Does maternity leave count towards SMA?

[MrsTwiggy]

Not sure if I've completely got the wrong end of the stick here but as I understand it, you're entitled to SMA if you've been working for 13 weeks out of the 66 before giving birth, right?

Well it's just occurred to me that I was on maternity leave getting SMP for 13 of the relevant weeks. Would this qualify me for SMA? I assumed I wouldn't get anything since I left my job after mat leave. But now I've just come across the criteria and wondering if I'd qualify?

I've tried Googling but it's just bringing up stuff about qualifying for SMP rather than what I'm looking for, which is SMA.

You would technically be employed while on maternity leave so you could count your SMP towards your maternity allowance. You would just get 90% of whatever you got paid at that time or £172, whichever is lower

As the test period is 66 weeks before the week your next baby is due you may be able to use earnings from before your current maternity leave or weeks in which you were receiving Statutory Maternity Pay.

Earnings includes holiday pay, sick pay, Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Sick Pay and any other payments that form part of your salary or wages. You can add together earnings from more than one job. Unfortunately you cannot include previous periods of Maternity Allowance as earnings.

Employed and self-employed work counts for Maternity Allowance. This includes full or part-time work. You can still apply for Maternity Allowance if you are currently unemployed as long as you completed at least 26 weeks of employment in your test period.

You continue to be ‘employed’ by your employer during maternity leave so you can count previous periods of maternity leave when calculating your entitlement to a further period of maternity leave and pay.

From https://maternityaction.org.uk/advice/pregnant-during-maternity-leave/

You need to have been working 26 weeks out of the last 66 - was this true too?