Maternity Allowance for Self Employed (UK)

[Charmed86]

I had quite an irritating day yesterday! I am self employed, and until April this year, I had a small earnings NI exemption certificate. I assumed that, like MA for the employed, MA would be worked out depending on my income.. It is not. There are 2 amounts for MA for self employed & it is directly related to Class 2 NI contributions. Had I known this, I'd have thought twice about applying for the exemption certificate!!

After a few calls to HMRC & the Job Centre, I found out that NI contributions are now paid through self assessment. Which is great if you do your self assessment within your test period & either have to pay class 2 contributions, or *choose* to pay them voluntarily. Don't confuse these with the actual voluntary contributions, they won't get you the higher allowance!

The two amounts for MA are: £27 per week if you've not paid class 2 NI, and £139 per week if you have! Massive difference!!

I've managed to get HMRC to send me a bill for at least 13 weeks of class 2 contributions, which will then make me eligible for the higher amount of MA. I didn't want anyone else to get stung by this! Luckily, I have enough time to get this all sorted before baby is due.

So, to any women who are self employed & had a small earnings exemption before it was scrapped in April - This is for you! Call HMRC & get them to send you a bill for 13 weeks of class 2 contributions. Don't let them tell you that you have to wait until you do your self assessment as it might be too late then. You have until 3mths after your baby is born to send in MA applications.

Hopefully this information is useful to someone else out there! I searched the internet yesterday & only came up with out of date info & info on HMRC that didn't really clarify the amounts for self employed women.

 

[yazzy]

Very useful to know as I'm just trying to sort my voluntary contributions now! Thank you!

 

[AJae]

I HEAR YOU!!!!! I am also having a meltdown over it, i had a limited company last year (no longer trading as i am injured) and i was also paye employed at several temp jobs (luckily i wasn't self employed too or i would be a puddle of stress right now) i am not entitled to SMP so will be applying for MA but what a minefield, especially when the paye jobs didn;t issue payslips. getting my accountant to go the back route and contact hmrc to see what records they have for me.

if i can't get MA then tough luck i guess, i will be living on fresh air. i am not entitled to anything else either due to OH's income, even though we keep our finances totally separate (neither of us have any idea what is in each other's accounts and that is how i will keep it!) and i would never even dream of asking to borrow a tenner from him as i am fiercely independent and pay my way (i get so embarrassed when he tries to pay the bill at dinner, you don't own me this isn't Pretty Woman!) but just because i am pg and live with him (his place, i pay him rent fgs!) i am not allowed to do anything for myself as he should pay for me/support me...? as the only option is 'living with parents, tenant, owner occupier,single, married, living as if married....)um, no thankyou,he is just my boyfriend, i do not answer to him, he doesnt answer to me and we can cope as individuals very well, i will never live out of his pocket, i am my own person.Grrr!

however if we split up, i went 'homeless' and decided to not have a stable relationship then i could have it all........ bit backwards there. (no i am not bashing anyone who is receiving credits, i am bashing the idea that stable relationships are not encouraged by the government in terms of help available. i have many friends who are receiving these credit lifelines, despite being a pittance for them, and they also think it is daft that i have less of an income than they do and they do not even work, lol. needless to say, drinks are always on them!)

back to my form-filling meltdown. if it wasn't for needing to let hmrc know i am not working once the baby is here (so that my NI stamps stay active) then i wouldn't even bother. sigh.

 

[CertainTurton]

So confusing. I have been paying ni contributions but what do you mean about it not being the right one for the higher amount? I am employed too but dont earn enough to pay tax/ni through that so really don't know how itworks. Also im stopping the employed work in August but contunuing to be self employed. I get my matb form next week so need to ring the job centre I think.

 

[Charmed86]

CertainTurton - You have to have made at least 13 weeks of class 2 NI contributions in order to get the higher MA of £139pw. I'm not 100% sure how it works if you've been employed during that time too, but I imagine it's the same. I was employed for 13wks of my test period & they're not counting that as I didn't earn enough to pay NI.

There are 2 types of NI for self employed people, the voluntary contributions & the class 2 contributions. The voluntary contributions will only get you a pension. The class 2 ones can be paid voluntarily, but they will get you all of your benefits, including MA I hope that makes some sense! It's worth getting in touch with HMRC to get them to send you out a bill for your class 2 NI contributions if you've not made any as you only have until the end of your test period to pay the 13wks xx

PM me if you need any more help with this & I'll do my best xx

 

[CertainTurton]

Thanks so much Charmed. I'm pretty sure I have been paying the class 2 because I checked I would get mat allowance with it. I have been paying it for about 6 months so should be ok. When does the test period start? is it 13 weeks before you go on mat leave?

 

[bundle4me]

My oh is self employed and i looked into if we can get any paternity help for him to be off but no such luck so he's having to take as little time as a week if possible off

 

[Charmed86]

Thanks so much Charmed. I'm pretty sure I have been paying the class 2 because I checked I would get mat allowance with it. I have been paying it for about 6 months so should be ok. When does the test period start? is it 13 weeks before you go on mat leave?

The test period is around 66 weeks in total, if you have a look at the form on this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/maternity-allowance-claim-form it will tell you roughly when your test period starts and finishes It sounds like you should be more than covered if you've been paying it for 6 months now At any point during that time, did you have a small earnings certificate? If you did, then that will rule out any contributions you have made until it ran out in April.

Bundle4me that is absolutely awful isn't it?! I don't see why self employed men are punished! I think they should be entitled to a paternity allowance if they've paid NI! xx

 

[bundle4me]

I know. He's trying to save as much as he can now so he can cover his rent etc on his unit. Sometimes self employed can have its down falls I suppose x

 

[AngelofTroy]

Does anyone know how it is worked out for 'workers' ?

 

[Charmed86]

Does anyone know how it is worked out for 'workers' ?

For employed women, I think it is based on your average weekly wage within a 13wk period during your 66wk test period. It's either £139pw or 90% of your weekly pay, whichever is less. This is if you are employed, but aren't eligible for SMP for whatever reason (usually if you've not been in the job long enough). As for employed but not making NI contributions because of low wage, I am not sure. I'd worry you might be in the same boat as self employed women, it would definitely be worth a call to HMRC or the Job Centre to discuss x

Bundle4me - It's definitely one of the drawbacks to being self employed I was in a car accident a few years back & had to put my business on hold for well over a year to recover. I lost out on a lot of money during that time & even lost clients. The perks are good though, so it balances out for me. I hope it does for your OH too x

 

[bundle4me]

Thanks charmed. So sorry to hear u had a bad accident x