Self employed, claiming maternity allowance, can I still work?

[Butterscotchbaby]

I am self employed, i am due to have my baby in October and can claim maternity allowance from the government - i had planned on doing a few hours a week as and when i got chance in my self employed role- am i allowed to do this?

I believe you can do up to 10 days in total while claiming - KIT days, as employees also can do. I’ll hang around here to see if anyone corrects me as I’m in the same boat!

Ah great thank you !

You can do 10 kit days on maternity allowance, same as when you're employed by someone else.
Seems a bit unfair as when you're on maternity when employed you can actually start your own business, still get smp and earn from your business at the same time.🤷

Forgot to add, even if you do half an hours work on one day that still counts as a full day.

Thats what was making me question it - as you say if i were employed and on maternity pay i could start up my own business and earn money that way !
Thank You :)

No you can't, my employer's maternity policy specifically says you cannot make income elsewhere whilst they're paying you maternity pay.

I would double check with the DWP as I started a new job whilst claiming maternity allowance
They said as it was part time (3 days) I could continue to claim a reduced amount for the remaining period.

You can do KIT days on MA, and you can do free work such a prospecting for new clients, quoting etc, so that you wouldn't have to do a standing start when returning from Mat Leave.

Ohhhh i see ! Thank you that's great