Maternity pay and self employed NICs

Hi all,

Hope someone can help.
I am half self-employed and half PAYE employee with an organisation. I'm currently on maternity leave and receiving maternity pay from my PAYE job (taxed and NI at source). I'm also paying monthly direct debit for national insurance contributions from my self-employment. Question is: should I be paying NI contributions while I'm in maternity and receiving maternity pay? If not, can I claim this back?

In addition, this is my second child, when I was on mat leave with my first baby I was 100% self-employed and received Statutory Maternity Pay from the government but was still paying monthly NICs. Is this correct or will I be able to also claim this back?

Really appreciate any help or guidance as maternity pay is shocking and it's not helping having to pay out monthly for NICs too.

Thanks so much,
Nat