Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of Maternity Allowance claimants were not UK citizens in the last three years.

DWP does not hold data on the number of claimants that were not UK citizens when claiming Maternity Allowance. This is because the qualifying conditions for Maternity Allowance are based on a woman's recent employment and earnings, not on their nationality.

For the year 2023/24 the caseload for Maternity Allowance was 48,000. For more information on caseloads, please see Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).