I had to apply for this as I'm self employed and had to make a NI contribution to receive the full weekly amount which as Rhi says above is around £180 per week x
£446 isn't low at all, unless thats monthly? MA can be as little as £30 a week, like the girls have said above the norm is around £180 I've just applied for it and waiting for a decision x
It could be partial month pay for your first payment depending on when you requested it to start? So you might only get 2-3 weeks allowance and then the full 4 weeks after this but it should tell you on your letter. If it is the full 4 week payment I would recommend ringing them to sort it out ASAP - they will back pay anything you’re owed but I can take a while to get that done 😅
Im getting maternity allowance due to being self employed. The amount you get is based off how much national insurance you’ve payed
@Natalie it’ll never be any higher than £184.03 a week though - you could’ve paid an endless amount of NI, but it’s capped at £184.03 a week x
Thank you so much ladies, I realised that everything you guys said was right! I called up because I was genuinely confused about how it works as it’s my first time and I told that I was at the highest pay for MA which is £184.03 a week … apparently the first one and last one is is always low then it will regulate from the second week x
@Morgan yes! Literally everything you said! X
How did you know when your MA got approved?
I received a text message saying it’s confirmed I’ll be getting MA and it will say how much you’ll get and the date it will arrive. You’ll then receive a letter to confirm it and show you the breakdown of it … I’ll still awaiting the letter x
Gotcha. Thanks a lot
@Rhi yeah I know that
Maternity allowance is £184.03 a week or 90% of your average weekly earnings (whichever is less) so even if you were on £50k a year before (for example) you’ll only get £184.03 a week on MA x