Self-employed mums can claim maternity support
SELF-EMPLOYED mothers could be entitled to up to £149 a week in maternity allowance. The benefit is designed to help mothers who either work for themselves or who are employed by a company but do not qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP).
The maternity allowance is also available if you do not have a job at the time of your pregnancy, but have worked for part of the 66 weeks before the baby is due.
While women in full-time employment receive statutory maternity pay from their firms, self-employed women receive maternity allowance from the Government.
This is up to £145.18 a week or 90 per cent of their average weekly earnings – whichever is lower – and is paid for a maximum of 39 weeks and currently equates to £5,662.02 over the full term.
The weekly figure is to increase to £148.68 from the new tax year, which begins in April.
Becky O’Connor, personal finance specialist at Royal London, said: “The difference your employment status makes to your income when you take time off work for a baby is huge.
“If you are self-employed, you can get maternity allowance but this pales compared to the maternity packages that some of your employed friends might be on.”
Sarah Coles, personal finance analyst from adviser, Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Take two people earning £28,000 a year – one employed and the other self-employed, and both of whom take six months off,” she said.
“The employed person, might get full pay for six weeks, half pay for six weeks, and then the statutory minimum of £145.18 for the next 14 weeks – that’s a total of £6,878.66.
“The freelancer, meanwhile, assuming they qualify for maternity allowance, receives £145.18 a week for the whole period – so a total of £3,774.68.” Recent research by mortgage broker, John Charcol, found that self-employed women take less maternity leave than their employed counterparts – taking an average of just 23 weeks’ leave, instead of the full 39-week period – because they can’t afford the time off.
To avoid this pressure, try to plan ahead as much as you can before you have your baby, and save as much as possible while you are still working, to cover a period of time out.
Ms O’Connor added: “Be realistic. The chances are, you will not want to rush back to your laptop four weeks after giving birth, so try to build in
enough time to get yourself sorted with a new baby in your life. Money worries are the last thing you’ll want on your mind.”