Maternity allowance

[Ep7701]

Hi, has anyone recently claimed maternity allowance?
How long did the application take to process and receive your money?
thanks

Following as about to go through the process x

Hi ya, I recently started claiming and can confirm in my case it was a nightmare to get it quick. I stopped working on 31.10. (1 month before I'll give a birth), I applied 1.11. and waited up until 28th of Dec to hear anything ( I had to chase them up), I got few payments of £54 but obviously wanted a higher rate, so I had to wait for NINO+HMRC request from me to pay £44 to get a higher rate of MA. Again I had to chase that up mid January. ( I requested backdated payment) Got my first payment of £543 5th of Feb with a letter stating that this was a backdated payment amount as they have already sent me £1600 so far between Nov and Jan which they clearly didn't, I buzzed them up to ask what's this about, for that period I only received about £200. So they checked and confirmed that they didn't paid £1600 to me but the advisor didn't know why I got the letter and why they didn't backdated the full amount to me so they will call me back, 15 days later I'm still waiting.... 😒

So my advice for everyone is to apply as soon as they're able to, don't try working up until the last month as you will probably get in the similar chasing game as I am now (and struggling).