Sole Trader Maternity Allowance - how do I prove income?

[CheshireCally]

I run my own handmade jewellery business and am 17 weeks pregnant. I'm registered as a sole trader and pay class 2 NI, and am having trouble understanding what maternity allowance I will be entitled to.

My main issue is that it is difficult for me to prove a level of earnings as a lot of my work is paid cash in hand through face to face selling. Obviously I keep track of this income for my tax return, but I don't have proof of payment for these sales, only those through my website. What sort of paperwork is required to support my average earnings in order to calculate my Maternity allowance?

Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks.

You don't have to prove earnings to claim full Maternity Allowance, if you are self employed and have been paying your Class 2 NI contributions. You only have to prove level of income if you are an employed person claiming MA (those who do not qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay).

It took me ages to figure this out; it is really unclear in all the literature! But when you get the form you need to complete to claim MA, it says in the accompanying notes that as a registered self employed person, paying Class 2 NIs, you are deemed to be at the level to get the full MA of £123 per week, or whatever it currently is.

Excellent, thank you, that's such a relief!

Here, this is the bit copied and pasted from the the accompanying notes to the MA claim form, saying you are entitled to full MA as a self employed person if:

If you are self-employed
If you are registered as self-employed, and
Have paid Class 2 National Insurance contributions, and
Do not hold a Small Earnings Exception certificate,

You will be treated as having enough weekly earnings to result in the standard rate of MA for any week covered by that Class 2 National Insurance contribution.

Sorry to hijiack but just wanted to ask a further question.

I am setting up as SE. I will most likely have a small earnings exemption cert at least in the begining.

Is there any way I can pay NI anyway or is there some kind of voluntary NI I can pay to ensure I will be able to get MA should I fall pg again in the near future?

In other words, I won't be earning enough to have to contribute NI but is there any way I can contribute to ensure the MA?

It makes things easier if you start a new thread (click on 'Start New Thread').

If you want to pay Class 2 NI to protect your SMP position, just don't apply for the small earnings exemption certificate.

Ora if you already have a certificate look at this page - it says:

"You can also pay Class 2 National Insurance contributions on a voluntary basis without cancelling your certificate. Call the Self-Employment Services (SES) Call Centre on 08459 154655."

Ah I see, thanks