Maternity Allowance - Working after KIT days have been used

[CuppaTeaJanice]

I'm self employed so will be getting maternity allowance for up to 39 weeks. During that time I can work for 10 days without losing benefits - called Keeping in Touch days. After that, however, the situation becomes unclear.

I have some literature from Jobcentre Plus, and have also talked to them on the phone and they seem to contradict themselves. Their booklet says that you lose one day's mat. allowance pay for each additional day worked, as long as you just work odd days. The woman on the phone said that mat. allowance stops completely when you work the eleventh day.

I'm not going back to a guaranteed income, so I need to make sure I'm not left with no income at all. Does anybody have any experience of this, as Jobcentre plus don't seem to know how it works!

Also I've seen a couple of worrying posts saying that you can't earn any income while on maternity allowance. I have two shops that I need to keep open during my leave so that I can pay my overheads. I won't actually be working there, so surely if any money is made I can bank it on a KIT day without losing out? It didn't say anything about this on the Jobcentre Plus booklet.

[flowerybeanbag]

cuppateajanice this seems to be a comprehensive guide to MA, haven't read it but hopefully it will answer your questions. I'd say if the Jobcentre plus booklet says one thing and on the phone they say something else, the booklet should be right.