Mat pay - mental block

[greedychops]

Sorry - I seem to have a complete mental block over maternity allowance. I am self employed but only been in business for two years and in the first year I made a loss. Will make a small profit this year, but will be having a baby in September so was hoping to take a wee bit of time off after that.

I can't seem to work out whether I will be entitled to mat allowance, (I have been paying nic class 2) - I don't know if I have to have earned a minimum amount to qualify. Does anybody know? Sorry to be dense.

MA (for the self employed) is based entirely on your Class 2 NICs, 6 months of those qualify you.

Great thanks -that's good news. Glad I didn't apply for a small earnings exemption certificate now!

Yes indeed! I say it many times and I'll say it again it is very rarely worth applying for the small earnings exemption, Class 2 NI is only £130 a year (after April 2011).

Anchovy
LOL you got me utterly there on the UKBF
teach me to be on the phone while posting!!!

Yeah, google is always usually your friend. Locating stuff on hmrc.gov.uk seems to be getting harder for some reason, they seem to be removing some of their own guidance and replacing it with links to less authoritative and poorly referenced information on Business Link :(

More info about NOT opting for a small exceptions here

businessplusbaby.com/2010/09/08/self-employed-protect-your-right-to-maternity-allowance/

including a cautionary blog comment by someone who had one and couldn't get rid of it...

It's the same as credits on your NI for years hen you got child benefit. It's quite hard to find out whether that is the same as it used to be or not, although a moot point now as am paying the nic 2s anyway.

Don't know why there can't be a simpler explanation somewhere, maybe with an example or two to make it clearer.

A simpler explanation of what greedychops? Child benefit has nothing to do with NI contributions.

But in the past (might be a while ago now), you used to get NI credits if you were staying at home to look after children (and not running your own business) so that women could still qualify for the state pension even if they had taken time off employment to raise children.

I remember looking to see if that counted still recently,with the changed NI qualifying years, but found it very difficult to find the answer.

Oh yes I see - couldn't understand what 'hen you got child benefit' meant - I read it as 'then' not 'when'

The old system called Home Responsibilities Protection which counted years towards your state pension if you were receiving child benefit has been replaced.

You now get the time credited only if you are receiving child benefit for any child under 12. The number of years credit you need to qualify for the full basic state pension has reduced though from 39 (for women) to 30 (for everybody).

There is a good section on pensions on DirectGov, including links to find out how much state pension you have accrued.

Thanks - I post using an iPad and it quite often misses out letters without me noticing - I know I should read over my posts, but I am a bit impatient.

Thanks for the explanation though.