Maternity Allowance

[MrsL2012]

Hi, I'm trying to work out if I'm eligible for MA!

I have been employed for 6 hours per week since September so no SMP.

In my 'test period' of 66 weeks which they use for eligibility I have:
3 months at work (when I went back after having DS1) where my wages were £1446, £1081 & £1498 for each month respectively.

Then, temporarily, I was working for my husbands ltd company as an employee, earning £2347 per month for 3 months.

I need 13 weeks (so 4 payslips) of evidence of earning more than £390 per week (before tax).

BUT, in the MA notes it says 'if you take part in activities related to the business of your self employed spouse' - well he wasn't s/e he was employed by his ltd company.

But it also says:
For at least 26 weeks during your test period you must have been taking part in activities (it wasn't 26 weeks, I was helping out while one of his employees was on sick leave);
For the same 26 weeks you must've been married to the self employed person - that's fine;
You must not be a partner in or an employee of the business of your spouse (I was an employee of ltd company where he was director);
You must not be s/e or employed in any other occupation - I am employed 6 hours a week somewhere else!

These last two points suggest I can't use these payslips to claim MA? Am I right?

Hi! I was looking at this today, and from www.gov.uk I was redirected to www.entitledto.co.uk. You have to put in a tonne of details about your income, your partner's (if you have one) income and outgoings etc. It then calculates what you are entitled to. The handy bit about it (assuming you are pregnant at the moment), is that it asks you about your income in very specific periods, based on your due date, so you don't have to mess around calculating average earnings etc. There are also some calculators for SMP/MA on the www.gov.uk site itself.

I am not sure you need 13 weeks proof of earning more than 390 quid a week though, that is an awful lot (about 20k a year), think you may have misread that - I also came across something about earning a minimum of 30 a week, which would be the same as 390 over 13 weeks.

Unlike most of these things, I've found the people at Jobcentre+ who deal with MA to be really helpful. So you could try ringing them and asking.

Thank you both! Well it seems we could apply for tax credits - didn't know that!
And a trip to my local job centre is a job for me very soon.