Maternity Allowance question

[Ivy37]

Hi all, wondering if anyone is familiar with maternity allowance (not SMP). For situations where you are in an employment contract but not paid or working intentionally i.e. unpaid sick leave, unpaid personal absence, sabbatical, does this still contribute to the 26 weeks of employment criteria?

Maternity Action says this 'You are also considered to be employed in any week in which you have a contract with an agency or zero hours contract' which sounds promising, but just wondering if anyone has personal experience of this? Thanks all

Hi - what happened re this please

Hi @worldwidetravel2017 - so for me it did count, and I managed to get 13 weeks of paid work in time before maternity leave. However I think I may have overstressed as I believe it's based on national insurance contributions - so if you haven't worked enough to cover full mat allowance, you can just pay a top up national insurance (like 45£ or something) and then you qualify for it all I believe... However do check this for yourself, I might be remembering more about the 13 week requirement. Good luck for your situation!