SA29. Your social security insurance, benefits and healthcare rights in the European Economic Area
Benefits
14. Maternity Allowance
Maternity Allowance is paid to help women take time off work when they are expecting a baby. It can be paid for up to 26 weeks. To qualify, you must have been employed or self-employed in at least 26 of the 66 weeks before your baby is expected. 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 if;
- you are living or working in another EEA country;
- or you are looking for work there and you are getting UK contribution-based Jobseeker's Allowance;
- or you are already getting Maternity Allowance in the UK and you go back to the country where you usually live or you go to live in another EEA country. But you must get your Jobcentre Plus or social security office to agree that you can carry on getting your benefit;
- or if the Department of Health tells you that you can go to another EEA country to get medical treatment. The “Health advice for travellers” booklet, tells you more about this. You can get a copy from any UK post office or or further information is available from the internet at www.dh.gov.uk/travellers, from the DH Publications Orderline on 08701 555 455 or by emailing dh@prolog.uk.com.Visiting another EEA.
If these do not apply to you, and you are going to another EEA country for a short visit, you may still be able to get Maternity Allowance. But you must be going abroad to get medical treatment for a medical condition which started before you left the UK, or you must have been unable to work for at least six months, with no gaps, before you go.
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.
If you are getting Maternity Allowance and you are going to another EEA country, check with your Jobcentre Plus or social security office well before you leave. Read the Medical services part of these pages (sections 28-39) that tell you about healthcare, so that you can sort things out in good time.
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 HM Revenue and Customs Centre for Non Residents for details of your UK insurance record.
HM Revenue and Customs Centre for Non Residents 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 or social security 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
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.