Maternity allowance how much per week

To start calculating your maternity pay entitlement, the first step is to work out your expected week of childbirth and your qualifying week. These weeks always begins on a Sunday and end on a Saturday. Your expected week of childbirth is the week of your estimated due date. It begins on the Sunday before your due date, and ends on the Saturday after your due date.

If your due date is on a Sunday, your expected week of childbirth begins on the same day. It does not matter if you plan have the child earlier or later than your due date e. Your qualifying week is the 15th week before your estimated week of childbirth. To work our your qualifying week, count 15 weeks back from the first day of your expected week of childbirth.

To have worked for long enough to get Statutory Maternity Pay SMP , you need to have worked for the same employer continuously for 26 weeks by the end of the qualifying week. This usually means that you became pregnant after you started working with your employer. To calculate this date, count back 26 weeks from the last day of your qualifying week Saturday.

Earnings are gross and include wages, overtime, commission and bonuses. It can also include Statutory Sick Pay, maternity pay, or any other statutory family pay e.

The reference period is the eight weeks ending before the end of the qualifying week. For monthly-paid employees, normal earnings are those in the last two pay slips before the end of the qualifying week.

For weekly-paid employees, the last eight pay slips before the end of the qualifying week are taken into account. If you are paid monthly , you must add together the two payslips, and divide by two.

Then multiply by 12 to get an annual figure, which you then divide by 52 to get a weekly figure. Get in touch online or over the phone on Benefits if you have children Entitlements to help with the cost of pregnancy or bringing up children.

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Losing your job What to do, alternatives, redundancy pay. If you are self-employed, you must be registered with HMRC. If you do not register or you register late, you may not qualify for MA. If you were employed in the 15th week before your baby is due, you will need form SMP1 from your employer which sets out why you do not qualify for SMP.

If you have more than one employer, all earnings will count when working out the average. Your earnings are averaged over any 13 weeks in your test period. The 13 weeks do not have to be in a row and you may choose the weeks with the most earnings to help you get more MA. You can also qualify for MA for 14 weeks on the basis of unpaid work. To prove your earnings, they will ask you for 13 original payslips if paid weekly or 4 payslips if paid monthly.

You can pay Class 2 NICs early and on a voluntary basis in order to get the the flat rate. You can add earnings from different jobs, and from employment and self-employment, together in order to qualify for the flat rate. An easy and quick way to find out what MA you are entitled to is to use the Government Calculator , or you can read our article on Calculating maternity pay.

You will need to provide a certificate from your midwife giving the expected date of birth of your child a form MAT B1 and other supporting evidence. If you are or have recently been employed but that your employer or ex-employer has decided you are not entitled to SMP, it should give you form SMP1 explaining why and you should send it to the DWP to support your claim. The earliest you claim will be accepted is the 15th week before your baby is due around week 26 of your pregnancy.

Payments can start up to 11 weeks before the baby is due, and you can choose when your leave and pay should start. Do not wait for too long to claim MA.