Fillable Printable Maternity Allowance Form - UK
Fillable Printable Maternity Allowance Form - UK
Maternity Allowance Form - UK
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please contact the DWP Online helpdesk.
Phone: 0345 604 3349
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Email: [email protected]
Opening hours:
Monday to Friday: 8.00am - 6.00pm
Closed on all Public and Bank Holidays.
For help and advice on the information you need to put on the
form, or about the benefit you want to claim, contact the office
that deals with the benefit.
•
Help if you are expecting a baby and
you are or have been
– employed but cannot get Statutory
Maternity Pay, or
– self employed, or
– not employed or self-employed, but
you take part in the business of your
self-employed spouse or civil partner.
Notes sheet
Maternity Allowance
MA1 Notes 04/15
These notes give general guidance only
and should not be treated as a complete
and authoritative statement of the law.
Please keep these notes for your
information, do not return them
with your MA1 claim form.
2
What is Maternity Allowance?
Maternity Allowance (MA) is a social security benefit
that you may be able to get around the time your baby
is due.
•
It is paid every 2 weeks or every 4 weeks in arrears.
•
It is paid for a period of up to 39 weeks if you
– are employed or self-employed, or
– have recently been employed or self-employed.
The period we pay MA for is called the Maternity
Allowance Period (MAP).
•
It is paid for a period of up to 14 weeks if you are
not employed or self-employed, but you take part in
activities related to the business of your self-
employed spouse or civil partner. The period we pay
this MA for is called the 14 week period.
Who can get Maternity Allowance?
You may be able to get Maternity
Allowance (MA) for 39 weeks if
•
you are not entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay
(SMP) from any of your employers
Your employer must give you a form SMP1 which
says why you cannot get SMP. If you have more
than one employer each one must give you an
SMP1. Send us the SMP1 from each employer.
You may not be able to get Statutory Maternity Pay
because
– you were not employed in the 15th week before
the week your baby is due, or
– you have not been employed by the same
employer for long enough, or
– you have not been earning enough.
3
Who can get Maternity Allowance? continued
and
•
you have been employed or self-employed for at least
26 weeks in the 66 weeks before the week you expect
to have your baby
and
•
your average gross weekly earnings are at least £30 a
week for 13 weeks in your Test Period
or
•
we have treated you as having earnings of £30 a week
in the Test Period
and
•
you have stopped work to have your baby.
See page 5 for more information about the Test Period.
If you are employed, we may check the information you
have given us with your employer.
By employer we mean the person or organisation who pays
the employer’s share of Class 1 National Insurance (NI)
contributions. We still call them an employer, even if they
don’t pay Class 1 NI contributions because of an employee’s
age or level of earnings.
We call you employed even if you are an agency worker, if
•
you pay Class 1 NI contributions on your earnings, or
•
you would pay Class 1 NI contributions, but you do not
because of your age or level of earnings.
To find out more about your gross weekly earnings, see
•
page 9 if you are employed, or
•
page 10 if you are self-employed.
You do not have to be a UK citizen to get MA.
If you have worked, you may be able to get MA.
People who are self-employed are required by law to
register their self-employment with HM Revenue & Customs
(HMRC) according to HMRC rules. If you do not register or
register late, you may lose some or all of your MA.
4
Who can get Maternity Allowance? continued
You may be able to get MA for 14 weeks if
for at least 26 weeks during your Test Period:
•
you must have been taking part in activities related
to the business of your self-employed spouse or
civil partner, and
• for the same 26 weeks
you must be, or have been
married to or in a civil partnership with the same
self-employed person, and
•
you must not be a partner in or an employee of the
business of your spouse or civil partner, and
• you must not be employed or self-employed in any
other occupation.
If your baby is due before 12 July 2015,
for the same
26 weeks during your Test Period your spouse or civil
partner must have been
• registered as self-employed with HM Revenue and
Customs and have paid Class 2 NI contributions, and
• working as a self-employed earner.
If your baby is due on or after 12 July 2015, for the
same 26 weeks during your Test Period your spouse or
civil partner must have been
• registered as self-employed and have paid Class 2
NI contributions, and
• working as a self-employed earner in their business.
Also, to get this MA you must not be entitled to or
receiving
• SMP from a current or former employer for the same
pregnancy, or
• MA for 39 weeks for the same pregnancy.
5
Who can get Maternity Allowance? continued
By taking part in activities related to the business we
mean carrying out the same or ancillary tasks which
support the business of your self-employed spouse or
civil partner.
People who are self-employed are required by law to
register their self-employment with HMRC according to
HMRC rules.
If your self-employed spouse or civil partner has not
registered with HMRC or registers late, you may lose
some or all of your MA.
If your baby is due on or after 12 July 2015
We may need to contact your spouse or civil partner
about paying Class 2 NI contributions. You can ask us
not to contact them, but if they have not paid enough
Class 2 NI contributions to entitle you to MA, we may
not be able to pay you MA.
Test Period
The 66 weeks before the week you expect to have
your baby is known as your Test Period. We work out
your Test Period from the date your baby is due, not
the actual date of birth.
Please refer to the Test Period table in this pack or at
www.gov.uk/maternity-allowance/how-to-claim to
identify the Test Period that applies to you.
6
When to claim Maternity Allowance
The earliest you can claim is at the start of the
14th week before the week your baby is due.
Even if you are still working or taking part in the
business of your self-employed spouse or civil partner,
claim as soon as you can after the start of the 14th
week before the week your baby is due. We will
contact you later to find out the date when you
stop work.
Do not sign and date the MA1 claim form earlier than
the 14th week before the week your baby is due.
If your baby is born early
Claim straight away after your baby is born. Your test
period will not change.
Time limit for claims
You must claim within 3 months of the date your
Maternity Allowance Period or 14 week period is due to
start. If you delay, you will lose money.
Your expected date of childbirth
•
If you are claiming before your baby is born
This date is in Part A of your Maternity Certificate
MAT B1. Childbirth is called confinement on the
certificate. You can get this certificate from your
doctor or midwife from the 21st week of your
pregnancy.
•
If you are claiming after your baby is born
Send us your MAT B1 completed at Part B. If Part A
has not been completed, you must send us your
baby’s birth certificate.
•
If your baby was stillborn
Please send in the notification of stillbirth issued by
the attending midwife or doctor or the certificate of
stillbirth issued by the registrar.
7
When we pay Maternity Allowance
Your Maternity Allowance Period or 14 week period will
start on the Sunday of the 11th week before the week
you expect to have your baby, if at this time you are not:
•
employed or self employed, or
•
taking part in the business of your self-employed
spouse or civil partner.
If you are still employed or self-employed on
or after the 11th week before the week you
expect to have your baby
You can choose when you want your MA to start. You can
choose any day after you have stopped work to have
your baby. This means that your MA can start from the
first day of your maternity leave.
You can also choose to start your MA later than the date
your maternity leave starts. But the latest date your MA
can start is the day after the birth of your baby.
If you are getting SSP from your employer, your SSP must
stop when your MA starts. You must tell your employer
the date that your MAP will start.
If you are still taking part in the business of
your self-employed spouse or civil partner on
or after the 11th week before the week you
expect to have your baby
If you are still taking part in the business of your
self-employed spouse or civil partner on or after the 11th
week before the week you expect to have your baby, your
MA will start on the day after you stop taking part.
If you give birth earlier than expected
If you give birth earlier than expected and your MA has
not yet started, you must tell Jobcentre Plus straight
away. This is because your MA will start automatically on
the day after the birth. Details of how to contact
Jobcentre Plus are on page 13.
8
When we pay Maternity Allowance continued
If you give birth to a stillborn child
If your baby is stillborn from the start of the 24th week
of pregnancy you must tell Jobcentre Plus straight away.
This is because MA will start the day after the birth.
Details of how to contact Jobcentre Plus are on page 12.
If you are off work because of your
pregnancy on or after the 4th week before
the week your baby is due
Your MA must start if you are on maternity leave on or
after the 4th week before the week your baby is due.
Your MA will start automatically on the day after the
first day you are absent from work for this reason in this
4 week period.
If you are sick just before you get MA
Your MA must start if you are sick because of your
pregnancy at any time in the 4 weeks before the week
your baby is due and you
•
are absent from work, or
•
stop taking part in activities related to the business of
your self employed spouse or civil partner.
Your MA will start automatically on the day after the
first day you are sick and absent from work or taking
part in activities related to the business of your self-
employed spouse or civil partner for this reason in this
4 week period.
If you were getting any Statutory Sick Pay (SSP),
Employment and Support Allowance or
Incapacity Benefit, it will stop.
If you and your employer disagree about whether you
are sick because of your pregnancy, get in touch with
Jobcentre Plus. Details of how to contact Jobcentre Plus
are on page 13.
9
If you are employed
We use the earnings rule to work out your
Maternity Allowance.
The earnings rule means that you must earn at least £30
a week on average. We average your gross earnings over
any 13 weeks in your Test Period. The 13 weeks do not
have to be in a row.
By gross earnings, we mean the amount of money your
employer pays you before anything is taken off. For
example, income tax or National Insurance contributions.
To work out your average gross weekly earnings, we will
add together your gross earnings from each of the
13 weeks in which you earned the most. We then divide
the total by 13.
We need to see original payslips for the 13 weeks you
choose. Send in your weekly payslips or, if you are not
paid weekly, send us payslips covering at least the 13
weeks in which you earned the most in your Test Period.
For example, if you are paid monthly, send us at least
4 months’ payslips and we will work out how much you
earn each week.
If you had more than one job in any of the weeks you
have chosen, send us the payslips from all the jobs.
We will return them to you.
If you do not have your original payslips you can ask your
employer to give you copies of them, or you can ask for a
statement from your employer to cover your chosen
weeks.
The amount of Maternity Allowance you get will be either
the standard rate of MA or 90% of your average gross
weekly earnings. You will get the amount which is the
lower of the two.
How we work out how much
Maternity Allowance you get
