Maternity Allowance

If you or your partner is pregnant and will not be receiving Statutory Maternity Pay, you might be eligible for Maternity Allowance. Contact these Maternity Allowance helplines for information on claiming the benefit.

About Maternity Allowance

Maternity Allowance is a benefit in the UK providing financial support from the government. This benefit is for those who are pregnant and working but are not entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay. They may not have this entitlement because they are leaving work, or their earnings are not high enough. To claim Maternity Allowance, the person should have been in employment or self-employment for a minimum of 26 weeks. This is out of the 66-week period before and including the week before the baby’s due date. The 26 weeks do not have to be consecutive or with the same employer. The maximum payment is £145.18 per week, or 90% of your weekly earnings, whichever is lower. Maternity Allowance will also impact other benefit claims.

Maternity Allowance Contact Numbers

Call the relevant department for Maternity Allowance support in these hours.

Maternity Allowance Helpline

Call the number to the left if you think you will need to claim Maternity Allowance in the near future. An adviser can answer any questions you might have about the benefit. They can help you to arrange an appointment at your closest Jobcentre Plus if you would prefer to receive advice in person. This is also the best option if you need help filling out the claims form. If you are not able to print the form yourself, the Jobcentre will be able to provide a copy and tell you where to send it. You can call this number for advice if you are filling out the form yourself and are unsure about any section. Call to confirm the documents you need to supply.

Maternity Allowance Eligibility

Before you spend a lot of time filling in a form and waiting for a decision, you should first check if you are actually eligible for Maternity Allowance. You can do this by calling the number to the left to enquire about the eligibility criteria for this benefit. There is also an online calculator to do this, but if you get stuck using it then call this number. As well as the conditions mentioned above, you must have been earning at least £30 per week in 13 or more of the 26 weeks. For those in self-employment, you must have been paying Class 2 National Insurance contributions for at least 13 weeks. Otherwise, you might be able to claim a lower rate.

Maternity Allowance Claims

If you sent off a Maternity Allowance claim which should currently be processing, call the number to the left to check on its progress. You will need to provide your National Insurance Number and other details so they can locate your claim. The Department for Work and Pensions should notify you of their decision on your eligibility within 24 working days. If it has been longer than this since you applied, call this number so that you can make sure you get the money for when you need it. In the case that they deny your claim, call and find out why. If certain documents were missing, you should provide these and request a reconsideration.

Maternity Allowance Payments

If you are eligible for any of the Maternity Allowance rates, you will be paid every 2 or 4 weeks. Payment at the higher rate will be £145.18 or 90% of your weekly earnings. You should be receiving this for 39 weeks. Otherwise, you could get the lower rate at £27 a week for either 39 weeks or 14 weeks. You can backdate your payments up to 11 weeks before the due date if you need to. Call the number to the left at any time during your Maternity Allowance claim if there is a problem with your payments. You might not be receiving the correct rate, your payment might be late, or you might not have received the correct backdated amount.

Maternity Allowance Change in Circumstances

It is important to inform the Department for Work and Pensions of any changes in circumstances which might affect your Maternity Allowance entitlement. These changes could also affect your entitlement to other benefits like Council Tax reductions, Housing Benefit, or Income Support. Call the number to the left and update your claim as soon as possible to avoid any financial sanctions. You may be allowed to work part-time with a reduction to your payments. In the unfortunate event that your baby is stillborn, dies after a premature birth, or you experience a miscarriage, you could still have a Maternity Allowance entitlement.

Maternity Allowance Complaints and Appeals

Call the number to the left to complain if you experience a consistently poor service from the Department for Work and Pensions. If you feel that you were mistreated by a member of staff, report this. Or if you have struggled as a result of the department’s failings, make a formal complaint and request financial redress for maladministration. If your claim is not approved, you can challenge this decision with an appeal. This is not the same as a complaint. Ask for a written statement explaining the decision, and ask them to look at your claim again if you believe that they got something wrong. You have one month to dispute a decision.

Other Ways to Contact Maternity Allowance

As it is a government benefit involving the discussion of private personal information, there are no public social media profiles for Maternity Allowance support. There is no public e-mail address to contact them either, leaving the phone as your primary method of contact. However, when you are making a claim, you need to print off a copy of this form, fill it out, and send it in the post to the Maternity Allowance address. For claims coming from abroad, you must send the form to the following address instead: International Pension Centre, The Pension Service 11, Mail Handling Site A, Wolverhampton, WV98 1LW, United Kingdom. For Maternity Allowance claims in Northern Ireland, please visit the NI Direct website for more information.