On maternity and want to register hmrc as self employed

[How08]

Hi, so I'm currently on maternity and due back to work in a few months. I took a leap and became a registered childminder while I was off. I want to start this when my maternity ends. Can I register with HMRC as self employed before this ends? Obviously I won't be actually earning anything extra till maternity pay has fully stopped but not sure if it will effect it at all etc. Can anyone give me any insite, thankyou!

You can do self employed work on maternity leave. Are you not returning to the job you're on leave from?

I think this is a question for HMRC. There’s no need to register as self-employed until you start working but I’m not sure if the admin of registering as a childminder should count as the first day of self-employment (whether you have earnt anything or not), so best to ask someone who knows the requirements.

If you’re self-employed and receiving SMA, you can do work on up to 10 days (like KIT days if you’re employed), but I’m not sure what the rules are if you’re both employed and self-employed.