Maternity Allowance

Maternity Allowance is a benefit paid by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to women who are pregnant or have recently given birth but cannot get Statutory Maternity Pay from an employer. You could get it if you are employed but your employer will not pay Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), if you are self-employed, if you have recently stopped working, or if you do unpaid work for the business of your spouse or civil partner¹. It is paid for up to 39 weeks at £194.32 a week, or 90% of your average weekly earnings if that is less, for the period April 2026 to April 2027¹.

The one group excluded is women who are getting, or are going to get, SMP from a current or former employer for the same pregnancy: you cannot get Maternity Allowance as well³. If your employer refuses SMP, it must give you form SMP1 explaining why, and that form becomes part of your Maternity Allowance claim⁴. Maternity Allowance does not have to be paid back if you decide not to return to work after your maternity leave⁵.

If you do not qualify for either SMP or Maternity Allowance, you may be able to get Employment and Support Allowance instead, and Jobcentre Plus will check this automatically once you have claimed Maternity Allowance, without a separate application⁶. Maternity benefits such as SMP and Maternity Allowance are based on length of employment and earnings and are not classed as public funds, which matters for people whose immigration status carries a "no recourse to public funds" condition⁷.

What Maternity Allowance is and who it is for

Maternity Allowance sits behind SMP in the order of entitlement. SMP is paid by the employer and depends on having been with the same employer long enough and earning enough; Maternity Allowance is paid by the DWP and depends on your work and earnings across the 66 weeks before your baby is due, not on any single employer¹. That is why it covers people SMP misses: the self-employed, who cannot claim SMP at all, women who changed jobs or started work too recently to qualify, women who became unemployed before the birth, and women who were employed but earned too little in the qualifying period¹.

You cannot receive Maternity Allowance and SMP for the same pregnancy³. You can, however, receive Maternity Allowance together with an occupational maternity pay scheme run by your employer, if you qualify for both: the employer may deduct any SMP or Maternity Allowance you are eligible for from the occupational payment, but if it says nothing, you are entitled to both the occupational maternity pay and the DWP's Maternity Allowance¹⁰.

Maternity Allowance is not taxed and no National Insurance is deducted from it¹⁰, but it is not free money on top of everything else: it counts in full as income for means-tested benefits, is deducted pound for pound from Universal Credit, and is included in the Benefit Cap¹¹. It also does not have to be repaid if you decide not to return to work⁵. In Northern Ireland the benefit works the same way but claims are handled by the Department for Communities, and the guidance and claim form notes are published on the nidirect site³.

Who qualifies: 26 weeks of work in the 66-week test period

The work test looks at the 66 weeks before the week your baby is due, a window known as the Test Period, worked out from the due date rather than the actual date of birth³. Within that window you must have been employed or self-employed for at least 26 weeks⁸. The weeks do not have to be consecutive, and they do not all have to be with the same employer or in the same job⁴.

If you are employed, there is also an earnings test: you must have gross earnings of at least £30 a week on average³. Independent guides describe this as earning at least £30 a week for 13 weeks of your employment¹⁰. Where your earnings vary, the amount of Maternity Allowance is worked out from the 13 weeks in which you earned the most, so sending in payslips for those 13 weeks is how you reach the maximum award⁴.

Agency and zero hours work counts. You are treated as employed in any week in which you have a contract with an agency or a zero hours contract¹⁰. Agency workers can count each week in which they worked all or part of a week in the 66 weeks before the expected week of childbirth, including weeks when they were available for work but none was offered, agreed annual leave, and absence due to pregnancy-related illness¹⁰. Agency, casual and other workers are not entitled to maternity leave unless their contract gives it, but they may qualify for maternity pay under the normal rules¹⁰.

You can also claim if you are unemployed before the birth, as long as you were employed or self-employed for at least 26 weeks in the 66 weeks before the expected week of childbirth¹⁰. If you do not qualify for either SMP or Maternity Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance may be available, and a Maternity Allowance claim triggers that check automatically⁶.

How much you get: up to £194.32 a week

For April 2026 to April 2027 the standard rate is £194.32 a week, or 90% of your average gross weekly earnings if that is smaller². The same £194.32 weekly rate applies to SMP, Statutory Paternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay, Statutory Shared Parental Pay, Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay and Statutory Neonatal Care Pay². Unlike SMP, which pays 90% of full pay for the first six weeks, Maternity Allowance is paid at the flat rate for the whole 39 weeks, or at 90% of average earnings throughout if that is less¹².

The rates are uprated in April most years, a process known as "yearly uprates", so the figure in force depends on when your Maternity Allowance period begins³. The April uprating page explains how benefit rates are changed each year.

Self-employed claimants who have not paid enough Class 2 National Insurance for the standard rate get between £27.00 and £194.32 a week, depending on their contributions⁸. A claimant treated as having earnings of £30 a week, because they have fewer than 13 weeks of Class 2 contributions in the test period, is entitled to £27 a week¹³. The table shows how the main routes compare.

Tax and National Insurance are not deducted from Maternity Allowance¹⁰. It is, though, taken into account in full as income for all means-tested benefits and is included in the Benefit Cap¹¹.

Self-employed claimants and Class 2 National Insurance

Self-employed claimants face two conditions. First, they must have registered with HMRC as gainfully self-employed in the UK for at least 26 of the 66 weeks before the baby's due date¹⁴. Second, the standard rate depends on Class 2 National Insurance: with at least 13 weeks of Class 2 contributions paid, or treated as paid, in the test period, you are treated as earning at least £194.32 a week and get the standard rate; with none, you get the lower rate; with fewer than 13 weeks, the amount is worked out from what was paid³.

Class 2 contributions are normally paid for each week in which you are both self-employed and have relevant profits at or above the small profits threshold¹⁵. If your profits are below that threshold, or you have simply missed payments, you can pay Class 2 contributions voluntarily in order to qualify for the standard rate¹⁰. If the required contributions are missing when you claim, HMRC will send a Class 2 payment request covering the weeks needed to qualify¹⁶. From April 2026, self-employed people pay tax and Class 2 National Insurance through the Making Tax Digital system¹³.

The 14-week rate for spouses and civil partners who help in a business

A separate route exists for women who work unpaid in their spouse's or civil partner's business. You can get the lower rate of Maternity Allowance, £27.00 a week, for up to 14 weeks if, for at least 26 weeks in the 66 weeks before the baby is due, you did unpaid work for the business, you were not employed or self-employed, you were married to or in a civil partnership with the same self-employed person, and you are not a partner in or employee of the business³. Your spouse or civil partner must be registered as self-employed with HMRC and must have paid at least 26 Class 2 National Insurance contributions in the test period⁸.

This route is narrower than the main one in every dimension: the rate is £27.00 rather than up to £194.32, the duration is 14 weeks rather than 39, and there are no keeping in touch days, so any work done during the 14-week period can lose money³. It exists because unpaid work in a family business builds no National Insurance record and earns no wages, so without it a woman in that position would have no maternity payment at all.

When payments start and how long they last

Payments can start any time between the 11th week before your baby is due and the day after the baby is born¹. The earliest you can be paid is 11 weeks before the week the baby is due, and you choose when within that window the Maternity Allowance period begins, usually when your maternity leave starts³. For employed, self-employed and recently stopped claimants the payment period runs for up to 39 weeks¹.

Maternity Allowance is paid every 2 or 4 weeks, directly into your bank or building society account, or through the Payment Exception Service if you cannot open or manage one of those accounts¹⁷.

If your baby is born early, the test period is still worked out from the original due date, not the actual date of birth³. A separate rule in the Maternity Allowance Regulations sets an 18-week allowance period for women who were not entitled at the 11th week before the expected week of confinement but became entitled later, before the birth, once they had stopped work¹⁸. If you want to end your Maternity Allowance period so an employed partner can take shared parental leave and pay, you must give the DWP at least 8 weeks' notice³.

How to claim Maternity Allowance

You can apply as soon as you have been pregnant for 26 weeks¹. The claim form notes give the earliest claim point as the start of the 14th week before the week the baby is due³; independent guides describe the earliest claim as 14 weeks, and in one place 15 weeks, before the due date¹⁰. Whichever marker you use, claiming at 26 weeks of pregnancy is the safe course, because a late claim can only be backdated for a maximum of three months⁹.

The claim is made on form MA1, which you can download or request by post, or you can phone Jobcentre Plus on 0800 169 0283²⁰. Employed claimants must send the original MAT B1 maternity certificate from their doctor or midwife, an original or certified SMP1 form from each employer that refused SMP, and original or certified payslips for the 13 weeks of highest earnings within the test period³. Regulations amended in April 2026 mean a copy of the MAT B1 is now accepted, so the original document is no longer required¹⁰. Self-employed claimants complete the same MA1 form and send the MAT B1, but need no proof of earnings, because the DWP checks the National Insurance record¹⁰.

The average time for deciding a claim is 35 working days⁸. If you have heard nothing in that time, contact the Maternity Allowance claims team on 0800 169 0283¹⁰.

Working while you get it: up to 10 keeping in touch days

If you are employed or self-employed, you can work for up to 10 days during your Maternity Allowance period without losing any of the payment³. These are known as keeping in touch days. The limit is 10 days in total across all your work, not 10 days per employer, and any day on which you do some work, even half an hour, uses up one of the 10 days²¹.

Go beyond 10 days and you lose some of your entitlement: Jobcentre Plus decides how much, calculated at least for the number of days worked in excess of 10²². If you use up your 10 days or go back to work early, contact the Maternity Allowance claims team to stop payment; the 39-week period continues to run regardless¹⁰. Claimants receiving the 14-week spouse rate get no keeping in touch days at all, and may lose money for any work done during the 14-week period³.

The position is different for women on SMP, who can work up to 10 keeping in touch days for one or more employers without their maternity leave or pay stopping, and are paid by the employer for those days²³. The comparison page on Maternity Allowance vs Statutory Maternity Pay sets the two schemes side by side.

Maternity Allowance counts in full against Universal Credit

Maternity Allowance is treated as "unearned income" for Universal Credit and is deducted in full, pound for pound, from your Universal Credit award²⁴. If you receive £842 per month in Maternity Allowance, for example, £842 is deducted from your monthly Universal Credit¹⁰. Your Universal Credit payment is reduced by an amount equal to your Maternity Allowance payment⁸.

This treatment is harsher than SMP's, and the difference is structural: SMP is treated as earnings for Universal Credit and is partly disregarded under the work allowance if you have a child or limited capability for work, whereas Maternity Allowance, as unearned income, gets no disregard at all²⁴. A household claiming Universal Credit is therefore not better off in benefit terms for receiving Maternity Allowance rather than nothing, though the payment still counts as income for everything else and may keep a claim alive during a period of no wages.

Two mitigations exist. If you get Maternity Allowance and Universal Credit at the same time and have older children who were in childcare before you started receiving it, you can keep getting help with those childcare costs while on maternity leave¹¹. And receiving Maternity Allowance brings Class 3 National Insurance credits, which protect your State Pension record²⁵; if you take unpaid maternity leave you can also get Class 3 credits by claiming Child Benefit, though those count for pension purposes only, not for contribution-based benefits such as ESA¹⁰.

Shared parental pay: what the partner of someone on Maternity Allowance can get

Shared parental leave and pay lets a working partner take some of the mother's leave. The employed partner must live with you, have worked for the same employer for more than 26 weeks by the time the baby is due, and earn more than £123 a week before tax²⁶. A birth parent qualifies for Statutory Shared Parental Pay if she qualifies for SMP, or her partner qualifies for SMP or Maternity Allowance²⁷.

For self-employed mothers the position is one-sided: a self-employed mother claiming Maternity Allowance is not entitled to take shared parental leave or Statutory Shared Parental Pay herself, but her employed partner may be, because her Maternity Allowance award is what unlocks his eligibility²⁸. The employed partner is entitled to 52 weeks of shared parental leave less any weeks of Maternity Allowance taken, and 39 weeks of Statutory Shared Parental Pay less any weeks of Maternity Allowance taken¹³. To make the swap work, the mother must claim her Maternity Allowance on time and give at least 8 weeks' notice to the DWP to end her Maternity Allowance period¹³.

There is currently no equivalent of Maternity Allowance for self-employed fathers or partners who want to take time off following the birth of their child²⁹. The rules on challenging a decision apply if a shared parental pay award is refused.

If your baby is stillborn or dies

The entitlement survives baby loss in defined circumstances. You may still get Maternity Allowance if the baby dies or is stillborn after the start of the 24th week of the pregnancy, or was born alive at any point during the pregnancy³. Independent guidance puts the same rule as stillbirth after the end of the 24th week, with the normal qualifying conditions still applying¹³.

If your baby is born alive but does not survive, you are able to take full maternity leave and Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance²². The same 24-week rule applies to SMP: you can still get it if your child is stillborn after your 24th week of pregnancy, or if they die after being born¹⁹. Maternity Allowance does not have to be paid back in these circumstances, and claims already in payment continue on the normal timetable⁵.

Challenging a decision: mandatory reconsideration and appeal

If you disagree with a decision on your Maternity Allowance claim, you can ask for a written statement of reasons, ask for the decision to be looked at again, and appeal³⁰. The time limits are strict³⁰. A mandatory reconsideration, the formal review by the DWP, should normally be requested within 28 days of the decision, or as soon as you are able; late requests can be accepted up to 13 months with good reasons for the delay¹³. If you are refused because you were on maternity leave during the 66-week test period, you can telephone the Maternity Allowance claims team on 0800 169 0283 and ask for a mandatory reconsideration within 28 days, or as soon as possible⁴.

If you still disagree after the reconsideration, you can appeal to a First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement) within 28 days of receiving the mandatory reconsideration decision¹⁰. The pages on mandatory reconsideration vs a tribunal appeal and appealing to a tribunal explain each stage in detail.

Special cases: armed forces families overseas

One group can fall outside Maternity Allowance altogether: families posted abroad. If your spouse or civil partner is a serving member of His Majesty's Armed Forces, you live outside the European Economic Area and the UK has no reciprocal agreement with that country, you may not get Maternity Allowance³. Instead, you might be able to get an Ex-Gratia payment from the Ministry of Defence, which stands in lieu of the benefit³¹.

The Ex-Gratia scheme mirrors the Maternity Allowance work test: you must have worked at least 26 weeks during the 66 weeks before the baby's due date, the same "test period" as the benefit it replaces³¹. Guidance on social security abroad covers how UK benefits interact with other countries' systems more generally¹⁵.

Where to get free help

Several charities give free, specialist advice on maternity pay and benefits. Maternity Action publishes advice sheets on maternity pay questions, self-employed parents' rights, shared parental leave and rights after baby loss, and runs an advice line¹⁰. Turn2us has a free benefits calculator and step-by-step guides on Maternity Allowance, from eligibility through claiming to challenging a decision¹¹. Gingerbread supports single parents, including on time off around a new baby²², and in Northern Ireland Advice NI provides free advice on benefits and maternity grants³². For a full check of what your household could claim, the page on checking your entitlement lists the free calculators and advisers. New parents on a low income may also qualify for the Sure Start Maternity Grant, a one-off payment to help buy maternity and baby items³².