Guidance

Maternity benefits: technical guidance

Find out about the 2 maternity benefits available under the social security scheme: Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance.

Document

Detail

A guide to the 2 maternity benefits available to women under the social security scheme:

  • Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP)
  • Maternity Allowance (MA)

This includes how the maternity benefits are worked out, the eligibility rules and when these benefits may be paid.

Published:
Updated:

+ full page history

N17A updated to reflect National Insurance contribution changes (NICs) for the self-employed.
Updated to take account of the new Shared Parental Leave and Pay scheme.
Revisions have been published to the Maternity benefits technical guidance to include the introduction on 1 April 2014 of Maternity Allowance for women who are not employed or self-employed, their baby is due on or after 27 July 2014, and they take part in the business of their self-employed spouse or civil partner.
First published.
From:
Department for Work and Pensions
Part of:
DWP detailed benefit guides