Maternity Allowance

[Bernie_the_Bolt]

As a low self-employed earner who pays Class 2 NI conts my wife became entitled to Maternity Allowance.

Her claim has been accepted but it has been disallowed for a period of about 9 weeks for late submission of claim.

The late submission of claim is not denied but I will explain the reasons below, firstly am I correct in thinking that there is a two stage appeal process? 1) Informal appeal or "ask them to reconsider" 2) Formal appeal to independant tribunal.

The story is this.
The baby in question was our second and (owing to my wife's age our last). Prior to our first child my wife had 3 miscarriages and between 1 and 2 a further 4. During this last pregnancy my wife lived every day with the dread that she was going to lose the baby and she knew that this was her "last chance".
The baby was delivered by elective (medical) C/S.
Complications arose with my wife and she nearly died. She had a spell in ITU and followed by time on high dependency. She was discharged 3 weeks after delivery.
She then suffered from lots of pain and slipped into post natal depression for which she is now on medication.
It was only when I came to realise that the MA claim had not gone in that we submitted it but by then it was past the 3 months after birth date.

Our grounds for asking them to reconsider are this:
1) With her history of miscarriages it was unreasonable to expect her to submit the claim prior to the birth.
2) It was unreasonable to expect her to submit the claim while she was an inpatient in hospital.
3) The PND resulted in a substantial widthdrawl from normal activities as a wife and mother. She has not worked since the birth. She has disengaged from the school run and relies on friends. She rarely goes outside. She has withdrawn from social activities. I am dispatched to the spare bed.
We have a letter from the GP who supports the appeal and who concludes "I feel that this lady's medically complicated postnatal period should be taken into account with regard to her slightly delayed application for maternity allowance".

I have no experience of benefits appeals.

To those of you who do, how do you rate this case as having a chance of success?

I have also looked at the guidance on the Disability Discrimination Act and wonder if this has an application here. It's not a solid argument but I just wonder whether it may be worth lobbing in if we get to a second stage appeal. Would this be a good strategy?

Of cours it is possible that the decision at the first stage will be to "start the clock" on the date of discharge from hospital. This will give my wife three additional weeks cash which of course helps. If we then go to a second stage appeal can this be taken away?

On a more positive note, we can see light at the end of the tunnel. With summer holiday and stuff approaching I can see and hope that there is the potential for there being a watershed and turning point.

Many thanks for your advice.

[old_andrew2007]

bump

[Bernie_the_Bolt]

I guess no-one knows!

The letter has gone off much as set out above, will let you know progress in case valuable for others at some time.

[Bernie_the_Bolt]

Had a call today and was told that the three month deadline for submitting claims is set out in the law. I have not been able to track it down. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

[chaplinsbabe]

DWP - Technical guidance - NI17A - Maternity Allowance (MA) (d)

i found this for you on the DWP's website - i hope it helps you out but i would still appeal against the decision anyway as i think you have valid reason why your claim was late

[Bernie_the_Bolt]

Well this went to tribunal.
I made the case, I felt I did as good a job as I could.
It is not the time now to go into details of what the appeal was but the appeal has been adjourned to allow the "Secretary of State" to give the statutory reasons for the decision made and to answer the points made in the appeal.
I do feel that it is somewhat unfair to allow the "Secretary of State" a second bite of the cherry. They had details of the appeal, they decided not to respond, they decided not to send someone to the hearing. If there is doubt as to whether they have made their case, surely the case should be found in my favour!