NI17A - A guide to Maternity Benefits
Maternity Allowance (MA)
MA and other benefits
While you are receiving MA you will not be entitled to Jobseeker’s Allowance. You may still be entitled to benefits such as Income Support, but the amount you get will be reduced by the amount of MA.
Statutory Sick Pay
Most people who work for an employer and earn enough on average to equal or exceed the National Insurance lower earnings limit (LEL) get Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) from their employer when they are unable to work due to illness or disability. The LEL is £107 a week for the tax year 2012/13 and £109 a week for the tax year 2013/14. But you are not entitled to SSP if you are sick while you are getting MA.
If you are still employed at the start of the 11th week before the week in which the baby is due and are sick for 4 days or more in a row, you may be able to get SSP for periods of sickness up to the day before MA is due to start. (But see below if you are off sick because of your pregnancy in the 4 weeks before the week your baby is due).
If your MA has not started and you become sick with a pregnancy related illness in the 4 weeks before the week your baby is due, you will not be able to get SSP. Your MA must start instead. But if you do not think your illness is pregnancy related, ask your employer to look again at the decision not to pay you SSP. If you are still not satisfied, contact HM Revenue & Customs Statutory Payments Disputes Team on 0191 225 5221.
More information is available on the GOV.UK
- Statutory Sick Pay (GOV.UK)
If you are employed after your baby is born and after your Maternity Allowance Period (MAP) ends, you may be able to get SSP if you become sick. You do not actually have to have returned to work. If you cannot get SSP, your employer must give you form SSP1 so that you can claim Incapacity Benefit instead.
Employment and Support Allowance
If you are ill when your MA ends and you cannot get Statutory Sick Pay from your employer, or you no longer have an employer, you may claim Employment and Support Allowance.
If you are entitled to more than one benefit at the same time (for example, MA and Employment and Support Allowance) you will normally get an amount equal to the greater.
More information on Employment and Support Allowance is available at GOV.UK
- Employment and Support Allowance (GOV.UK)
Jobseeker’s Allowance
If you are getting Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), tell the office paying it about your MA claim, because you cannot get JSA as well as MA.
If you are getting JSA and qualify for MA, your MAP automatically starts at the beginning of the 11th week before the week in which the baby is due. That is when your JSA will stop.
Income Support or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
Income Support or income-based JSA paid to you or to your partner will be reduced by the amount of MA. So you must tell Jobcentre Plus when you make a claim for MA.
How other benefits and payments affect MA
Your MA may be reduced, or not paid at all, if you get another social security benefit or a training allowance (including an allowance under the Youth Training Scheme).
Occupational maternity pay, payment in kind or any other payments made to you by your employer will not affect the payments of your MA. But remember that you cannot get MA if your employer pays SMP to you.
