Small earnings exemption and Maternity allowance.

[lancs02]

I work doing Party Plan and therefore I am self employed. Obviously I work randomly and probably have scraped £30 profit in the right number of weeks during my qualifying period for Maternity Allowance.
My question is do you have to provide evidence of this? The form seems to suggest that you will be treated as earning £30 if you have the exemption.
I am confused.
Thank you

Your actual earnings are irrelevant if you are self employed.

As a self employed person you qualify for Maternity Allowance at the full rate of £135.45pw if you have been registered as self employed for 26 weeks and paid Class 2 National Insurance (currently £2.65pw) for at least 13 weeks.

If you have not paid Class 2 NI because you have held the Small Earnings Exemption certificate for at least 13 weeks, you will qualify for Maternity Allowance at £27.00pw.

It is often not a good idea to apply for the small earnings exemption, google my name and "Class 2" for more information.

Thank you. lady on phone at Job Centre obv gave me wrong info. Certainly form didn't say I needed evidence. TBH I ajust grateful for £27 per week as I ssummed I wouldn't get anything. Pregnancy was not on the cards when I started working for myself.

Oops keyboard sticking.

hi, sounds like it might be too late for you to pay 13 wks Class 2 but you couldTry calling the National Insurance helpline - I found them extremely helpful and keen to help me get max benefit at least cost to me.

Otherwise be aware you're allowed to do paid work on 10 calendar days while claiming Maternity Allowance so you could
earn something while on maternity leave if you wanted to.