How do i hand in my notice whilst on maternity leave?

[katybump]

After alot of heartache i have decided not to return to work when my maternity leave ends in november.How much notice do i have to give ? any advice more than welcome

[LIZS]

You can just give your contractural notice , so say 1 month before your ML is due to finish, although if you are sure now they might be grateful for knowing sooner.

[RibenaBerry]

Exactly what Liz says!

Oh, but if you're senior and have a long notice period, don't worry if you can't give your full notice (e.g. if you had a three month notice period), just tell them as soon as you can. There's not much that they can do!

[katybump]

thank-you so much for that.i called in the other day and they had reshuffled some of the staff.i'm a nursery nurse and they have placed me in baby 2 room which is directly above baby 1 room where my dd will be cared for . i would be able to hear her!had my doubt's about returning and started maternity leave earlier than i wanted due to the crap way they treated me over time off for antenatals apps etc.WAHAY no more job mmm no more money

[kikid]

Can you just decide not to go back to work , after maternity leave??, I'm worried they will ask for mat. pay back, can they?

[TheQueenOfQuotes]

kikid - they can't ask for SMP back - you are entitled to that regardless of what they may (or may not) offer you in addition. I think that if you are given extra Mat pay on top of your SMP that you can be asked to pay it back. Also I know that (in my case anyhow - as I'm not returing to my job in February) if you hand in your notice before the time you'd have earned all of your AL then you can be asked to pay some of it back too.

I took all my AL this year in April...and shall hand in my notice at the start of January (new AL leave) so they won't be able to ask for anything back (and yes it's short notice for them - but the way they treated me I couldn't give a damn)

[LIZS]

They can only request to be paid back any discretionary amounts over and above SMP and cash in lieu of contractural benefits (ie if you opt not to take an company car etc but choose a cash equivalent), and even then only if it was stated before you went on ML that these payments were conditional upon your returning to work for a specified time period.