Hi,
I hope I’m right in what I’m telling you, but this is based on my recent experience! If unsure though, give HMRC a call, I’ve done that before and they were really helpful!
When you fill out the forms, it tells you on there that if you haven’t paid enough NI (or any in this case) to qualify for the full rate, that they’ll write to you to give you the opportunity to pay it once they’ve received your application. You’ll need a MATB1 certificate from the midwife which confirms your due date and you send that off with the form - the midwife asked me if I needed this so they’ll know.
If you pay the self employment NI voluntary, then it doesn’t matter if you don’t earn enough, as long as you’ve paid it (or pay it when they give you the opportunity to!), then you’re entitled to it. So even if you haven’t earned enough to qualify, because you’ll be paying the NI voluntary, you’re treated as though you have earned enough if that makes sense!
They go by a ‘test period’ of dates which you’ll see when you fill in the form, which is when they check to see if you’ll have paid enough NI yet. I’m due in April and I had paid enough NI in those dates.
So basically, fill in the form (which is way less scarier than it seems!), send it off with your MATB1 form and wait for them to get back to you!
Hope that makes sense and I haven’t confused you!