Somebody please advise me on maternity allowance?

[Darkbloom]

I'm stuck!!

I don't qualify for normal maternity pay as I was made unemployed as of last month.

However, I've looked into maternity allowance and the government website says I qualify.

Has anyone got any experience on maternity allowance? I know I need to fill forms in but how long did it take for you to receive payments once forms were sent back?

How much allowance did you get and for how long?

Hey OP, sorry to hear ur unemployed right now. Contact your local citizens advice bureau and go see them (bring a notepad & pen). They will take you through everything, explain it all and help you fill in any applications forms etc. There's all sorts of additional support, probably that you have never heard of, they know all the ins & outs, processes and timescales of the system. I wish you well xx

Hi - I’m in the process of claiming now. Spoke to DWP today about my claim to be told the wait is currently around 8 weeks because of a backlog, but if you tell them when you want your payments to start on the form, then they will backdate your payments when the claim is approved so you’ll still get the right amount of MA pay. It seems really complicated, but it really wasn’t that bad once I got into the form which you can find online to print and then send on to them. If you google the notes that come with the form, there are tables in there that help you work out exactly when your qualifying periods for the various parts of the form are. You’ll need the form, the notes, a number of payslips and your MATB1 form from your midwife to make the claim if you were in employment and not self-employed at all (otherwise the evidence you need is slightly different).

Thank you - how many pay slips did you need to send? Back log of 8 weeks - so I'm guessing you will get paid in 8 weeks time then? X

I made my claim on the 3rd July (that’s when they got my docs) so hoping to be paid by the end of August!

I had to send on 4 payslips but the notes will tell you how many to send and from what dates based on your circumstances, eg how often you got paid. I think you have to show 13 weeks of pay, however you got paid, and between specific dates that are worked out based on your due date.

@afternoontwee thank you - how many weeks were you when you sent the form off?

31 weeks - although I should really have sent it off before, but was dealing with the end of my employment before that so left it a bit late between claiming and when I wanted the payments to start.