experience with Maternity Allowance?

[Zauberfee]

Hi, I graduated in July and have been working since (2 different employers); baby due in dec, but have not worked 26 weeks by the time I plan to stop/I have to stop. Are there ways around the 26 weeks, maybe stretching the truth?

dont think you can stretch truth but I think if you are not entitled to maternity allowance then you may be entitled to incapacity. The best thing to do is contact your local benefits office for advice

unable to stretch the truth - they require your pay slips for the whole period unfortunately.

i need to get down the beenfits office to see if i can get anything this time, but doubt it as im a SAHM through choice, and DH's wages are probably to high even though we are always skint by this time of the month!

JM - are u not entitled to the statutory amount? - zau normally if u're employer can't pay u the SMP they'll give u a form and u claim directly from the benifits agency - this would normally happen if u've not paid enough NI conts/ earn enough in the set period.

can u talk to ur HR dept?

I get NOWT hun....

@JM are you sure that i'll need to send all payslips? The form says only to send those for the 13 weeks I want my average earnings calculated from...?!

You won't be entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay, but you will be entitled to Maternity Allowance from the government.... as longs you are paying National Insurance. Contact the benefits agency.

Zauberfee - I think that JABM and Munz have confused your question with one about SMP, when you quite rightly have identified that it's only MA that you might be entitled to.

You shouldn't need payslips for MA, as it's used for self-employed people (like me) who don't have payslips at all! I'm not sure if there will be a way around the 26 weeks rule or not, but agree with Fangache that the best thing to do would be to call your benefits office and ask. You can't be the only person to have been in this situation, so they must know how to deal with it.

I claimed maternity benefit (I'm self employed too), and all they need to check is that you paid national insurance for a certain period during the previous 12 months, which they check with the relevant inland revenue office with directly for. So, you should be entitled to MB if YOu have paid your NI.... hope that helps!

To be entitled to MA, you need to have worked for 26 weeks out of the 66 weeks preceding the week your baby is due and to have earned a minimum of £30 per week.

If you are not entitled to this, you could check your entitlement to income support/incapacity benefit for the period between leaving work and your due date. After the baby has been born, you could look at Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit, plus will be entitled to the Child Trust Fund and Child Benefit.