Maternity Pay

[cuppatea56]

Hello

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this.
My partner and I are thinking about starting to try for a baby soon and I'm trying to figure out my maternity options/how on earth the whole thing works.

I'm employed one day a week and then self employed 2.5 days a week - this was more prior to Covid but I lost some work due to this.

I wondered if anyone could point me towards some guidance surrounding SMP and Maternity Allowance when you are both employed and self employed - I seem to keep reading lots of conflicting information and could do with it really clearly spelt out - which doesn't seem possible!
Hoping theres someone out there who can help?

You have to be earning a certain amount in your employed job and I would think 1 day per week outs you way below the threshold so you won't be entitled to SMP so you'll only be entitled to Maternity Allowance. And then it depends on how much Class 2 National Insurance you've paid for at least 13 weeks of the previous 66 weeks before the baby's official due date - if you've paid enough you'll get the higher rate £151 if you haven't it's only £27 a week for 39 weeks.

It's the DWP who will write to confirm to you how much you will get once they've calculated your NI

Your first claim would be for smp - if you get that then you don't get maternity allowance as well. There's a calculator on gov.uk to check smp eligibility.

Unless you're very well paid for the 1 day, you won't get SMP, but should qualify for maternity allowance. For self employed people it depends on the number of weeks you've paid national insurance (usually type 2). As long as you've paid for 13 weeks in the qualifying period, you get the full amount.

If you don't make enough to have to pay it, you can select to mark voluntary contributions in your tax return, and this counts to.

Thank you everyone - thats really clear and helpful - better get saving the pennies!