Benefit overpayment £2500 because of Maternity Allowance backdating

[MyChirpyOpalLion]

Any advice from anyone who has been in a similar position would be really appreciated.

I am self employed, and my partner was full time employed until she found out she was pregnant with my now 5month old Son.

She was let go the morning after they found out she was pregnant.

We applied for Maternity allowance, and were eligible from April 2023.

However, the very first payment was a backdated payment and received on the 22nd August 2023 for £2707.87.

We did not receive anything in April/May/June or July however UC have edited our monthly income on those months to create a situation whereby we have overpaid.

My understanding is that the assessment periods monthly you have to declared income in that period and surely they can not go back and distribute the lump sum back over 3-4 months to create an overpayment?

I'm sorry you find yourself in this position but I think they're right. If you'd been paid MA in the APs concerned then UC would have been reduced £1/£1.

Suppose you'd been found retrospectively to be entitled to extra benefit. You wouldn't expect them to say tough luck would you?

That is the way it works. Maternity allowance would have declared the dates of entitlement and the UC system would use those dates, even retrospectively

Yeah this is correct sorry OP.

How long was she employed for before they sacked her? Did she never take out a case against them as you cant just sack people for being pregnant and its maternity/sex discrimination