(1)Subject to the provisions of this Act, a woman shall be entitled to a maternity allowance at the weekly rate specified in relation thereto in column 2 of Schedule 3 to this Act if—
(a)she is pregnant and has reached a stage in her pregnancy which is not more than the prescribed number of weeks before the week in which it is to be expected that she will be confined (in this section referred to as the " expected week of confinement"); and
(b)she satisfies the contribution conditions set out in paragraph 3(1) of Schedule 2 to this Act.
(2)Subject to the following provisions of this section, the period for which a maternity allowance is payable shall be the period of eighteen weeks beginning with the eleventh week before the expected week of confinement.
(3)A woman who has become entitled to a maternity allowance shall cease to be entitled thereto if she dies before the beginning of the period mentioned in subsection (2) of this section; and if such a woman dies after the beginning but before the end of that period the allowance shall not be payable for any week subsequent to that in which she dies.
(4)Regulations may provide that a woman who has become entitled to a maternity allowance shall cease to be entitled thereto if her pregnancy is terminated otherwise than by confinement.
(5)Regulations may make provision, as respects cases where the date of the confinement occurs after the end of the expected week of confinement, for extending the period referred to in subsection (2) of this section until the end of such week (not being later than the sixth week after that in which the date of the confinement occurs) as may be prescribed by the regulations.
(6)Regulations may modify subsections (1)(a) and (b), (2) and (3) of this section in relation to cases where a woman has been confined and either—
(a)she has not made a claim for a maternity allowance in respect of expectation of that confinement (other than any claim which has been disallowed); or
(b)she has made a claim for a maternity allowance in respect of expectation of that confinement (other than a claim which has been disallowed) but the date of the confinement was more than eleven weeks before the expected week of confinement,
and may modify the contribution conditions set out in paragraph 3(1) of Schedule 2 to this Act in their application to such cases by substituting references to the week comprising the date of the confinement for references to the expected week of confinement.
(7)Regulations may provide for disqualifying a woman for receiving a maternity allowance if—
(a)during the period for which the allowance is payable she does any work as an employed or self-employed person or fails without good cause to observe any prescribed rules of behaviour ; or
(b)at any time before her confinement occurs she fails without good cause to attend for or to submit herself to any medical examination required in accordance with the regulations.
(8)In this section the expression " week " means a contribution week.