Maternity allowance question

[stargazer87]

I'm currently claiming new style job seekers allowance due to the covid situation and the lack of work following redundancy. I'm 20 weeks pregnant and need to make up 3 weeks to get to my 26 weeks work to claim maternity allowance. I'm also registered as self employed however I haven't completed any self employed projects since the early in the year.

My question is - can I pay voluntary class 2 national insurance contributions for my self employment so the weeks count towards my 26 weeks at the same time as claiming JSA?

you'd need to fabricate being paid £30 per week for 3 weeks (can you give someone £90 and ask them to use it to engage your services for something) and will need to make sure you declare it both to the JSA system and for income tax purposes.

www.gov.uk/maternity-allowance/eligibility

you only need to have been earning at least £30 per week in 13 out of the 66 weeks before your due date.

it might be easier to genuinely earn the money than to fabricate it. depending on your skills it may not take you long to earn £30 on sites like peopleperhour.

@YinuCeatleAyru Thanks so much for coming back to me. I've already got proof of earnings with wage slips for 13 weeks earning way above £30 a week from before I was made redundant. I've then been registered as self employed since early Feb and for my tax return up until April this year I've paid 10 weeks class 2 national insurance contributions. I've then been on job seekers since April but I'm still registered as self employed although not working.

As I've already got my 13 weeks proof of earnings is being registered as self employed enough during this period? I've heard once you apply they can contact you to pay your class 2 national insurance contributions early as they'll be in the current tax year. So I'm trying to find out if I can still make these contributions for a period where I was on job seekers allowance?

Hope that makes sense?

Any help from anyone massively appreciated!

@YinuCeatleAyru Thanks so much for coming back to me. I've already got proof of earnings with wage slips for 13 weeks earning way above £30 a week from before I was made redundant. I've then been registered as self employed since early Feb and for my tax return up until April this year I've paid 10 weeks class 2 national insurance contributions. I've then been on job seekers since April but I'm still registered as self employed although not working.

As I've already got my 13 weeks proof of earnings is being registered as self employed enough during this period? I've heard once you apply they can contact you to pay your class 2 national insurance contributions early as they'll be in the current tax year. So I'm trying to find out if I can still make these contributions for a period where I was on job seekers allowance?

Hope that makes sense?

Any help from anyone massively appreciated!

When were you made redundant?

If you're 20 weeks your due date must be the end of November?

The eligibility criteria for Maternity Allowance is that you must have worked for 26 weeks in the 66 weeks before baby's due. For you, depending on the exact due date, it's roughly August 2019 - November 2020.

You already have 10 weeks (from self-employment Feb-April) so you just need 16 weeks ie just under 4 months. So if you were employed in August 2019 and worked in that job until December 2019 or later, you will be fine.

When you send your MA application form you'll need to send payslips for 13 weeks (IIRC) and you should choose the 13 weeks when you earned the most, which will probably be when you were employed?

@AnotherEmma I was made redundant at the end of November last year so my last 13 weeks employment fall within my 66 week period.

So that's why I'm up to 23 weeks in that period, 13 weeks employed with payslips to send with my application and 10 weeks of self employment class 2 national insurance contributions.

My predicament is that I'm now on job seekers allowance but still registered as self employed (though not working) so I'm wondering if being registered as self employed and willing to pay class 2 national insurance contributions is enough to make up the last 3 weeks to take me up to 26 weeks?

Ah I see what you mean. Thanks for clarifying.

It is possible to continue claiming JSA while also working but you have to be working less than 16h/w and any earnings are deducted from your JSA. So let's say you were doing self-employed work, 5 hours a week, and earning £50/week, you would have to tell the job centre and they would reduce your JSA to £24.35/week (assuming you're 25+ and getting £74.35 atm).

What I'm not sure about is whether you can choose to pay your class 2 NI contributions even if you're not actually working and earning.

Tbh by far the most straightforward thing would be to get 3 or 4 weeks of temp work (as a PAYE employee) if at all possible. I realise that's probably easier said than done right now but you could literally do anything for 3 weeks and you would then qualify. Your JSA would obviously stop during that time but you could then go back on it after the temp job ends.

I’ve claimed MA before and when you do the previous years tax return, that would be the 2019/2020 tax return you voluntarily pay your class two national insurance which is £159 you then get the full rate MA.
I’ve just put another claim for MA and that is what was still required.
If you were self employed in 2019/2020 tax year do your tax return now and pay the NI as it takes a while for the payment to filter through the system. Don’t wait until January 31st 2021 which is the deadline for that tax year.
Your are not paying this tax years (2020/2021) NI, you are paying last years 2019/2020

@AnotherEmma I know, in an ideal world I'd just get a temp job for those few weeks doing anything but I've been looking and options are really limited right now...especially being pregnant, I'm not overly comfortable doing any sort of public facing job with the Covid situation.

I know normally if you haven't paid enough class 2 contributions you get the option to pay them early before the end of the tax year which I'm more than willing to do, it's only something like £3 a week, I'm just not sure if I'm allowed to pay class 2 for a period where I'm on job seekers. I can't seem to get a clear answer anywhere.

Really conscious that I want to tick all the boxes to ensure I qualify as I think we'd struggle without maternity allowance.

@gonewiththerain I've already paid last years early which covers Feb -Apr 2020. But it's from April - November 2020 I won't have paid that I'll need to pay to qualify for maternity allowance...

Hmm it is a tricky one. I think you should apply for Maternity Allowance and you should get a letter inviting you to make the voluntary class 2 NI contributions. I can't find anything which says you had to have actually been earning during that time in order to make the voluntary contributions. It's worth just giving it a try and seeing what happens! (Although I usually prefer to give definitive advice either way about what should happen!)

Helpful info here under How do I pay my NI contributions?:
maternityaction.org.uk/advice/maternity-and-parental-rights-for-self-employed-parents/#maternity-allowance

You could also call this helpline to ask

It is possible to make extra National Insurance contributions to make sure you get the full amount of Maternity Allowance. HMRC will tell you how to do this when you make your claim. Or contact the HMRC self-employed National Insurance helpline.

Telephone: 0300 200 3500

from www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/maternity-allowance/amp#maternity-allowance-if-youre-self-employed

Also consider that you might be eligible for Universal Credit after baby's born - this depends on your partner's earnings, any savings, and whether you rent or have a mortgage.

@AnotherEmma Thanks, I know what you mean, I always like to have definitive answers on things and know that I'm doing the right thing, this seems like a real grey area that really isn't clear! It's driving me mad trying to find a clear answer.

I don't want being on job seekers allowance to negatively affect me qualifying for maternity allowance. Maternity allowance is significantly more and I'd rather cancel my job seekers now if it's going to stop me from getting it.

Obviously I never thought I'd be in this position, I've always been very career driven. We'd been trying to get pregnant for a very long time and so didn't stop trying when I got made redundant as we thought it was unlikely, then low and behold I get pregnant and the covid situation kicked off making getting another job very difficult! 🤦🏻‍♀️

"I don't want being on job seekers allowance to negatively affect me qualifying for maternity allowance. Maternity allowance is significantly more and I'd rather cancel my job seekers now if it's going to stop me from getting it."

I don't think it's the fact of being on JSA that would disqualify you. Whether or not you qualify will simply depend on how they look at your NI contribution record, and you do have contributions from both employment and self-employment. If I had to guess I'd say you will get the lower rate of MA (as soon as you apply) and you will be given the opportunity to make voluntary class 2 NI contributions to cover the shortfall so that you qualify for the full rate of MA. Once that's all done they will pay the difference and backdate it to the start of your claim.

The earliest your MA can start is 11 weeks before your due date (IIRC) so you should apply for it to start then. Your JSA should stop automatically at that point but you could also tell the job centre your MA start date just to make sure.

Are you likely to be claiming Universal credit alongside the MA ( if you get it ) ? I presume you will be when the baby arrives ? Do you have rent to pay or a working partner ? I'm only asking because if you are going to be claiming Uc, then MA is deducted pound for pound anyway so you may not feel it's worth your while claiming it anyway. If you are ruled out of claiming Uc by capital or your partner's earnings then yes it's definitely worth pursuing the MA. Good luck.

It's worth pursuing the MA claim either way because of class 1 NI credits (as opposed to just class 3 on UC)

I'm getting some deja vu, I think we've discussed this on another thread Babyroobs

@Babyroobs I won't be claiming universal credit as I've got a working partner and a mortgage and when I looked I don't think we're entitled which is why I'm keen to get MA.

Thanks for all your help! After several frustrating phone calls today I've got confirmation that I should qualify. I was passed around a couple of times as some people didn't seem to be able to confirm but the last person I spoke to seemed to think that as I've got 13 weeks proof of employment and I'm registered as self employed that's enough to get the full amount, I'd only need to top up my class 2 if I was solely self employed.

Still haven't got 100% confidence due to being passed around a few times...🙈I think it's something I won't feel convinced by until I make my claim and have it in writing!

Ah that is very promising though!

@AnotherEmma Fingers crosses! Never good though when the people you phone for help don't fill you with confidence! 🤣