NI17A - A guide to Maternity Benefits
Further information
Further information
If you have any enquiries relating to Statutory Maternity Pay please contact HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) Employee Helpline on 0845 302 1479.
You can get more general information about benefits from elsewhere on GOV.UK.
- Benefits and financial support (GOV.UK)
If you have any enquiries about your current entitlement to MA or wish to report a change of circumstances, please contact Jobcentre Plus.
- Jobcentre Plus – who to contact (GOV.UK)
Rates of benefits
Rates of benefits are published each year in Social Security (Uprating) Regulations which are approved by Parliament usually at the start of each year. Benefits are usually uprated from April, at the beginning of the financial year.
Details of the current rates of all social security benefits, including maternity benefits, are available in the leaflet Social Security Benefit Rates.
Acts, Regulations and detailed information
This is only a guide to maternity benefits. It has no status in law. For more detailed information on maternity benefits, including the full legal documents passed by Parliament, you may want to consult some of the following publications.
The detailed rules of maternity benefits, including benefit rates and entitlement, are contained in Acts of Parliament and in Regulations made by the Secretary of State and approved by Parliament. You can buy copies of the Acts and all the Regulations through bookshops or direct from the publishers – The Stationery Office Ltd. Many libraries will also hold copies for you to consult.
Acts and Regulations
The Acts and main Regulations which govern maternity benefits are currently:
For SMP
- The Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 (Chapter 4), sections 164 to 171 and Schedule 13
- The Statutory Maternity Pay (General) Regulations 1986 (SI 1986 No 1960)
- The Statutory Maternity Pay (Compensation of Employers) and Miscellaneous Amendment Regulations 1994 (SI 1994 No 1882)
For MA
- The Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 (Chapter 4), sections 35 and 35A
- The Social Security (Maternity Allowance) Regulations 1987 (SI 1987 No 416)
- The Maternity Allowance (Earnings) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000 No 688)
Other relevant Acts and Regulations are:
- Social Security Act 1998
- Social Security Administration Act 1992
- Social Security and Child Support (Decision and Appeals)Regulations 1999 (SI 1999/991)
- The Statutory Maternity Pay (Medical Evidence) Regulations 1987 (SI 1987 No 235)
- The Statutory Maternity Pay (Persons Abroad and Mariners) Regulations 1987 (SI 1987 No 418)
- The Statutory Maternity Pay (National Health Service Employees) Regulations 1991 (SI 1991 No 590)
- The Social Security (Medical Evidence) Regulations 1976 (SI 1976/615)
- The Social Security (Maternity Allowance) (Work Abroad) Regulations 1987 (SI 1987 No 417)
- The Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1987 (SI 1987 No 1968)
- The Social Security (Credits) Regulations 1975 (SI 1975 No 556)
The Regulations may be changed or added to from time to time by Amendment Regulations. Also, each year a set of Uprating Regulations is published which change the benefit rates.
The Law Volumes (Known as the Blue Volumes)
The Stationery Office also publishes a series of loose-leaf books known as the ‘Blue Volumes’. These volumes contain all the Acts and Regulations and are indexed and kept up to date by regular supplements. You can consult a copy at your Jobcentre Plus office. Many libraries also have a copy. You can also view the Acts and Regulations on the DWP website.
The Decision Maker’s Guide and the Social Security Commissioners
The Decision Maker’s Guide
The Decision Maker’s Guide (DMG) gives guidance to decision makers on the interpretation of the law for all benefits. The DMG Volumes 1 to 14 are written by DWP and aim to ensure consistency in decision making throughout the country.
You can consult a copy of the DMG at your Jobcentre Plus office, or view it on the DWP website
The Social Security Commissioners
The role of the Social Security Commissioners is to decide appeals on a point of law from decisions of Appeal Tribunals. Reported decisions of the Commissioners deal with matters of important legal principles and must be followed by decision makers and Appeal Tribunals. They are published by the DWP and are issued as quarterly supplements (these supplements make up into two-year binders) covering all types of benefit.
