Maternity Allowance
Maternity Allowance is usually paid if you do not qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay. You can claim Maternity Allowance as soon as you have been pregnant for 26 weeks. Payments can start 11 weeks before your baby is due.
This information is for people in Northern Ireland. If you live in England, Scotland or Wales, visit GOV.UK.
Eligibility
You could get Maternity Allowance for 39 weeks if one of the following applies:
- you are employed but you can’t get Statutory Maternity Pay
- you are self-employed and pay Class 2 National Insurance (including Voluntary National Insurance) for at least 13 of the 66 weeks before your baby is due - the amount you will get depends on how many Class 2 National Insurance contributions you have paid
- you have recently stopped working
In the 66 weeks before your baby is due, you must also have been:
- employed or self-employed for at least 26 weeks
- earning, or classed as earning, at least £30 a week over any 13 week period – the weeks do not have to be together
You may still qualify if you have recently stopped working. It does not matter if you had different jobs or periods of unemployment.
Use the maternity entitlement calculator to check your eligibility.
If you are self-employed
To get the standard amount of Maternity Allowance (£187.18 a week), you must have paid Class 2 National Insurance contributions for at least 13 of the 66 weeks before your baby is due.
If you have not paid enough Class 2 National Insurance to get the standard rate, you will get between £27 and £187.18 a week for 39 weeks. How much you get will increase with each Class 2 National Insurance contribution you make. You still need to meet all the other eligibility criteria to get this.
If your profits are £6,845 or more a year
From April 2024, Class 2 contributions are treated as having been paid to protect your National Insurance record. This means you do not have to pay Class 2 contributions: However you may need to make voluntary contributions to qualify for the standard rate of Maternity Allowance.
If your profits are more than £12,570 a year, you must pay Class 4 contributions.
If your profits are less than £6,845 a year
You do not have to pay anything but you can choose to pay voluntary Class 2 contributions to avoid gaps in your National Insurance record.
Maternity Allowance for 14 weeks
You could get Maternity Allowance for 14 weeks if for at least 26 weeks in the 66 weeks before your baby is due:
- you are married or in a civil partnership
- you are not employed or self-employed
- you take part in the business of your self-employed spouse or civil partner
- the work you do is for the business and is unpaid
- your spouse or civil partner is registered as self-employed with HMRC and has paid at least 26 Class 2 National Insurance contributions in the test period
- your spouse or civil partner is working as a self-employed person
- you are not eligible for Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance as an employed or self-employed earner for the same pregnancy
If you have not paid enough Class 2 National Insurance
When you make your claim, you will be told if you have not paid enough Class 2 National Insurance, for example, because you are self-employed and have not filed your Self Assessment tax return.
HMRC will then contact you to tell you how to make an early payment.
If you lose the baby
You may still qualify if the baby is either:
- stillborn after 24 full weeks of pregnancy
- born alive at any point during the pregnancy
What you will get
The amount you can get depends on your eligibility.
You could get either:
- £187.18 a week or 90 per cent of your average weekly earnings (whichever is less) for up to 39 weeks
- between £27 and £187.18 a week for 39 weeks - how much you get increases with each Class 2 National Insurance contribution you make
- £27 a week for up to 14 weeks
You can claim Maternity Allowance once you have been pregnant for 26 weeks. Payments can start 11 weeks before your baby is due.
Use the maternity entitlement calculator to check your eligibility.
Effect on benefits and Tax Credits
Maternity Allowance will not affect your Tax Credits but it can affect the following:
- Employment and Support Allowance
- Carer's Allowance
- Housing Benefit/Rate Relief
- Income Support
- Bereavement benefits
- Jobseeker's Allowance – this will stop if you get Maternity Allowance
- Universal Credit
If you get Universal Credit
Your Universal Credit payment will be reduced by an amount equal to your Maternity Allowance payment.
You may get an extra amount of Universal Credit for your children (whether you get Maternity Allowance or not).
Report a change on your Universal Credit account if you start getting Maternity Allowance.
The Benefit Cap limits the amount of benefit that most people aged 16 to 64 can get. Some individual benefits are not affected but it may affect the total amount of benefit you get.
How to claim
You can claim Maternity Allowance when you have been pregnant for 26 weeks.
Download and complete a Maternity Allowance MA1 claim form. You can also ask for a MA1 claim form from Maternity Allowance
You will need to provide:
- proof of your income for example original payslips
- proof of the baby’s due date on your MATB1 certificate - if this isn't available, you can provide a letter from your doctor or midwife
- your SMP1 form but only if you were refused Statutory Maternity Pay by your employer
- information about your partner’s self-employed business and your role in it, if you are applying for Maternity Allowance for 14 weeks
- a birth certificate, if you are claiming after the baby is born and the date of birth is not on the MATB1
- a certificate of stillbirth if the baby is stillborn
- your marriage certificate if you are involved in your spouse’s or civil partner’s self-employed business
When you will hear about your claim
The average time for deciding a claim is 35 working days.
If you are eligible, you will receive a form confirming your entitlement and asking you to confirm your last day of employment before your maternity leave began.
Contact details
For more information, contact Maternity Allowance or your local Jobs & Benefits office.
How you will be paid
All benefits, pensions and allowances are paid into an account, such as a bank account.
Maternity Allowance is paid either every two or four weeks.
SMS messages
When claiming Maternity Allowance you may receive text messages (SMS) from the Department for Communities (DfC). They will always be clearly marked as DfC and will never ask you to give, or click a link to give, personal information or financial details by message or email.
If you are concerned or unsure about any text messages (SMS) you receive from about Maternity Allowance you should contact Maternity Allowance directly. If you suspect you have received a fraudulent message as a scam, contact Maternity Allowance immediately.
- Further information is available at: scamwiseni
If your circumstances change
It is important you tell Maternity Allowance if your circumstances change as this can affect how much you get, for example, if you go back to work.
How to appeal
If you are refused Maternity Allowance or if you have any queries about your payment, you can ask Maternity Allowance to look again at their decision.
If you are still not satisfied with the outcome, you can appeal.