Maternity allowance

If you can't get Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) from your employer, you might get Maternity Allowance (MA) if you:

are employed
are self-employed and pay Class 2 National Insurance contributions or
have a Small Earnings Exception certificate
are not employed but have worked close to or during your pregnancy.

The conditions are that you:

have been (employed or self employed) for at least 26 of the 66 weeks before the week your baby was due (a part week counts as a full week)
earned an average of £30 over any 13 of those 66 weeks.

The standard rate of MA is £123.06 or 90 per cent of your average weekly earnings, whichever is less. MA is paid for up to 39 weeks; it is not liable to income tax or NI contributions.

You must fill in form MA1, available from your local Jobcentre Plus, and return it to them with your wage slips for the 13-week earnings period on which your MA will be based, and form SMP from your employer, which details why you’re not entitled to SMP.

Apply for MA when you’re about 26 weeks pregnant. If you haven’t earned enough to qualify by this time, you can delay sending in the form until you do qualify, as long as this is before the baby is born. The earliest you can receive MA is the 11th week before the expected week of childbirth.

You cannot claim both SMP and MA.