Maternity allowance - keeping in touch days

[greedygreedyguzzler]

have i got this right? if you are self employed you can claim maternity allowance which is about 112 pounds a week and you can do 10 keeping in touch days during your time on mat leave?

so can you do these 10 days without losing any of your MA? cos thats how i read it. then if you work more than 10 days you lose a days MA for every day that you work? does that mean you lose 112/5 ?

i dont really get it! am i just being especially thick?

I've done some searching around, I'm not a 100% sure I'm right but

to qualify for "statuory maternity leave" you must be an employee, not self employed. The KIT days only apply if you qualify for statutory m/l.

Therefore I think DWP may deduct a day's MA for any day you work...

Infact looking at the DWP Decision Maker's Guide they may deduct more than this

"Work done during MA period
62591 [See Memo DMG Vol 10 07/06] If a woman works as an employed or S/E earner
(and this includes work of either category which she does in her own home) during
the period for which MA is payable, she is not entitled to receive MA for any part of
the period reasonable in the circumstances, but for not less than the number of days
on which she worked1.
1 reg 2(1)(a)
62592 A claimant is not entitled for the time that work was done. Receipt of salary or wages
(but not SMP) during the period of the allowance, such as paid maternity leave, is
not a ground for disqualification. If, however, it is found that a woman entitled to MA
has worked, as an employed or S/E earner, the DM must disqualify MA. Housework
does not count as work for this purpose.
62593 - 62595
Period of disqualification
[See Memo DMG Vol 10 07/06]
62596 The DM decides the number of days for which a woman is not entitled to MA
because of work done during the MAP. This depends on the particular facts and
circumstances of each case. The number of days for which a disqualification is
imposed must, however, be not less than the number of days on which the woman
worked during the MAP.
62597 Where work has been done on one day or on a few days only, the DM should limit
the disqualification to the number of days of actual work. However, where it is clear
that the woman has been following regular employment, even though on lighter
duties or P/T, a disqualification should be imposed for the

1. whole of the week or
2. weeks in which she has worked"

Best chekc with DWP, I may not be right of course!

thank you! think you might have confused me even more though!

Just bumping this as I am a bit confused about KIT days for self employed people as well. How is it monitored? Who checks up on you? Is it earnings based or time based? I.E. say my daily rate is £200, does that mean I can earn up to £2,000 whilst on mat leave?

And I've tried going to the DWP website to find this out, and it's all a bit vague. And there's no telephone number you can call to actually speak to someone about it....

My friend is self employed. She is entitled to some sort of materity leave, i believe 33 weeks of MA. She is not allowed to work and the moment she does she loses her MA, thats my understanding. I dont know if thats confused you more. Maybe ring DWP and discuss with them.
lisa

I am in a similar situation trying to find out about maternity allowance as a self-employed and visiting my local jobcentre plus was a waste of my time.
The best info I got was online:

www.direct.gov.uk/en/Bfsl1/BenefitsAndFinancialSupport/DG_10018869

where you can also download the MA1 form - it's 38 pages long including instructions how to fill it in.

Roughly we can claim around £113 pw for up to 9 months.

So, go online at the direct.gov.uk and read carefully all the info there.

i copied this from the website

Keeping in Touch (KIT) days if you are getting MA
If you are expecting your baby on or after 1 April 2007 you are allowed to work as an employed or self-employed person for up to 10 days during your Maternity Allowance Period without losing any MA

These special days are known as KIT days. They are intended to help you keep in touch with your workplace or, if you are self-employed with your business, and enable you to do some work without affecting your MA. KIT days could also help ease your return to work. If you are on maternity leave from your employer you and your employer should agree that you can work on those days. Your employer does not have any right to insist that you work. If you are not on maternity leave from an employer, or you are self-employed, you are free to decide for yourself whether to do any work or not.

Any work you do as a KIT day, even for as little as half an hour, for example, will count as a whole day for KIT days. You can work for single days; in blocks of two or more days; or they can be worked consecutively. Once you have used up your 10 days and you do any further work, you will lose a days MA for any day on which you work.

i read that as meaning that you can work 10 days and keep both your earnings and MA, and then any days more than that you work you will start to lose some of your MA.

bodders - i would say that yes, you can work 10 days at £200/day. seems a bit too good to be true doesn't it? but i think that is what i will be doing. i guess it makes sense when employed people can get 90% of their earnings for the first 6 wks and then go onto the lower rate.

You must tell your Jobcentre Plus office if you do any work for an employer or work as a self-employed person (including work you do on KIT days) in your Maternity Allowance Period.

That sheds a bit more light on it - but the bit I still don't get is how it is actually monitored? Is it just that I am responsible for telling them about any work that I do, i.e. I have to go to the Jobcentre office and say "Hello, my name is "Bodkin" and I have worked X days during my maternity leave"?

sounds good bodders! made me chuckle! and i will say " hello, i am greedygreedyguzzler and i have worked 4 keeping in touch days!!"

they would think we were mad!!! mind you, in your case, if you use your real name they will still think you are mad!!

i do think that is all there is to it though, i guess it goes on trust!

TBH, my local jobcentre plus is open so rarely, and at such random times, i am lucky if there is anyone there! And when they are there, they are, or should be, busy finding people jobs, not faffing about with my MA!

so are you going to work those 10 days and let them know at some point? it makes me feel better if i know that someone else is going to do that too! even if i dont know you in RL!!