Maternity ALLOWANCE help please?!

[DuckeyP]

Hello all,

Please can someone shed some light? Has anyone had Maternity Allowance (not Maternity Pay) before or on it now?

Long story short;
I left my job so that me and partner could move cities. Shortly after moving found out I was pregnant and therefore couldn't find a new job as planned. Found out that I could be entitled to Maternity Allowance as of 11 weeks before due date. Sent my forms off a month ago now, and still not heard anything apart from them sending my pay slips back.

It says on the Gov website that if you are eligible they will send you a letter outlining the amounts within 14 days. As i've not heard anything do you think I should assume that I've not been allowed it? I'm going to call them tomorrow (and Job Centre as it seems to go through them) but you know what it's like, i'm worrying now and it's bank holiday so they're all shut!

Thanks :(

Hi OP. I was on maternity allowance and also work in welfare rights.
If you were not entitled they would send you a letter saying so. Its more likely that they are being slow about processing it, or the paperwork has been mislaid.
When you call tomorrow they should be able to tell you whether your form has been received.

Hi OP. I was on maternity allowance and also work in welfare rights.
If you were not entitled they would send you a letter saying so. Its more likely that they are being slow about processing it, or the paperwork has been mislaid.
When you call tomorrow they should be able to tell you whether your form has been received.

They sent me a letter to confirm I wasn't eligible so they do get in touch. I appealed their decision and they had a maximum amount of time to respond (21 working days maybe?) and they took exactly that amount of time to get back to me, so don't worry they're just really busy. Any payments will be backdated anyway so you won't lose out - my first MA payment was around £1800.00 as it had taken so long to sort.

ok, thank you for replying :)

I'm just panicking because I don't know what I'll do if I can't get it. I'll call them and see if I can give them a nudge haha

x

I always found them very helpful and reassuring on the phone.

Do you want us to try to work out whether we think you should be eligible? Is it just a question of whether or not you've worked enough weeks in the right period?

Thank you for the offer Spindelina!

Since posting i've had my letter back to say that i'm entitled, which is brilliant news.

Thank you all for your help

x

I've been waiting a while since I sent my form off. It's been about four weeks now Hope they get back to me soon!