Maternity allowance self employed
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I think everyone gets the £25 or whatever the amount is now minimum letter if you're self employed. It's because you pay your taxes retrospectively rather than it being paid monthly from your paycheck. My account said it happens to everyone and you get the letter explaining that if you then pay full voluntary national insurance contributions to bring it up to date then you will get the full amount. I'm submitting my application this week, anxious but hoping it's fairly straightforward. If you meet the criteria you are absolutely entitled to it so definitely apply!
I’ve been waiting weeks for an answer about MA… sent off my form with everything they needed but it seems to take a long time for them to give an answer!! I’m fully paid up with my NI so should hopefully be offered the full amount, if they only give me £25 per week then I will be well and truly screwed as that’s just peanuts!! How can anyone survive on that?! I’m 35w 3d now so hopefully will hear soon… I’m having to pretty much work up to my due date so that I know that I’ve got some money coming in!! X
So to get self employed Mat allowance you have to not be working at all. I'm a sole trader and their £170 or whatever it is isn't enough for me to risk the damage to my business through not working, so I've been back at work since week 2 postpartum. It's absolute bollocks.
I'm a sports massage therapist so I won't be able to work at the same capacity certainly in my last month or so, so just wondering if it's worth actually claiming this or Universal credit. Mental that I've been paying national insurance since age 18 😅
@Kate Houghton I’m in a similar position… I’m a self employed art therapist and what they are offering is absolutely shit compared to what I would make if I’m working as normal however I want that time with my baby when they arrive so I’ve been saving as much as I can over the last 8 months to be able to give me some time. It’s so crap what they offer!! How can anyone survive on £170 per week?! I had never thought about claiming Universal Credit… I think my husband earns too might to be able to do that anyway xx
I've applied and got it without any hassle just have to make sure you pay enough class 2 taxes which was about £60
Iv been claiming but I had a big mess around with it and it took weeks and hours of being on the phone. When you call through it’s around an hours wait. Once it’s sorted and going through its fine At first I had a letter to say I was going to be getting £25 a week so I had to get that sorted as I knew I could get the full amount. It did cause a lot of anxiety for about 4-5 weeks as I thought I was only going to be getting £25 a week.