I’m not entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay. Are there any other benefits I’m entitled to instead?

If you are not entitled to receive SMP, you may qualify for Maternity Allowance (MA) and you should seek advice from your local JobCentrePlus office or Citizens Advice Bureau about your eligibility.

You can get MA if:

• you have changed jobs during pregnancy so have not met the qualifying period for SMP, or
• you do not earn enough to qualify for SMP, or
• you are unemployed or self-employed during your pregnancy, and

You have to have been working for at least 26 of the 66 weeks ending with the week before the expected week of childbirth, and in the time that you were working there were 13 weeks (not necessarily in a row) when you earned more than a certain amount per week (the amount changes every year).

If you are not entitled to receive either SMP or MA, then you may be entitled to receive other benefits such as Incapacity Benefit.

You may also qualify for Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. To check these rights you need to contact your local JobCentrePlus or HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs – formerly the Inland Revenue), or you could talk to a trade union representative or specialist adviser.