Maternity Allowance - Can I make it!!?!?!

[Suffolkblush]

Hi all,

Can anyone advise me on the best course of action please?

Been reading through Maternity Allowance application threads on here this evening. What a minefield! I am 27+3 days pregnant (13 weeks to go) today and was going to submit my application tomorrow however I'm now thinking of holding off thanks to some decent black and white explaining of the rules on here.

I've been self employed since the birth of my first child in 2010. My 13 week test period invoices/payments etc prove that I should qualify for the full amount of Maternity allowance. However...

I also hold a small earning exemption certificate (i earn just under the threshold usually) and it now looks like because of this the Job Centre will ignore my earnings and use the certificate to pay me just £27 per week instead, a loss of over 3k!!

Have I got this right?!

From what I can tell on other threads I need at least 13 weeks of Nat Ins contributions to qualify for the full amount. Exactly what I've got until my due date.

So I'm thinking of calling HMRC tomorrow, cancelling the certificate, paying contributions for the remaining 13 weeks of my pregnancy (if I can get started early enough) and then applying once my baby arrives in November. Would this work do you think?

If I can pay contribs for this week I should 'just' make it...I think.

If I can't then it's probably not worth me even applying as I can earn £27 p/w with just a few hours work, which unfortunately means getting back to the grindstone the week after giving birth. How unfair is this system? Gah!

Thanks for reading - all advice appreciated!

Hmmmm, been doing yet more research and it looks like it can take HMRC a month just to process the certificate cancellation. So it looks likes I'm unstuck on this occasion. Government 1, me 0. Boo.

Suffolk, i was about to answer you when i seen your second post.

Im in a very similar situation. I won't actually stop working as i work mainly from home. I will end up just doing the absolute minimum for a couple of weeks.
Its really not fair but its the system!

It is a real, real shame that HMRC do not spell it out clearly to people when they apply for the SEC that it will make such a huge difference to MA. At best there's something that says "may affect your entitlement to some benefits such as pensions" but there's no mention of MA at all. At least there wasn't when I applied for mine in 2010. We knew we were going to TTC #3 before too long so I'd never have applied for the SEC if it had been made clearer. I was new to self-employment and had enough things to learn and understand as it was!

You may well have read one of my posts from early 2011 (I had a different name then) as I had shenanigans with it as well. Thankfully in my case I managed to officially move the start date of my self-employment back by 13 weeks as I'd only started it 8 months earlier, and paid the missing NI payments from there as the SEC didn't kick in until later. I'm guessing in your case as you've been self-employed for over the 60 weeks or whatever it is, that there's no way round it :-(