Maternity Allowance in EEA countries
Maternity Allowance is paid to help women take time off work when they are expecting a baby. It can be paid for up to 39 weeks. To qualify, you must have been employed or self-employed in at least 26 of the 66 weeks before the week your baby is expected and have average weekly earnings of at least £30. The rate of benefit depends on your average weekly earnings.
UK Maternity Allowance in another EEA country
If, for any reason, you cannot get SMP in another EEA country, but you were last insured under the UK scheme, you may be able get UK Maternity Allowance instead. You can get UK Maternity Allowance anywhere you live or stay in the EEA as long as you satisfy the rules.
If you are going to Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland, different rules may apply. For further information contact The Pension Service (Directgov).
If you have your baby in any other EEA country, the rules for deciding if you may get UK Maternity Allowance are just the same as if you were living in the UK, unless you can get the same sort of Maternity Allowance from the EEA country you are living in.
Maternity benefit from another EEA country
If you have been working in another EEA country, you may have become insured for sickness since the last time you arrived there. If you have, and you claim maternity benefit under that country's scheme, your UK insurance may help you get it. The authorities there will ask the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) NI Contributions Office for details of your UK insurance record. The HMRC NI Contributions Office will send on to them form E104. They will usually need to get in touch with the employer you used to work for in the UK before they can send form E104. The authorities who run the foreign maternity scheme will decide your claim using their own rules.
UK Maternity Allowance in the UK
If you are insured under the UK scheme while you are working for your employer, you can usually get Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP). If for any reason you cannot get SMP in the UK, you may be able to get UK Maternity Allowance instead.
If you claim UK Maternity Allowance in this country, the sickness insurance paid in another EEA country may be used to help you get UK benefit. But this is only if, since coming to the UK, you have worked and earned at least a certain amount a week or, if you are self-employed, you have paid insurance contributions or hold a Small Earnings Exception.
Before you return to the UK, get a record of your sickness insurance from the authorities in the other EEA country. Ask them for form E104 and keep it in case you need it. If you do claim UK Maternity Allowance, give the form to the Jobcentre Plus office dealing with your claim.
If you have not paid any UK NI contributions or have not earned a certain amount since you last arrived in the UK, you may still get UK Maternity Allowance if you:
- worked in another EEA country for a UK employer and for the first 52 weeks of your employment abroad you either paid, or were deemed to have paid, employed-rate UK contributions; or
- paid contributions to the country where you were working; and
- you were ordinarily resident in the UK for the whole time you were abroad and immediately before the start of your employment.
For further information, contact The Pension Service (Directgov)
Benefits from two or more EEA countries
If you could claim maternity benefit from more than one EEA country, you can usually get it only from the country your baby is born in. If you cannot get benefit in that country, you can claim it from the country where you were insured last.
