Can I earn money whilst on Maternity Leave?

Really really sorry for not being on in absolutely ages and coming on and posting but thought this was probably the best place to ask.  Question is in the subject really.

TIA

Tbx

Not whilst receiving SMP, but you can on the unpaid part of maternity leave, however you may need permission from your employer.  It would be treated like having a second job so if your employer needs to give you permission for this then the same criteria would apply.

AFAIK, not if you are recieving other payment (such as SMP or MA).

However you do get 10 KIT days where you can earn money, but i'm not sure how these work if you are self employed.

Thanks JB.

Thinking of doing Vie at Home (Virgin Vie) which is not really a regular income or you could day a 'job'.  Do you think it would count?

Tbx

Oh this is interesting as I work part-time but also run my own business catering.  Does that mean I have to close my business whilst I'm on ML as I'll be receiving SMP through work.  I was hoping the business from catering could subsidize drop in wages!

Orbit - I phoned the tax office about this last year. I work full time for a law firm and also my own part time jewellery business. I thought the same about "closing" the jewellery business whilst on maternity leave (as it turns out I haven't had time to do much anyway). The Inland Revenue told me that as I was self employed too I could do what I wanted with respect to that business and I didn't need to tell them anything.

I'm self employed too and was told that I could close the business or get someone else to run it for me and I could work 10 hours a week/month (not sure which one!) HTH. Sorry for the vague details!! Might want to check with the Job Centre, it might be different depending on the type of business. Good luck!

Thanks eveyone.  As far as I can make out I would be self employed so should be ok.  Didn't want to get into bother. 

Tbx

Actually I would say NO you can't earn extra money whilst on materntiy leave.

SMP is there because you are not able to do your normal job because you've had a baby.  During this time you can "work" 10 days for your employer as keeping in touch days.

any more than this then you do not receive SMP for those weeks.  So be very very careful as you could end up loosing out..

There is a good fact sheet on the maternity action  website that explains the keeping in touch days better than me. http://www.maternityaction.org.uk/workingparents.html