Maternity allowance

[Armanda84]

I stopped to work for my boss in December 2017 and l start self employed in January 2018.l m 24 weeks pregnant.. Am l entitled to take the statutory maternity pay or maternity allowance? Thanks for your help

Well it won't be ssp as you are not employed but self employed. Think there is a calculator on the government website

Check the government website. Just so you are aware, it takes blooming ages!! I sent my form in at 26 weeks as it says not to send before. It took 5 weeks to hear anything (which I had to chase up) to be told i will only be entitled to £27 a week until my NI payments are made. It has taken another 3 weeks for my bill from HMRC to come (it arrived today) I made the payment today. It will be interesting how much longer it will take for me to start receiving full payments - I know it will be backdated but it is still extremely frustrating!! X

But if take ages they will pay anyway the full amount?

They pay the lowest rate initially. So you have to rely on not needing that extra money. Also if you have been used to earning more and going nearly.9/10 weeks with only receiving £27 a week is a big shock! Luckily my MA is all spare cash for us otherwise we would be screwed! Hoping my back payment won't take long now.

@user1495827045 I paid mine yesterday, was told i should receive notification or payment of higher amount within 17 working days xx

I’ve had the same thing user. I had underpaid my NI by a grand total of £37 which I’ve just had the bill for today. Shit, is this going to take ages to come through? I’m supposed to be on leave in the next couple of weeks and this whole process hasn’t been so drawn out.

Hopefully it won't be as bad for you and you will get your money if you haven't gone on leave yet. I finished working 24/06 so it's been a long time waiting they say not to chase but the only time they have moved forward is when I have chased them. The initial claim went over the 25 working days I was advised it would take, I phoned them and they then apologised and processed the claim that day, I then got my letter 3 days later 're the £27 and them writing to hmrc 're my ni. It has then taken 3 weeks for hmrc to contact me and the letter from ma said I would receive a payment in my account between 5-10 working days - they left it right until the 10th day to pay me!! I made.my NI payment yesterday so really hope HMRC don't hold it up by taking forever to inform MA. I just want to get it all sorted before baby is here.

Sorry if I'm being thick but how is MA related to NI payments?
According to the gov.uk calculator and the eligibility requirements, I qualify for MA. I'm unemployed now but worked more than 26 weeks in the 66 week period, earned the right amount and all that.
I can't apply just yet (I'm only 18 weeks) but when I do I don't want to get a nasty shock when they say I don't qualify because of national insurance! I didn't earn enough in my last job to pay NI - surely they won't cut my MA because of that?
It's really stressing me out now as we will absolutely be relying on the money. My DP works really hard but can't work any more than they are now.

I’m self employed and have been for years. From what I’ve read in relation to maternity allowance, you get £145 a week for up to 39 weeks or 90% of your earnings, whichever is less.
So as long as you’ve been earning around 200 a week on an average for a while then you will receive the full £145.
But you have to have been earning that for 26 weeks before you start getting the maternity allowance.
Obviously this does change if you are not up to date with your NI contributions x

If you're self-employed and up to date with NI then there's no earnings stipulation. You don't even have to fill in that part of the form as self-employed.

This is directly from the claim form notes:

"If you are self-employed
If you are registered as self-employed, and
Have paid Class 2 National Insurance contributions, and
Do not hold a Small Earnings Exception certificate,

You will be treated as having enough weekly earnings to result in the standard rate of MA for any week covered by that Class 2 National Insurance contribution"

Thanks user. That sounds like a total pain in the arse. I’ve noticed they’ve been really slow this time round. When I had DS, it was all sorted in a couple of weeks. You’d think it’d be more straightforward than this. They are certainly quick to chase you if you owe them taxes!

Agh I'm going to have to get myself down to Citizen's Advice or something. I'm unemployed, not self-employed so I don't think I'm in the same situation as tge other ladies above.