I'm self employed and have been granted full maternity allowance. I have the form to send back to say when I've stopped work and when I want the maternity allowance to start...I'm unsure when to put though? Because of covid I haven't done any freelancing for a while and not sure if I'll get another contract before baby comes at the end of November but at the same time I don't want maternity allowance to start too soon as I want it to run as far into next year as possible. What should I put as my dates? Any thoughts? Does it really matter?