Maternity Allowance change from July 2014?

[CathyNoodles]

Hi, I am just looking up my entitlement for MA and was shocked to see this change coming up for anyone due after July 2014. It seems to say the payment is being reduced to £27 per week for 14 weeks?! I am now panicking as I am pregnant and my work contract ends in Sept!

www.gov.uk/maternity-allowance/what-youll-get

www.gov.uk/maternity-allowance/eligibility work out which group you will fall into.

If you've been working until September I imagine you'll be fine.

Im not sure how it works but Im due 4th November so had to look into it. I've found this calculator on the directgov website and it says i'll get £126 for 39 weeks

www.gov.uk/calculate-your-maternity-pay

Phew! Thanks. The lower/shorter rate refers to special cases. I thought it seemed unbelievable that the already tiny allowance could shrink!

It's very confusing, but it looks to me that the 14 weeks thing is an addition to MA for people who might not have been entitled to anything in the past, rather than a reduction to the existing payment.

It seems to be for married (or civil partnered) partners of self-employed people, who do unpaid work for their partner's business.

Yes I think they could have made it clearer.... thanks for putting my mind at rest :-)