Maternity Allowance
What you'll get
Use the maternity entitlement calculator to work out how much you could get.
If you’re employed or have recently stopped working
You’ll get £187.18 a week or 90% of your average weekly earnings (whichever is less) for up to 39 weeks if you’re employed or have recently stopped working.
You can get Maternity Allowance for up to 39 weeks. This means if you take the full 52 weeks Statutory Maternity Leave, your final 13 weeks will be unpaid.
If you’re self-employed
You can get between £27 to £187.18 a week for up to 39 weeks if you’re self-employed.
How much you get depends on how many Class 2 National Insurance contributions you’ve made in the 66 weeks before your baby is due.
To get £187.18 per week you must have:
- been registered with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for at least 26 weeks in the 66 weeks before your baby is due
- paid Class 2 National Insurance contributions for at least 13 of the 66 weeks before the baby is due
You may get £27 for a few weeks while your contributions are linked to your Maternity Allowance application. Your payments will be increased and backdated if necessary. This can take several weeks.
If you’ve paid less than 13 weeks of contributions
Your Maternity Allowance will be calculated based on how many weeks of Class 2 National Insurance contributions you’ve made.
If you’ve not paid any Class 2 National Insurance contributions, you’ll be entitled to £27 per week Maternity Allowance.
You can top-up your contributions to increase your Maternity Allowance after you apply.
Increase your Maternity Allowance
After you apply, HMRC will contact you if you’ve paid less than 13 weeks of Class 2 National Insurance. They will tell you how many additional contributions you need to get the full amount of Maternity Allowance.
Depending on how many additional contributions you pay, you can get between £27 and £187.18 per week for up to 39 weeks.
Once your additional contributions have been linked to your Maternity Allowance application, your payments will be increased and backdated if necessary. This can take several weeks.
Class 2 National Insurance contributions are £3.50 per week.
If you do unpaid work for your spouse or civil partner’s business
You can get £27 a week for up to 14 weeks if you do unpaid work for your spouse or civil partner’s business.
How you’re paid
Maternity Allowance is paid every 2 or 4 weeks.
All benefits, pensions and allowances are usually paid straight into your bank, building society or credit union account.
Effect on other benefits
When you claim Maternity Allowance, some of your other benefit payments may change, but your total benefit payments will usually either go up or stay the same.
The benefits affected are:
- Universal Credit
- bereavement benefits
- Carer’s Allowance
- Carer Support Payment
- Council Tax Reduction
- Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- Housing Benefit
- Income Support
- Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) - this will stop if you get Maternity Allowance
You may also be affected by the benefit cap, which limits the total amount of benefit you can get. It applies to most people aged 16 or over who have not reached State Pension age.
Use a benefits calculator to work out how your other benefits will be affected.
If you get Universal Credit
Your Universal Credit payment will be reduced by an amount equal to your Maternity Allowance payment.
You may get an extra amount of Universal Credit for your children (whether you get Maternity Allowance or not).
Report a change on your Universal Credit account if you start getting Maternity Allowance.
Which benefits you get will affect which National Insurance credits you’re eligible for. If you get Universal Credit:
- with Maternity Allowance payments you get Class 1 National Insurance credits, which help you qualify for some other benefits and State Pension
- without Maternity Allowance payments you get Class 3 National Insurance credits, which count towards your State Pension only
If you’ve been paid too much
You may have to repay the money if you:
- did not report a change straight away
- gave wrong information
- were overpaid by mistake
Find out how to repay the money you owe from benefit overpayment.