We urge the Government to equalise maternity, paternity and adoption allowances with statutory maternity pay for self-employed workers and ensure that maternity allowance pay does not reduce Universal Credit pay. We believe families shouldn’t be penalised for being self-employed.

Many women are self-employed or running their own businesses, yet we feel the maternity pay system has not kept up. Self-employed mothers only receive maternity allowance, which can be far lower and less flexible than statutory maternity pay available to employees. We believe this leaves many families financially vulnerable at a time when they should be supported and the current system is outdated.