Self Employed Mat. Benefit

[LookAtMeImJennyDee]

Hi all -

So I've been self employed for years and have applied for my maternity benefit (it's been delayed - don't even get me started!) but not expecting it for a while due to delays. My question is, am I allowed to still have any level of income whilst on this benefit?

I will be a single parent, claiming no benefits bar this one but, due to the nature of my old job, I could still be bringing in around £200-300 a month passive income from old work I've done. This obviously isn't enough to live off alone and I'd be declaring it as usual on my tax returns etc but really want to be able to put all this money aside a month in order to give myself & my baby girl our own place as currently living with family.

I've tried Googling but can't seem to find the answer - I will, of course, call up and double check with the benefits people but just curious if anyone had any experience of this anyway? A friend of mine said you're not allowed to earn at all on it and I just hate the thought of being vilified for trying to provide and do my best for us!

Congratulations!
Watching with interest as I'm also self employed, please post if you find out.

I think you can have some keeping in touch days. Maybe Google that. Can you make those extra earnings billable in a lump for a few days work?

I think so. You could try to find the help line. If you are employed I think you get the stat + the discretionary mat pay your employer offers, if any. I'm SE for tax purposes, but actually got mat pay from the people I contract for (I know, really odd). I also did my KIT days and got paid for them. I couldn't get any info either, and hoped that as I have colleagues that did the same thist it would be ok. Obv I have declared the amount that I got from my "employer". The stat mat allowance is not taxable, whilst what I got from my employer is, I did check with hmrc when I did my tax return.

You aren't allowed to work while on maternity allowance, but as you say it is passive income (I presume royalties or something similar?) then you aren't technically working. As you can still earn interest from investments while on MA I would imagine royalties from previous work would be considered similarly.

I've recently been looking into this and have read that if you're self employed and claiming mat allowance, you may take 'drawings' from your business but you must not do any work, unless they are within your KIT days. I'm planning on calling the relevant office to confirm this is still the case when I apply for MA next month

I need to apply for maternity benefit soon too as also self-employed. This form with notes on HMRC site useful: www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/324655/ma1-print.pdf

As I read it, you can have up to 10 keep in touch days when you can get paid over 39 weeks.