Self-employed moms - SSP and SMP

[Lilice]

I'll probably ring citizens advice but thought I'd post here too. I'm self employed and losing all my clients. PM said today the self-employed could claim SSP through universal credits. Soon my earnings will be less than SSP and so I'm considering claiming it. However I'm wondering if this will affect my entitlement to SMP. Does anyone know?

I'm confused about the new advice on self-employed people as they didn't give specifics (also partly as he was mumbling through it).

Anyway, if you're self-employed and do your tax return once a year, your SMP will be based on an average taken from your latest tax return, so from your full yearly earnings. A good reason to get your return done asap in April, so everything is all sorted.

Is it not Maternity Allowance that you'd claim if self employed? It depends on class 2 NI contributions. If you havent made enough then hmrc will invite you to pay them in advance so you can get the full MA amount

If you’re self-employed

To get the full amount of Maternity Allowance, you must have paid Class 2 National Insurance for at least 13 of the 66 weeks before your baby’s due.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will check if you’ve paid enough when youmake your claim. They’ll write to you if you have not.

If you have not paid enough Class 2 National Insurance to get the full rate (£148.68 a week), you’ll get £27 a week for 39 weeks. You still need to meet all the other eligibility criteria to get this amount.

You may be able to get the full rate by making early National Insurance payments. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will send you a letter to tell you how.

You’ll need to pay using the reference number in the letter to get the full rate, even if you’ve recently made a payment through Self Assessment.

Also, regarding sick pay/illness, I believe the self-employed version of SSP is called ESA, which I think is means tested (generally I think it applies to those in a situation where they could claim Universal Credit): www.gov.uk/employment-support-allowance/eligibility.

This is all for illness, though, of course. SSP only applies if you are ill; have been advised to self-isolate by a doctor; are self-isolating for 7 days because you have symptoms of coronavirus; or are self-isolating for 14 days because a member of your household has symptoms of coronavirus.

We'll have to see what changes they've made to the Universal Credit limits and how many of us self-employed will now be eligible (I think the old limit was max earnings of £12,500/year and savings of less than £6,000 to qualify).

@dementedpixie Indeed it is – I meant SMA, not SMP. Sorry! I blame stress, tiredness and pregnancy brain 🙈.

@dementedpixie absolutely you're right I mean maternity allowance, not smp. So as long as I pay my NI contributions (which I always as soon as I do my tax return in april) I will get maternity allowance, even if I claim statutory sick pay through universal credits?
I understand this is for people who are off sick. However being pregnant, dont we have to self isolate anyway? Everyone is urged to work from home if they can. Also I have two kids off school now and I need to stay home to look after them. Surely I would be entitled to claim, wouldn't I?

@Rebellenny I though Sunak was saying the budget was there to help every business including self employed. Us losing our customers is just as an employer firing us, isn't it?

@Rebellenny but you're right, everything is so vague at the moment. I'm interpreting it too much the way I would like it to be, sadly

www.gov.uk/government/publications/support-for-those-affected-by-covid-19/support-for-those-affected-by-covid-19

www.gov.uk/maternity-allowance/eligibility

@Lilice You should be eligible to receive SMA as long as you meet the criteria (minimum weekly earnings, etc.) averaged over the course of the year. Having SSP/ESA for a period of illness won't affect it.

As a self-employed person, you are employing yourself. Your clients aren't your employers as they don't pay your PAYE/NI/etc. They're just clients.

And you can only claim sick pay if you have been explicitly told to self-isolate, i.e. by a doctor or because you/a member of your household have coronavirus symptoms. So far, the government have not actually told anyone they have to self-isolate. The advice for pregnant people, over-70s and those with underlying/chronic health issues to put more effort into socially distancing ourselves. Only a few people with the most serious health issues (such as cancer patients and those undergoing immunosuppressant therapy) are being informed individually by their doctors to self-isolate.

Thank you @Williams3001 and @dementedpixie that's very useful

Universal credit is a benefit which has replaced a number of benefits such as tax credits for almost all new claims. Having a lower income doesn’t necessarily mean you must move to universal credit, it might mean changes to existing benefits you are getting. Universal credit is means tested so affected by your income and savings over £6000 (and of a partner as a couple claim together). You can’t go back on the old benefits if you move to uc

New style ESA is based on NI contributions.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/health/coronavirus-what-it-means-for-you/

I would suggest contacting citizens advice or a welfare benefits charity.

Thank you. I will probably call citizens advice on monday and see what's the best plan for me. I read that the NHS are going to issue letters to the vulnerable group. Maybe we will be told to self isolate. That would make things easier if it became an order. I'm so worried because they wont let my husband work from home, he doesn't want to go in because of me being high risk, so he's not only getting statutory pay.

*he's now only getting statutory pay