Self employed and told I only get £27 per week in Maternity Allowance: ask the expert

I’m self employed and have held a small earnings certificate, but have been paying voluntary Class 2 NI contributions since March this year. My baby is due on the 7th December. I’ve worked continuously self employed for the last four years and only cancelled the certificate yesterday when I received a letter from the maternity allowance saying I was only entitled to £27 per week. Will I be entitled to the full amount of Maternity Allowance or a reduced rate?

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The Small earnings exemption certificate for Class 2 NI is for those people who are under the NI earnings threshold. One of the nasty and unfair loopholes is that it appears that the Certificate protects your pension entitlement, but not your Maternity Allowance. If you hold an Exemption Certificate and claim MA then it is reduced to £27 per week .

In this case, I am not sure what will happen. I would have thought that you paying the NI contributions voluntarily will give you a good chance of arguing your case. I would speak to the NI Contributions Office in Newcastle rather than the local Job Centre and see if they can clarify.

Comments [1]

Anonymous says:

3rd February 2015

Hi I've been turned down from maternity allowance and I've worked 30 weeks while pregnant in cleaning as self employed is true I've paid nino after I've been turned down what I need to now is if I could try again to claim it my baby is 10 months already do I have a chance what I should do? Thanks.

Editor: I'm afraid MA can only be backdated up to three months after the birth. Have you checked http://www.turn2us.org.uk to see if there is any other financial support you can access? They have an online calculator that will tell you what you are entitled to.

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