to want to find out if i can claim any sort of maternity benefits, i am a sahm, have been for 3 years, eldest at school now, been looking for a job, but no luck so far

[gingercatpaws]

i am looking for a job, but could be tricky now i'm pg.

been at sahm for about 3 years now and eldest child is now at school.

dh does earn quite alot, around 40k but we do have high bills, so if i could find some sort of casual work or even claim any sort of maternity allowance that would really help.

Look, if you can get the 26 weeks of work in then that's fine. You are entitled to claim MA and good luck to you.

You want to do a bit of dog-walking for your family and friends, so that the taxpayer can give you some MA once the baby's born, which you'll jack in anyway since your DH - who already earns £40kpa - is due a promotion?

Have I got that right?

OP - I have no idea why you were looking for work. Intentions don't justify benefits though - actual work achieved does.

you have to have been earning about £100 per week to quality for MA:

"The lower earnings limit is £97 for the tax year 2010/11 and £102 a week for tax year 2011/12."

you no have no idea why i was looking for work before i got pg!

lol.

cannot be bothered to waste anymore time talking about why you don't know why i was looking for work

i'm off to phone around everyone i know, and produce some fliers for distribution tomorrow.

oh and if dh does get his promotion, i will probbaly decide to stop looking for work, but until that time comes i shall continue.

we have put in over 35 years of ft work, paying in alot more than average.
so i have no issues whatsoever claiming anything i can.

No, that is not true TillyMinto...to earning £100 a week to qualify For MA
I am on low income and qualify for MA as I have been S/E for 3 years, my first year I earnt next to nothing and it has took me till now and I still dont earn £100 a week but because I have paid astamp for 3 years I have been given full entitlement....I could of chose to apply for Low earnings certificate but decided to pay the £2.30 a week to go towards State pension, benefits etc

If you (not dh) are working then you CAN claim MA. If you aren't working you can't.

I really don't see why this simple situation makes you so grumpy?

the reason you pay in more, is because you have earnt more! social security is not a bank where the more you put in, the more you get out.

xyz2011 i agree with you - i think dependant on NI contributions. i was copying from the govt website so it was a way of qualifying (not the only way).

"i said right from the op, i've been looking for work, before i even got pg.
i am more than happy to earn it, even doing something i don't enjoy

plus i worked ft for 15 years before starting a family.
and dh has work ft for about 20 years.
so trust me, we certainly pay alot in.
more than alot of people.

What has any of this got to do with you now wanting to know if you are eligible for maternity benefits? You've not worked for three years so you're not eligible.

I'm always amazed how people honestly believe their taxes go into a giant bank where they can just withdraw money whenever they have high bills.

No wonder this country's economy is so fucked up.

The thing is being S/E was something I chose to do as i have 2 children with S/N and this gave me the flexibilty to work from home, I could not of possibly stuck to rigid working hours as my children needed me...I dont want to knock the OP but it has took me 3 years to build up some kind of income(not a lot I might add), not just a 26 test period to qualify for a particular benefit

When my husband was unemployed we were told no benfits if the partner earns over 16k.

I bloody love cleaning, have had loads of cleaning jobs as a student. If it paid as well as my profession I'd do it forever!

Do you/dh have any savings op ? As if so that would probably exclude you from most benefits like IS. Nothing wrong with wanting to earn while you have the opportuntiy but perhaps it would have been better to phrase the title as "aibu to want to work while pg to earn a bit of extra cash . If so would I be entitled to any maternity pay". If you become SE you still need to pay NI contributions to qualify for MA see here

Friend of mine has been SAHM for 6 years, but always claims maternity pay as her (high earning) husband is self employed and has her down as his bookkeeper... she does NO bookkeeping or other work for him, and admits it with a smug grin, while boasting about how much help it is to have the extra cash.

Dh and i started a business halfway through my last pregnancy but i dont think i would have qualified for a any maternity pay as we had not been running it long enough, i didnt look into much because at the timeit wasnt really practical for me to not be there ( we work from home anyway but it was harder than i imagined)
Now i am pregnant again we are looking into it as the business has been going a couple of years and actually it would be nice to have some maternity BUT although i am pretty sure that i will qualify it as far as i can see is a percentage of your wage and since i no longer work full time in the business ( i used to but it was just too much with four children as well tbh) it would be a certain percentage of ny part time wage... Anyway the point is dog walking etc eont earn you enough to claim the full amount unless your family have ALOT of dogs and ironing.
I prepare to be corrected because im totally confused about it all anyway!

go to :

www.turn2us.entitledto.co.uk/

put in all your details and hey presto!

well i've phoned half the people i know,so far and have actually found for 4 lots of work, plus i've knocked on every door on my street and the next two streets and i've also got 2 more, short term bits of work from them.
i will contine to drop flyers and knock on doors tomorrow.
going to be a bit of a juggle, but i'll manage.