NI17A - A guide to Maternity Benefits
Maternity Allowance (MA)
Introduction
Maternity Allowance (MA) is a benefit paid weekly by Jobcentre Plus to pregnant women who cannot get SMP and to the self-employed. You will get it only if you have been employed and/or self-employed and satisfy the conditions explained below.
If your Expected Week of Childbirth is on or before 31 March 2007, MA can be paid for up to 26 weeks.
If your Expected Week of Childbirth is on or after 1 April 2007, MA can be paid for up to 39 weeks.
The number of weeks MA is payable for is determined by when your baby is due, not by the date your baby is actually born.
MA is not liable to income tax or NI contributions.
If you think you may be entitled to MA, please read the following pages very carefully. The 'Terminology' page should help you if you forget the meanings of any of the abbreviations or technical phrases.
If you did not qualify for SMP because you did not earn enough (see ‘The earnings rule’) and while you were on maternity leave your employer awards a pay rise which you would have received had you not been on maternity leave, you should ask your employer to look again at whether you could get SMP. If after recalculation you qualify for SMP, your employer will pay the difference between any MA paid to you and the SMP due.
Eligibility
You can only get MA if you cannot get SMP, have been employed and/or self-employed and you have earned on average at least £30 a week in your test period. The test period is the period of 66 weeks up to and including the week before the week your baby is due.
Your average earnings are worked out using earnings from any 13 weeks in the test period.
NOTE: the week your baby is due is sometimes called the EWC – expected week of childbirth.
Employment rule
You must have been employed and/or self-employed for at least 26 weeks in your 66 week test period. The 26 weeks do not have to be in a row and it does not matter how much you earn.You do not have to be actually physically at work to be employed or self-employed; you might be off work sick for example.
Weeks when you have not worked a full week count towards your 26 weeks.
If you are self-employed, you must register as such with the HM Revenue & Customs according to their rules.
Earnings rule
To get MA your earnings, on average, must be at least equal to the Maternity Allowance Threshold (MAT) in force at the beginning of your test period. The MAT is £30 a week so you must earn on average at least £30 a week. If you have more than one employer, all earnings will count when working out the average.
If you are an employee the earnings rule is based on your gross earnings during your test period. Gross earnings are your earnings before any deductions and may include:
- Statutory Adoption Pay
- Statutory Maternity Pay
- Statutory Paternity Pay, or
- Statutory Sick Pay
If you are a student in receipt of a bursary, your bursary is not treated as earnings for MA purposes.
If you are part of a salary sacrifice scheme this will mean that you have voluntarily given up the right to some of your earnings in return for benefits from your employer e.g. childcare vouchers. MA will be assessed on those lower earnings that is, no account will be taken of the salary you have given up or the value of the benefit you receive in its place. This may reduce your entitlement to MA or may mean that you will not be entitled to MA as your earnings are below the MAT.
If you are self-employed and do not have a small earnings exception certificate, for any week covered by a Class 2 NI contribution you will be treated as having enough earnings to result in the standard rate of MA, payable at the end of the week covered by a class 2 NI contribution. This means that:
- From 10 April 2006 treated as earning £120.95
- From 9 April 2007 treated as earning £125.28
- From 7 April 2008 treated as earning £130.20
If you are self-employed and hold a small earnings exception certificate, you will be treated as having earnings equal to the MAT at the end of any week covered by your certificate. This applies even if you pay a class 2 contribution for a week which is also covered by the certificate.
If you are employed and self-employed, earnings from your employment and earnings you are treated as having from self-employment can be added together to help you get more MA.
Period for calculating average weekly earnings
Your earnings are averaged over any 13 weeks in your test period. The 13 weeks do not have to be in a row and you may choose the weeks with the most earnings to help you get more MA. Earnings from all your jobs (if you have more than one) and earnings you are treated as having from self-employment will be used to work out your average weekly earnings. If your average is at least equal to £30 a week you will get MA.