just popping in with a question - maternity allowance

[babydevil1989]

Hi I will be coming over in a few weeks but I have a question better suited to you lovely ladies!

I am both employed and self employed - I dont earn enough in my employed job to get SMP so im going to get MA - I pay class 2 NI contributions and have done for the past year - does anyone know if I will be entitled to the full standard amount due to paying the class 2 NIs?

I have tried asking job centre plus but they are useless!!!
Any help much appreciated x

 

[MindUtopia]

If you are self-employed and you pay NI and have done for 26 weeks of the past (I think) 62 weeks then you will get the £136.78 pw amount. There can be a problem whereby some women who are self-employed but have opted out of paying NI because they earn less than £5000 per year in their self-employment only qualify for something like £26 pw. It doesn't matter though how much you make (I make less than £5000 per annum in my self-employed work) as long as you opt to pay NI anyway. It won't make any difference that you've paid NI at two jobs though. You'll still get the same amount as anyone else claiming MA. It sounds like you are eligible though, so you'll get the full amount assuming you qualify as far as number of weeks worked, etc.

 

[babydevil1989]

Thanku. I dont pay NI in my employed work as i dont earn enough so needed to pay my NI for my self employed work - its just all so confusing - it doesnt matter how much I get id just like a heads up so I can works stuff out lol x