Will I get Maternity Leave/Allowance if I started my job whilst already pregnant ?

[eepie]

Sorry - completely clueless and all the official info online is confusing me. I started my current job when I was 17 weeks pregnant and I work part-time - 3 days a week. Could I still get some maternity allowance as part of a government scheme or maternity benefit when I have my baby ?

Thanks in advance for advice !

I'm not an expert on this sort of scenario (I know more about the self-employed side of MA) but I think it may be that you have to have worked 26 weeks in the last 66 weeks to qualify for MA. Did you have a job before this one? I could be totally wrong though.

Hopefully somebody who knows more will be along in a minute!

Eligibility here even if you don't qualify for maternity pay you will be eligible for the time off (52 weeks).

You won't qualify for statutory maternity pay, and it's unlikely you'll get anything your company may offer over and above that, but you will get maternity allowance which is £136 a week or 90% of your salary, whichever is lower.
It only makes a difference in the first 6 weeks in which SMP gives you 90% salary anyway, then drops to the same as MA. If your company has a good maternity package it's a bit of a pisser though.

Thanks, I work for a photographer, not a company so I don't know if that makes any difference and yes I did have a full-time job up until December 23rd ......So who do I get Maternity Allowance from/how do I apply for it ? Does it come from the government?

Hi eepie I claimed maternity allowance as I worked contract roles. crispy and bakingtins are right - you need to have worked for 26 weeks in the 66 weeks before you give birth, have earned a minimum of £30 p/w and worked at least 13 of those weeks consecutively. You'd then be eligible for £136 p/w or 90% of your average weekly earnings - whichever is lower, for 39 weeks. You can claim through the link rockchick sent you. It's fairly straightforward, complete the form and send it in with your MatB1 certificate from your midwife and your payslips and hey presto the money appears monthly in your account from your requested date - up to 11 weeks before your due date.
Am very grateful for the welfare system sometimes

Thank you so much every one !! I feel much better knowing we'll have that little bit of extra £ to help with me not working for a bit...thought we'd probably have nothing ! Phew xx

I believe you can choose the 13 weeks that they take the average from, so you could pick your highest paying 13 weeks.

There may well be a difference if you are self-employed versus employed too.

It might be worth giving JobCentre Plus a call outlining your circumstances just to be sure. Although I would say that often when I've called I've had a completely contradictory answer to other times

with my first i was contracting but had been working forthe eligibility period and hence eligible for maternity allowance. as others say its just first 6 weeks where smp is higher than ma.

i seem to remember you could pick whichever weeks suited you best but that it was explained pretty well on the government website (if you google maternity allowance should take you to direct gov pages and give various search options and forms).

from what i remember as long as you have payslips and possibly bank statements it wasnt too much of a ball ache to apply for.

crispy what you said about employed vs self employed: there was a thread about how your class 2 status can affect ma - did you see this?

Sorry, I don't mean to hijack your post, but..
I also work 3 days a week totalling to £75.36 pay per week. So what kind of SMP/MA would I be entitled to? I don't actually know what my company offer for maternity leave as of yet, as I'm not pregnant, but we just want to know how much worse off we'll be when we do eventually have another...
thanks

Maternity allowance at 90% of your pay. Not SMP as you have to be earning over the NI threshold to qualify.