Maternity Allowance TimeScales

[Sonny124]

Hello,
Not sure if this is in the right thread. …. I’m looking for those that have applied for maternity allowance recently.

I was awarded the lower rate due to the way my self assessment falls. It took 3 weeks to receive that letter.

two weeks later I received a bill from HMRC to pay class 2’s early. Which I paid via bacs.

my question is how long does it now take to update to the standard rate? Ive just had another payment of MA at the lower rate and my baby is due any day. Do I need to ring DWP? Will it all sort itself out? There’s very little information!

just want to get things sorted asap

thanks

Hi OP,

Can't be much help to you but hopefully bumping & following as I'm also awaiting a decision re Maternity Allowance.

I'm sure you've seen this already but the gov website says Once your additional contributions have been linked to your Maternity Allowance application, your payments will be increased and backdated if necessary. This can take several weeks.

I've had a little look online but also cannot find anything with timescales!

Yes it’s so frustrating when we have such little information to go off.
im not sure whether im supposed to ring DWP now that I have made payment or if it links automatically.

My original MA decision letter didn’t even state that HMRC would contact me. It told me to go online and check my contributions, which were actually written as full!

it doesn’t look like I’m going to get it all on time before baby is here 😣

I am due in 2 weeks, hadn't heard anything and sent my form off in December.
So I rang this week, apparently they sent me a letter as needed a form off me. I didn't get the letter.

Hoping it's all sorted soon as finish work Friday 🙈

I've only just sent my MA forms off today and due in 5 weeks. Definitely can't see me getting it in time based on this 😂 I've tried calling before to check a few points but can never get through. Hope it links up for you OP and comes through soon

Oh bloody hell @bumpkin34 @IveGotALovelyBunchOfCoconutss - I'm also due in two weeks and also only got the form sent off yesterday They are a nightmare to try to get through to on the phone!

Not sure if it's any help to you OP but I found this on a thread from 2021:

It took a few weeks to first receive a letter confirming what they said I was due and I could have confirmed it then, although I'm self-employed and at first they said I was due a really small sum but I could pay extra to get upgraded to the full amount. So that added about an extra month as I had to pay through a different department and then wait until they confirmed it. So in total, it took about 2 months to sort out.

Thankyou for that’, looks like I got another few weeks of waiting then ….

hope everyone gets there’s soon. In all fairness, if you are paid up for class 2’s, many of you should be sorted. It only fell oddly for me because I hadn’t yet done my self assessment/paid dues. 🙄

I didn’t realise this would take so long otherwise I would have definitely claimed sooner!

I applied two weeks ago, and had a call on Thursday of last week to confirm everything, letter received on Monday. I’m due in April.

Mine took ages. I would recommend phoning them - it took me ages on hold, but they were lovely and helpful once I actually managed to speak to someone. I’d been awarded the lower rate, despite filing my tax return really early to try to make sure they could clearly see I was eligible. Apparently it just wasn’t fully processed yet. I would definitely chase it. I ended up in hospital at 36 weeks, taken down for c section at 37 weeks and just as called to theatre got the text message that I’d been approved for the full amount!

After sending my forms off last week I had a great this morning saying the application has been received and I would hear within 4 weeks. Not sure if this helps anyone but sharing just in case

Just to update.
I rang maternity allowance today who checked the system.
HMRC had received and updated my payment but had not told maternity allowance.
They updated me whilst I was on the phone and assured me I’d be getting standard rate from now on plus a backdated payment.

so always worth giving them a call!

Glad you managed to get it sorted, it's a good job you did call in the end x

Just to update anyone also waiting, I sent my forms off on 4th February & received a message to say they'd been received on the 5th. I've just had a message confirming the rate and that the first payment will be paid within 10 days x

I sent mine off December still not heard.

Will ring on Monday

I'm 25 weeks, due in November. I got a letter from my employer today saying I don't qualify for SMP and to apply for Maternity Allowance.

How long did you have to wait for a reply? Should I apply now or wait a bit longer? If I'm eligible, I would want the payments to start end of October

Hi, in response to your post, I've recently applied for MA. I believe I sent mine off approx 14th Jan 2026 and got a generic text 2 days later saying they had received my application. Literally less than 2 weeks later I got a payment of the lower rate backdated to 1st Jan (Which I'd requested) which was approx £111. I knew it was rhe lower rate but hadn't had any letter explaining that they had paid me so I called Maternity Allowance. They explained that a letter was to follow which I've still not received as of today BUT....what I have received literally a week after my 1st payment of the lower weekly rate is a letter from HMRC with a Giro slip and information on how to pay the £45.50 to top up my class 2 contributions. It was waiting on the mat when I came back from my 34 week Antenatal appointment this morning. I paid it immediately and based on the MA advisors advice (when I called them the other day) they work quite quickly (20 working days max timescales) to not only increase the rate but backdate it to the date that I asked them to start paying me. All in all they seem to be working very quickly. I'm due another MA payment next week Thursday and then again on 26th (I requested fortnightly payments) so I'm hopeful that the standard rate will have kicked in by one of those payment dates. £27 really isn't much to live on. Thank God for my DH's wage just about keeping us above water. I hope yours gets sorted speedily and I hope my info helps.