Maternity Allowance / Self-employed Question

[1973magpie]

Hi, I am currently self-employed as a childminder and work 2 days per week at the moment, so my earnings are low.

I have recently found out that I am expecting No.3 (arghh!!), and have been trying to fathom out the Maternity Allowance rules.

I have read on the DWP website that if I pay Class 2 NI contributions (and I don't have a Small Earnings Exemption Certificate) then I am treated as earning around £130pw and will be entitled to the standard rate of MA, which would mean that the MA amount would be more than my earnings are currently!

Does anyone know if this is the case? TIA

Bump

Magpie I am assuming you are reading this? It does say that, although it seems unlikely, everywhere else I can find which quotes rates only says standard rate unless you earn less in which case 90%.

My first port of call for checking MA rates and queries it would be the DWP website though, for obvious reasons, so I can't imagine it's incorrect. Jobcentreplus deals with MA, so I'd suggest contacting them to make sure that's what it means.

I was still paying my Class 2 NI contributions when I became pregnant in November '05 though hadn't actually done any freelance work since earlier on in the year, on the offchance that some work might have turned up (tv is a very fickle business!). I only had to prove that I'd paid NI and no questions were asked about actual earnings in the qualifying periods.

you'll get 90% of your earnings
you can choose 13 weeks from the test period and they will calculate your earnings from those
so if you had any particularly lucrative weeks over the last year, you could indeed get more Mat Allowance than you usually earn

Yes, I'm pretty sure it will be based on your NI contribution. That's what happened to me - I got full rate. The info you give on the form is etither about your NI contributions or your earnings, not both. I didn't even need to give details of my earnings as my NI was up to date. The admin is a bit of a nightmare, so start early!

Hi Magpie, I am self-employed and have just finished receiving MA for DD2. I too was confused by the info out there - it just doesn't make clear whether the earnings rules apply to self-employment.

But I can confirm that when I filled in the form I just ticked the boxes (or whatever they were, can't remember exactly!) to say I was self-employed and paid Class 2 NI and that was it. Got the flat rate payment for 9 months. Income and payslips etc. didn't come into it all.

Thanks all for the responses, it does seem to say that I will get the flat rate, which will be cool

Flowerybeanbag I did have a look at the form you need to fill in as well as the DWP site, and on there it had a section for employed and a section for self-employed and the self-employed section only asks for NI payment details, no earnings details.

I thought it might be my pg brain though, so it's great to have it confirmed by others, thanks

Diplodicus - I plan to start early but am only 7 weeks at the moment so might have to wait a bit yet , I'm just one of those people control freaks that likes to know everything about a situation well in advance!!

Thanks again everyone, that's excellent news

I'm also currently being paid the flat rate of maternity allowance after paying the class 2 contributions on a volunatry basis. If you qualify (have to have paid so many weeks by week 25 of pregnancy I think) then that's all there is to it, no need to prove income or show wage slips etc

My maternity allowance is the equivalent of more than 5 years of my normal self employed earnings

no, you're quite right - ignore what I said earlier
the website is quite confusing, non?
if you're self employed and pay class 2 NI then you get the flat rate
if you have a small earnings exception you get about £30, regardless of your actual earnings!