Maternity Allowance

I believe you need to have worked at least 20 weeks during your pregnancy and earnt above a certain amount to get you start a statutory maternity pay from the government. You might not have worked at your new job long enough for them to top you up the rest of the pay you would normally be getting from them. If I were you I’d go on the government website which has calculator’s and everything to work everything out for you. You can play around on that. It only counts when you submit the form

I was exactly the same.
You will qualify for maternity allowance, it’s around 172 a week for 39 weeks.

Dead easy to apply for, you get the form online then post it with pay slips, mat b1 form and another form that i can’t remember the name of that your new employer fills in to confirm you don’t qualify for statutory.

They got back to me around 2 weeks later with a form to send when my maternity leave started, as that ended up being super early for me I’ve sent that and assume payments will start soon!

https://www.gov.uk/maternity-allowance

Yes, you’ll need to claim SMA yourself via the government website rather than your company doing it for you, it’s 39 weeks at £172.48 a week and 13 weeks unpaid. The only part you miss out on from SMP is the 6 weeks at 90% at the beginning (and any company specific enhanced maternity pay). You’ll need your mat b1 form to apply and you should get a response in around 6-8 weeks (sometimes much quicker) xx

Thank you ladies! Obviously absolutely gutted I’ll miss out on company and statutory Mat leave as this is more money and a bit easier. But if you’re saying it’s easy to apply for then that does put my mind at ease, as I was considering deferring my start date at my new job. I had read somewhere Mat allowance was for only 13 weeks but I think in the panic I read that wrong and that would be the last 13 weeks unpaid which is the standard across the board.
I had better get saving then. Thanks again ♥️

Hi, I might be having to apply for maternity allowance too, I’m 28 weeks. I’m just wondering when are you meant to apply? Thankss

I applied at around 28 weeks I think. You can apply at any point after 26 weeks

as Charlotte said I believe it’s after 26 weeks and I’d be inclined to do it as soon as you can just to get it locked in but even if you were to do it after birth they will back date it for you so don’t miss out :)