Question about maternity allowance and self employment please........

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I am 23 weeks pregnant and self employed. I normally work 16 hrs per week and earn around £100 - £120 PW. I receive working tax credits. I don't have a Small Earnings Exception certificate and i can't recall paying any tax contributions? i have been self employed for over 10 months now.
I want to stop working from 29 weeks (11 weeks before due date) but will i be entitled to maternity allowance or statutory maternity pay?
I will be loosing out on money when i stop work and a bit worried that we will struggle..........any help please?

I'm self-employed and from what I've read, I'm entitled to MA because I've been paying my National Insurance contributions. Check out www.hmrc.gov.uk/nic/maternity-all.htm and www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Expectingorbringingupchildren/DG_10018869
Tbh, I haven't worked out how to actually claim it yet (I'm 19 weeks) but I think I remember it being fairly straightforward when I had my dd. Good luck

I was about to post pretty much the same thing.

Am only 8 weeks pg though and been self employed 4 months.

I earn about £180 per week but have not filled in my first tax return yet so national insurance had not crossed my mind till I researched maternity allowance.

How can I start paying it so I can claim maternity allowance nearer the time?

The key is ni contributions, you should have paid it weekly/ monthly or got an exemption. Ring the ni office on Tuesday first thing. If you do it before the cut off, you nay be able to back pay you ni, 2 pound something a week, and then claim full ma. I'm not sure when the cut off is though. Otherwise with neither ni or exemption you may not got anything at all.

Yes, you will only be eligible if you are registeres self-employed with HMRC and have been paying your Class 2 NI contributions. These ARE NOT the ones you pay with your income tax each Jane. You should be paying them weekly or monthly (I pay them by direct debit monthly).

You need to have been paying these for a certain number of weeks which I can't remember (sorry!). Alternatively you need a small earnings exemption. You will NOT get MA without one or the other.

*each January

Should add, you CAN back-date Class 2 payments but I would do that quickly if I were you. Ring them ask for a bill for what you havent paid and also ask for a direct debit to be set up going forward.