How do I claim maternity pay

If you are employed by an employer and then become pregnant, you may be in the position to claim Statutory Maternity Pay from the employer. The employer will have processes in place which will detail how the payments will be made. In the majority of cases employees will be able to claim 12 months maternity pay, in the majority of cases it will be 6 months full pay and then 6 months half pay. Different organisations have different policies in place and this is worth considering.
In situation where statutory maternity pay from an employer is not applicable some people may be in the position to claim Maternity Allowance through the Jobcentre Plus.
Maternity Allowance is available to people who are employed but not eligible for statutory maternity pay, people who are registered as self employed and paying class 2 national insurance contribution or hold a small earnings exception certificate and to people who have very recently become employed or self employed. People may also be eligible if they have been employed or self employed for at least 26 weeks in a test period and if they earned 30 a week averaged over any 13 weeks in the test period.
There is a standard payment amount for Maternity Allowance, this is 124.88 or 90 per cent of the average gross weekly earnings before tax, which is the smallest. The payment is paid for a maximum period of 39 weeks and no longer. The amount which is paid will depend on the gross average weekly earnings or the amount that is treated as earnings from self employment. In some cases extra payments may be able to be claimed for a husband, civil partner or someone else who looks after children if this person is on a very low income.
The maternity allowance is paid either every two weeks or every four weeks directly into a bank account or building society. The earliest which the payment can be claimed from id the 11th week before the week the baby is due, the latest it can be claimed is from the day following the childs birth.
The maternity allowance can be claimed form the 26th week of pregnancy. In order to claim a MA1 form must be completed, this can be obtained from the Jobcentre Plus or downloaded from the DWP website. If you are employed but not entitled to statutory maternity pay the employer must provide the employee with a SMP1 form, if there are multiple employers this will be required from each. Medical evidence to prove the pregnancy will also be required, this is normally on the maternity certificate, form MATB1 which is provided by a doctor or midwife no earlier than 20 weeks before the baby is due. Proof of earnings will also need to be supplied, this may mean supplying wage slips or P60s.