ok help needed regarding maternity allowance and smp please....

[mustsleep]

right i work 10 hours a week and have been in my job for two and a half years

i am 22 weeks pregnant and will be leaving on maternity in august

right but not so straight forward due to my understanding because i earn £50 a week i will not be entitled to smp as you need to earn over £80 a week

but as i have been in emplyment for 26 weeks during my pregnancy i will be able to claim maternity allowance

i need to get my matbi form and give it to the offce at work so that they can forward it to hr and then they can say i willnot get smp and give me another form to include in my application for maternity allowance with my matb1 and the app form that i can get from the job centre

ok i understand all this but when do i do it, should it be asap with the date i am leaving or nearer the time i am due to leave?

also i have to include 13 weeks worth of pay evidence which woul be about 3 months of wage slips wouldn;t it? but i have just found out that our wage is going up so will i not benefit from that? if i cannot find my wage slips could i use my p60? which i have just got?

any advice would be great as last time i gor smp work just completely sorted it out and now i am worried that i'll end up not getting paid what i am getting now or end up getting nothing

Hi
You can't claim Maternity allowance until you are at least 14 wks before your due date, if you can wait for the higher wage slips then do that because they will take a % of your wages, so the higher the better (obviously there is a maximum limit) They should accept a letter from your employer if you have lost your w/slips or they will write on your behalf (but that will take ages) So long as you are still working 15 wks before your due date then you can have a flexible MAP (Maternity Allowance Period) which means that you can tell them when you want your MA to start.
Hope that helps
x

thanks right so i could wait until july's wage has gone in which would still be about 4 weeks before i want to leave and then claim then? as i should have enough wage slips then anyway

and then if i do taht i can tell them the date i would like it to start?

also does anyone know if ma is for 39 weeks like smp?

Yes you can wait for July, and it is paid for 39 weeks

brilliant thanks, didn;t want to leave it too late and all that