Maternity allowance

[Milsplus3]

Can any one advise if I will be entitled to maternity allowance as a self employed worker?
I hold a small earnings exemption at the moment, as I haven’t been doing it for very long. I have read this would prevent me from being entitled to any maternity allowance payment at all. Is this true?
If I were to state my expected pay from April 2020-April 2021 as high enough to not receive the small earning exemption, would this be illegal/fraud if it works out I earned much less by April 2021?
I know I have the option to pay ni contributions willingly, but from what I’ve read even if I pay this I wouldn’t be entitled to MA until I earn over a certain wage.
Does anyone have experience of this and can advise please? I don’t want to break the law at all but google isn’t helping and I’m scared of being left with no wage. Thank you.

Maternity Allowance for 39 weeks

You might get Maternity Allowance for 39 weeks if one of the following applies:

• you’re employed, but you cannot get Statutory Maternity Pay
• you’re self-employed and pay Class 2National Insurance(includingvoluntary National Insurance)
• you’ve recently stopped working

In the 66 weeks before your baby’s due, you must also have been:

• employed or self-employed for at least 26 weeks
• earning (or classed as earning) £30 a week or more in at least 13 weeks - the weeks do not have to be together

@Milsplus3 will you meet the criteria shown above?

Thank you, yes I do. There seems to be mixed messages with the earning over £30 a week part, as if you earn under £6475 a year a lot of ladies have said they weren’t entitled to any MA as they received a small earnings exemption, and it works out I’ll earn around £4000. It’s so confusing! Thanks for replying.

As part of your claim HMRC will check your NI contributions and will tell you how to pay them to ensure you get the full MA:

If you’re self-employed

To get the full amount of Maternity Allowance, you must have paid Class 2 National Insurance for at least 13 of the 66 weeks before your baby’s due.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will check if you’ve paid enough when youmake your claim. They’ll write to you if you have not.

If you have not paid enough Class 2 National Insurance to get the full rate (£151.20 a week), you’ll get £27 a week for 39 weeks. You still need to meet all the other eligibility criteria to get this amount.

You may be able to get the full rate by making early National Insurance payments. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will send you a letter to tell you how

You’ll need to pay using the reference number in the letter to get the full rate, even if you’ve recently made a payment through Self Assessment.

I don't know what a small earnings exemption is, but when I applied for MA (have claimed it both times), the only thing that mattered was that you were self-employed and had paid class 2 NI. If you have done that, you should be eligible?

I was never asked to show evidence of my accounts to prove earnings. You just need to have made the qualifying amount in at least 13 weeks in the previous 66 weeks. If your earnings are so obviously low, that it's clear this isn't the case, yes, it would be fraud to claim that you earned more. But I assume you must be making enough because the earnings threshold is very low.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/maternity-benefits-technical-guidance/maternity-benefits-technical-guidance

Scroll down to point 2.1 for Maternity Allowance info and being self employed

Thank you all

It seems like I will only be entitled to £30 a week due to the small earning certificate, so gutted. Is there a way around this?

The link says you can make the class 2 NI contributions to get the full amount. You should get a letter telling you how to do that

If you are self employed it doesn't matter what your earnings are, they don't ask for any proof of earnings. All they care about is if your NI contributions are up to date. If they aren't when they first reply they will give you the opportunity to pay what needs paying.

I'm self employed and just finished my maternity pay so was doing all this this time last year.

This change has removed the need for self-employed people with low earnings to apply for a Small Earnings Exception Certificate (SEEC). Therefore HMRC has abolished the SEEC. From 12 April 2015 it will be replaced by the small profits threshold (SPT).

Liability for Class 2 NICs will now be determined by the level of profits reaching the SPT. If your self assessment profits are at or above the SPT you will be liable for Class 2 NICs via Self Assessment. Whereas if your self assessment profit is below the SPT, or you make a loss, you will be able to pay Class 2 NICs voluntarily.

Some self-employed women claimingMAmay therefore be impacted as they may not have had the opportunity to make a Self Assessment return and pay Class 2 NICs at an early enough stage to secureMAentitlement at the standard weekly rate.

To address this, self-employed women whose babies are due on or after 12 July 2015 and who claimMAwill be given the option to pay Class 2 NICs early before their Self Assessment is due under an exceptions process, so that they may be awarded the standard rate for their claim. This payment option is only available to those claimingMAand will apply whether or not the woman ultimately becomes liable to pay Class 2 NICs.

Thanks for the information and replies. I spoke to someone at HMRC who said due to the certificate I would only be entitled to the lowest amount, not the full or 90%. I think I will just have to apply, when the time comes, and hope for the best as it’s driving me crazy!

They are going against what the link says them. I'd apply and see what happens

And looks like its Small Profits Threshold (SPT) rather than Small Earnings Exemption Certificate now

Ignore what they say on the phone.... we got some people who were very confused about MA when we spoke to them

Just apply. You just need your NI up to date. As you'll find when u fill in the form, SE people don't have to declare how much they earn, it's purely done on NI contributions