to expect the job centre who administeres Maternity Allowance to be able to answer my questions?

[weirdbird]

I have been self employed for 8 years and I am expecting baby 3 in Sep I am trying to finish my self assessment tax return and apply for maternity Allowance at the moment.

I have various questions about Maternity Allowance and keeping in touch days, neither HMRC or the job centre have been able to advice me and the guy I spoke to at the job centre said

"you are not the first person to claim maternity allowance" just fill the form in and we will ask you any questions we have.
But what about the questions that "I" have, surely I am not the only person who wants to budget and know all the ins and outs of a situation before I have the new baby to contend with?

He then proceeded to give me a completely made up telephone number to contact the maternity allowance helpline.

If there was any of the answers I was looking for online I would not have wasted 20min waiting to speak to someone who freely admitted he knew nothing about Maternity Allowance, however the form I have says to ring the job center plus if you are having problems filling it in.

The DWP website states that I have to inform the job centre if I plan to use my KIT days to work if I am self employed, I intend to do this but no one can answer the question of how this has to be done! As there is nothing on the form about this...

I cannot believe he gave me a fake tel number to call...

[PeedOffWithNits]

he did WHAT???

are you absolutely sure, not just an out of date number or 2 digits transposed??

why the hell would he do that?

[barkfox]

YANBU at all - I am also self employed and was gobsmacked at how uninformed and unhelpful JobCentre plus was when I rang about Maternity Allowance.

I ended up filling in the form as best I could - and then they sent it back to me pointing out the things I'd done wrong, and asking me to do them correctly. Which I would have done the first time round if I had access to someone helpful.

Sadly, I can believe you were given a fake telephone number - they just want you off the phone sometimes.

When I rang jobcentre plus for the 1st time, I spent over 20 mins on hold, and then someone answered the phone at about 5 minutes to 6, and told me to call back after 6 'when the shift had changed.' I asked if I couldn't just stay on hold, rather than queueing again...? And was told no, the new shift have to log in on the system. He couldn't help me because his shift ended at 6. So I asked (politely, if baffledly!) why the bloke had answered the phone just in order to tell me he didn't have time to deal with me, and that I should call back? He could just have left me in the queue.

He said 'we have to answer any calls waiting before we go off shift.' I said '... just so you can tell them you can't help them, and they have to call back??'

And then he hung up on me. I did complain, but the Bridgend call centre said as I didn't have the man's name, and they hadn't recorded the call, they couldn't identify who it was.

(sorry to do a 'return moan', but I sympathise - it's so frustrating when you want to do things properly and they won't let you!)

[weirdbird]

I think the part where he didn't know what the answers where but wouldn't admit he couldn't help may be why he gave me the "number" tbh I was pretty sure when he gave it to me that he had just made it up to get me off the phone, as had there been a specific helpline surely my googling would have found it! and he would have given it to me straight away rather than spending 20min going round in circles

A question for those of you who have been here before, where any of you intending to keep your business ticking over while you are on MA and so would be using your 10 keeping in touch days, how did you inform the job centre that you intended to do this or did you have to tell them after the fact?

Only the bit where it stated I have to keep the job centre informed of any KIT days I take while on MA or they may stop my MA has me concerned or am I just worrying about nothing?

[MoonUnitAlpha]

The job centre generally aren't interested in giving you any information which might help you claim money from them in my experience.

[barkfox]

weirdbird, when I spoke to someone else from jobcentre plus about MA, they said I only had to let them know when I had worked a KIT day (i.e. past tense) -

• not when I was planning to in advance, IYSWIM.

However, now you've raised the issue, quite how I'm supposed to let them know, I'm not sure. Hmm. We both need someone who's actually done this to help, don't we.

[weirdbird]

Well yes barfox I don't exactly fancy waiting 20min in a queue to speak to someone who doesn't know what the hell I am going on about every time I take a KIT day!

[Bramshott]

I didn't tell the MA people when I took my KIT days, just kept a note of them myself. They then wrote and asked me when I stopped claiming when the KIT days had been.

[weirdbird]

Ahh thank you Bramshott thats useful to know, any other pearls of wisdom?

After you sent the form back in what happened did they contact you for more details?

Barfox out of interest what questions did you get wrong?

[Bramshott]

I had a very straightforward and easy ride of it I'm afraid, which I've since discovered is by no means a uniform experience:

1. I filled in the form and sent it in
2. It was all okay, and they just said "let us know when you stop work"
3. I had DD2, and stopped work. They paid me MA
4. I did my 10 KIT days, and noted when they were.
5. I realised that I needed to get back to work (when DD2 was 4 or 5 months) and starting working again 2 days a week, so told the MA people to stop paying my MA.
6. They wrote to me, asking if I had done my KIT days, and to tell them when they were, and also to tell them each day I had worked between when I had returned to work and the end of the maximum MA period.
7. They then sent me a 'bonus' cheque for MA for the days each week I hadn't worked during this period (although I don't know anyone else who has had this!).

[marzipananimal]

wow bramshott, sounds like you had an unusually good experience!
I couldn't even get through on the phone (tried several times, waited ages) when I had a question about MA. Fortunately i haven't had any problems since sending in the form but i'm not self-employed so prob a bit more straightforward.

I also phoned a different jobcentre dept to ask for the phone number for the MA dept(could NOT find it online) and they gave me one which turned out to be the health in preg grant line. Honestly!

[barkfox]

weirdbird, I've just tried to find the note they attached when they sent the MA form back to me, and I can't, I'm afraid - (remember which questions I got wrong, I mean) -

It sounds from Bramshott's post as if you only need to let them know when your KIT days were as a final 'summing up', not as you go along. I guess that makes sense... as in, the amount of unwieldy admin involved in deducting one day's MA each time you let them know you'd done one KIT day must be greater than if you say 'right, I'm stopping my claim now, I'm going back to work/have reached the limits of my MA period, and btw, I worked these 8 dates as KIT days....'

However, that's still not 'official' guidance, is it...

[archieballerina]

I am currently on maternity allowance, when I spoke to the helpdesk they said simply write to them when I am planning to start my KITS days and they will contact me to confirm and calculate the remaining maternity allowance.

[barkfox]

I guess though that that's easier (archieballerina) if you know very clearly when they are in advance.

I'm self employed and if/when I do any KIT days, I'm not likely to get much notice, and there will be no pattern to them. I just mean - if I knew I was working every other Monday for the next 20 weeks, it would make sense to let them know when I was planning to start my KIT days.

If it's on a 'one by one' basis with no pattern, I'm not sure...

I need to e-mail someone at JCplus to get this nailed down, it's bugging me now!

[weirdbird]

The whole thing is bugging me, but I tend to get very anally organised when pregnant and want to get all my ducks in a row so to speak and understand what is going on, I have less hassle doing my own tax return than this is proving to be!

I have ended up writing lots of "notes" in the final section 12 including the date I would like to start materinty leave from...

[barkfox]

It's one of those things that should be simple and isn't. V frustrating.

I've just e-mailed my local JCP to say - I want to ask questions about MA and KIT days, and want to do this in writing please, NOT via a phoneline [thinking, I want a 'paper trail', now, having experienced their awful phone 'help!' I'm not being given duff advice over the phone, and not be able to prove it at a later stage...]

I will let you know as and when I hear anything back from them.

[weirdbird]

That was my thinking too barkfox, how do I prove later if they say that it is wrong that this is what I have been instructed to do, which may be over the top but considering none of them seem to know anything about MA beyond what is online (and not even that in some cases)I don't have a lot of faith in there advice

Makes my head hurt....

[BetsyBoop]

The process should be as Bramshott describes.
The "rules" are here if you want them, para 62591 onwards.

[EnglandAllenPoe]

YABVU - expecting competence from a job centre tsk tsk...

[addictedishavingagirl]

ohh i sympathise completly, i spent weeks trying to get questions answered before giving up and finally tracking down this phone number

0845 608 8780

the person on the other end can be alittle rude so you have to get in quick with your question before they try to palm you off to another department or give you another phone number.

it is the phone number for the maternity allowance helpline!

hth

[weirdbird]

BetsyBoop - As clear as mud then! And it does not mention at what point you have to make your KIT days known to them or how you let them know!

addictedishavingagirl - Thank you, I will try them tomorrow.

[Triggles]

yes, the number for the maternity allowance helpline is what the job centre gave me, as they were .. um... less than helpful with questions I had as well. The woman I spoke to at the helpline was absolutely lovely - offered to go through the form page by page with me for any questions I had and patiently answered all my questions.

[YesMaam]

I am in the process of claiming my third lot of MA. I too am self employed.

I wrote to them several times after the event of several ad hoc kit days notifying them I had worked on X, Y and X date. I think with DD1 I may have just written twice to tell them the dates of the first 5 KIT days and then the dates of the second 5 KIT days.

When I knew the date I was going back to work I wrote to them to tell them to stop my MA from that week.

I kept copies of all my letters (they are useless at admin).

I cannot remember if I wrote to the local job centre plus (which they notified me of on the returned forms) or the regional one I had to apply to but I basically followed whatever they said.

HTH - personally I wouldn't bother ringing, you don't have records of what they say so keep everything in writing

[mumconfused2010]

Hi all, I'm self-employed/sole trader. I'm really hoping that someone who is self-employed and has previous experience of Maternity Allowance & 'Keep in touch days' can help me. Is there anyone out there???

From what I understand you are allowed to work 10 days during your maternity allowance period - these are called Keep In Touch days. But a day is classed as anything from half an hours work to 24 hours work - so long as it is on one day only So basically if you only work half an hour on one day - that is one day of your KIT days used!

So if I answer an e-mail or answer a single call on one day - is that classed as one of my KIT days used? As that is not actual work, the call/e-mail may lead to absolutely nothing (If I got paid for every quote I gave or query I answered I'd be a very rich lady!!!!)

OR is it only an actual KIT day if I actually get paid. i.e. if the potential client that calls/e-mails then goes on to make a booking with me? As to make a booking the client would have to put down a deposit (I take bookings anywhere from 2months to 2 years in advance) therefore in effect I would class that as a day worked?

I really hope that someone knows about this, as it seems the 'rules' and guidelines for this are very unclear & I cannot find a straight answer!

Or can my hubby answer e-mails/calls & take bookings for me (he does a lot of work for the business anyway, so knows everything) so in effect I am not working at all?

[mumconfused2010]

Panic over! I got a straight answer from a nice man at Jobcentre Plus in the MA dept.

Basically I can answer e-mails/queries/give quotes at anytime. If I take money from a client then that is a KIT day or if I go out to do a job that is a KIT day.

Phew, glad someone actually understood me & gave me a straight answer.

Hope that is of some help to someone else out there!