26 weeks pregnant but I don't see why this is. I'm 21 weeks gone, i have my MAT1B form and I have filled in my maternity allowance application, all ready to go - why do I have to wait 5 weeks before i can post it - I don't understand?

The issue is I don't want to wait because I'm trying to get shared parental leave with my partner and his place of work says I have to be on MA before he can apply - and if he doesn't apply before Due Date minus 15 weeks he won't get the leave! So I can't apply before 26 weeks, he has to apply before 25 weeks... you do the maths! Something's not right here!

I know shared parental leave is a new thing and hardly anyone has done it (My partner works for a large company and is the first person to have ever asked for it.) but If there's any self-employed mums that have had experience with MA i'd like to know whether you can get it sent off as soon as you have your MAT1B - I know formerly you got your MAT1B at 26 weeks so I'm thinking is it just the website that hasn't been updated since then and i can actually send it off now.

Thanks in advance for any advice

honeypop

As far as I know (from reading up in preparation for doing it ourselves), the statutory requirements for him to take the shared leave, is that he can give 'notice' that he intends to take it at any time during the pregnancy, and give the actual dates 8 weeks in advance. I don't think the procedures from his workplace can over-ride that.

Is it correct that his workplace say that you have to be ON maternity allowance before he can apply?

As regardless of how early you apply, MA can't start until 11 weeks (or less if you choose) before your baby is due. So you can't be on maternity allowance until at least week 29. So if he has to wait until you are actually on MA, that makes it impossible for him to apply before week 25.

I'm inclined to think that the workplace have this incorrect (or your partners understanding of it might be), rather than the dates on .gov being wrong.

foolofbeans

I would think that you can't claim MA until after 26 weeks pregnant as that is when a baby is legally classed as viable (would survive outside of the womb).
Might be worth posting this on the benefits forum as more people may view it but in the meantime can your OH speak to his employer about this obvious problem?

Craftingmama01

Fool of beans is correct that is the reason you can't claim before 26 weeks. I claimed recently and it was the same for me.