‘I can’t buy baby clothes’: DWP maternity allowance backlog leaves new mothers without income for weeks Women with newborns have been left without the ready cash they need to buy the essentials

“I stopped work 11 days before my baby’s due date,” Laura* explained. “Standing all day as a hairdresser, I couldn’t really do much more. Now I’m wondering if I should have stayed in work for longer.”

When Laura discovered she was pregnant with her first baby, she and her husband were overjoyed. The couple started planning for the birth, and Laura applied for maternity allowance from the Department for Work And Pensions (DWP) – the benefit self-employed mothers are entitled to receive from the Government, as well as women who are not entitled to statutory maternity pay due to changing jobs, low earnings, or a job coming to an end because of redundancy.

The weekly benefit works in the same way as maternity pay from an employer, providing much-needed income for mothers before and after the birth of their baby.

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But as a result of a backlog stretching back until June 2019, new mums entitled to maternity allowance are giving birth without the income they are entitled to. That means women with newborns have been left without the ready cash they need to buy the essentials, from baby clothes to formula milk.

Weeks over due

The DWP’s website currently sets out what appears to be almost a mathematical impossibility. Women can apply for maternity allowance once they are 26 weeks into their pregnancy, and receive their first payment 11 weeks before their due date (so technically, two weeks after they can apply).

However, due to a backlog, women are now told to wait 70 working days (14 weeks) before they get a decision and payment – meaning at the absolute minimum you could only expect the payment at the due date.

But when you’re self-employed like Laura, you stop being paid the moment you stop working.

“I thought I’d send off the form and it would be pretty straightforward, that I’d get a response in a couple of weeks,” Laura told i. “That’s not what happened”.

Nearly a month after Laura submitted her form to the DWP, she received an automated text message saying she had to wait eight weeks for a decision – taking her up to her due date and far beyond the day she planned to stop working. Since then, the delay has increased to 14 weeks.

Women who are due to have babies are going to be left in poverty

Hannah Bardell

Now Laura fears she might not receive her first payment until January 2020, when her baby will be nearly two months old.

“Do they think women are pregnant for a really long time?” Laura asked. “My baby is happening!”

She’s not alone. “We started getting calls about this in August,” explained Scarlet Harris, head of policy and campaigns at the charity Maternity Action. “And they steadily increased. Women are calling up saying they don’t understand why they’ve made their application in good timing, put in their claim, and are then being told they have to wait for their payment.”

The delays have now caught the attention of Independent MP Frank Field and the SNP’s Hannah Bardell, who both raised questions in Parliament. On 24 October, Bardell, told the House of Commons that the DWP’s maternity backlog stretches back to June, and said: “Women who are due to have babies are going to be left in poverty because of this Government’s mismanagement.”

No communication

The maternity allowance delays have left women like Robyn* facing months with zero income, even after they’ve given birth.

Having become pregnant shortly after starting a new job, Robyn wasn’t entitled to statutory maternity pay. She could, however, apply for maternity allowance. Robyn completed her forms in July, had her baby in October – and still hasn’t been paid a penny.

You need an income to have energy, to be able to sleep, to have the heating on, to have food

“I’m one of the lucky ones,” she told i. “We can just about pay the bills and the mortgage. But with the allowance now delayed for 14 weeks, I’ll be three months without any income at all. You need an income to have energy, to be able to sleep, to have the heating on, to have food. Luckily I can breastfeed, but what if I needed to feed my baby formula? It’s so expensive.”



Like Robyn, Kezia* also didn’t qualify for statutory maternity pay having become pregnant after starting a new job, and instead claimed maternity allowance. She now has a four-week-old baby and her payments still haven’t been processed – leaving her “unable to buy Christmas presents or baby clothes”.

For women claiming Universal Credit, the delays pose a further problem. Because maternity allowance is treated as “unearned income” it is “deducted from any Universal Credit award pound for pound,” according to a briefing from Maternity Action.

As a result, the delays and the subsequent lump sum back payment could lead to a Universal Credit overpayment. A mother already struggling may then need to pay this back to the DWP, causing more stress and financial insecurity.

Kezia, Laura and Robyn are angry at the lack of communication from the DWP regarding the delays. Robyn explained: “No one has told me this was going to happen – there’s been no follow up to explain the delay, and when I called I was on hold for 90 minutes before I gave up.” Kezia meanwhile remains in the dark as to when her first payment will arrive, although she hopes it will be next month.

Dwindling savings

Even when women can get through, help isn’t always at hand. “I was told to call back in a couple of weeks,” Laura said, describing a call with the DWP helpline. “That’s after my due date. He was so blase about it. There’s been no apology.”

The delay means Laura is now relying on the savings her husband put aside during her pregnancy.

“I had it all planned out,” Laura explained. “Now I am going to have to use the small amount of savings we have, while waiting for the first payment. But people who don’t have that – God knows what they’re going through. It gets me worked up anyway, but I would be in even more of a state.”

“Your life is turned upside down after you give birth,’ Harris said. “The system needs to be simple and fair and work properly in the first place, rather than expect women to have to fight so incredibly hard to get what they’re entitled to.”

A DWP spokesperson said: “We understand how important this financial support is for new parents and are sorry for the delays some are currently experiencing.

“We have already put more staff in place to speed up the process and are fast-tracking emergency cases.

“You can apply 14 weeks before the week in which your baby is born, so we urge people to apply as soon as they are eligible. All payments will be backdated to the date when someone becomes eligible.”

*Interviewees have used their first name only, to protect their identity.