Help maternity allowance

[nmmummy]

hi, can anyone help me? I recently applied for maternity allowance however I had only worked 22 weeks prior to giving birth and 24 weeks prior to due date as baby was born early.. No other work within the 66 weeks due to my baby born only 22 as I was student. Will I be accepted for maternity allowance due to the small difference between that and 26 weeks or is there no chance

I'm pretty sure 26 weeks is 26 weeks.

Hello, congratulations on your new baby.

have you tried the online eligibility calculator?
www.gov.uk/maternity-paternity-pay-leave

i have no experience of processing claims or contesting a claim but I have previously applied and been approved for maternity allowance.

you need to have worked for 26 weeks during the qualifying period, not 24 as in your OP. To to honest, I think it is unlikely you will meet the criteria but that’s just my assumption. I saw online that there is a way to appeal a decision so it might be that you could look into that if you’re not approved.

best of luck

Oh sorry I misread the OP re 26 weeks vs 24 weeks. Ignore that part of my post.