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ESA contribution based and pregnant

gemlp

I Cerebral Palsey and have been on ESA contribution based since moving from IB, which I was on from age 18.

I am in the support group.

For the last 2 years I have been doing some permitted work.

I am currently pregnant and trying to figure out what happens with ESA and Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance.

The number of hours I work over the coming weeks will affect whether I am under or over the threshold for SMP. My contract is flexible so I have some flexibility in how many hours I actually work.

I don't think I can receive SMP from my permitted work in addition to my ESA, is this correct?

If I work less hours over the coming weeks and therefore don't qualify for SMP I think I would then qualify for Maternity Allowance.

Do I HAVE to apply for MA if this affects my entitlement to ESA contribution based?

The MA would be £101.59 which is less than my ESA of £138.20

Given that I am on old style ESA contribution based and don't earn enough from my permitted work to pay NI I am worried that if taken off ESA now I will never get back on it (even though my capacity for work won't have changed) My husband is working so I wouldn't qualify for income based ESA and wouldn't have the NI contributions for new style

Does anyone have and information or thoughts?

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Comments

Adrian_Scope

Good morning @gemlp and a warm welcome to the community.

First of all, congratulations to you and your husband on your pregnancy! 🙂

With regards to your questions:

It is possible to receive CBESA and SMP at the same time, but the weekly ESA would be reduced by the weekly SMP amount. The SMP amount would depend on your earnings, so it's impossible for us to say whether you'd still be entitled to any ESA alongside the SMP.

CBESA and Maternity Allowance are overlapping benefits, so you can only get the highest amount of the 2. From the figures you've given, the highest amount would be CBESA.

If your ESA stops, then you could reclaim ESA without having to be assessed or meet the NI conditions again if it's within 12 weeks of your previous ESA claim. If it's been longer than 12 weeks, you would need to meet the NI conditions again and have another assessment.

As an aside, have you looked at whether you'd be eligible for Universal Credit once your baby is born?