maternity allowance in uk

[magicbubble]

Hi, I finished my temporary teaching contact with a school last term and am now going onto supply. How long between stopping work and conceiving can I leave it though before being entitled to maternity allowance as I can't garentee I will get enough work as supply to make up my national insurance contributions or when I will get pregnant?

 

[mylullaby]

Can you make voluntary NI contributions to plug any gaps? I think they work it out based on the financial year, so if you've paid NI from April, that could be enough.

I'm no expert, it's just that when I went from employed to self-employed mid-year, I didn't have to pay NI on my self-employed earnings until the following financial year as my contributions from employment had been enough for that year.

I'd book an appointment with CAB if I were you and have a chat with them about what you'd need to do.