Need help filling in maternity allowance claim form

[KaraStarbuckThrace]

Am 28+3, and am planning to work until th end of May (am due in June). Have filled in the electronic copy of the MA allowance claim form.

I noticed there is a question that says "have you started your maternity leave" but nowhere to state when you intend to start.
So is it better to wait until you start ML before sending off the form, I noticed that if you say yes you have it asks you when you want it to start?

Also do I keep paying Class II contributions while on ML? And when it comes to filling in my tax form for 11/12 (yes I know it is a long way off ) do I put down all the MA I claimed?

Thanks in advance!!

Haved you read through the notes at the beginning of the pack?

"The earliest you can claim is at the start of the 14thweek before the week your baby is due. Even if you are still working, claim as soon as you can after the start of the 14th week before the week your baby is due. We will contact you later to find out the date when you stop work."

Your NI record will be credited for pension purposes while you are receiving MA so if you are not working you don't need to be paying Class 2 NI during this time: contact the self employed NI help line (0845 915 4655) to deal with this.

Unlike SMP, MA is not taxable .

Thank you so much. I forgot to download the notes

That is really helpful, I had just assumed I would pay the NI contributions, I shall give them a ring once I finish working.

Forgot to say that unlike being employed (where you are only allowed 10 'keeping in touch' days), you can do as much self-employed work as you like and still collect 39 weeks MA; if you do this you should keep your Class 2s going.

Wow really? That is fantastic! This is good news as once I have stopped servicing the Client application for 30 days my contract with them will be terminated and I will have to retrain (on a 6 week course!!) before I can start servicing again.
Is there any kind of earnings cap?

Are you sure mranchovy? I was under the impression that the 10 kit days applied even when you are self employed? (I hope you are right btw)

I don't think that is right mranchovy.

I'v just found this on Direct.gov.

'If you do some work for an employer, or as a self-employed person, before your MA is due to end, you will be able to work for up to ten days without losing any MA. If you work for more than ten days, you will lose MA for the days you work after that.
You must tell Jobcentre Plus about any work you do when you are receiving MA.'

Damn and blast, thought it was too good to be true. If you know of something different, mranchovy, please let us know!

Yes sorry - I don't often post information from memory, I usually check first, and I obviously should have done this time as well. Good job there are plenty of people around to spot the mistake!

Ah, my memory hadn't failed me entirely - it seems that the rules have changed because when I last posted about this you could do self-employed work on MA and only lose for the days you worked. The rules that applied then have been removed from the manual :(

Sorry for the confusion, it seems this loophole has been well and truly closed.

anchovy - the joke is that so long as you have no sales invoices during the MA time, nobody will ever know how much work you actually do!