Not returning to work after maternity leave

[jess414]

Hi 👋
I am due to give 12 weeks notice as I have been with my employer for 15 years. I plan to give my notice in 12 weeks before my maternity leave ends so I don’t need to work my notice. My question is will i get paid my normal salary for my notice? (12 weeks full pay). My SMP would have ended when I hand my notice in. I understand I will have all my accrued holiday paid but not sure about notice period.
It would be great to hear what’s happened when others have done the same

No, because you are still on maternity leave. You should get paid for your accrued holidays though

If you are on maternity leave while you work your notice you I’ll just get the relevant maternity pay for the period (SMP in your case). You could chose to end your maternity leave early and move on to holiday, and use your accrued holiday instead (which would be paid in full).

Have you clarified what, if anything, you will need to pay back if you don’t return from maternity?

I wouldn't think you can give 12 weeks notice have no intention of working it and get paid
If you want 12 weeks pay you will have to work notice

Thanks for your reply.
I am just on SMP so I believe nothing will need to be paid back.
My SMP would have ended when I hand my notice in so I won’t be receiving any payments at that time as the last 13 weeks of maternity leave is unpaid (I will have received 39 weeks SMP and will hand notice in at 40 weeks)

I am just a bit confused as found this info on the gov website:
Payment during your notice period

You’re entitled to your normal pay rate during your notice period, including when you’re:

off sick
on holiday
temporarily laid off
on maternity, paternity or adoption leave
available to work, even if your employer has nothing for you to do

@jess414

I am just a bit confused as found this info on the gov website: Payment during your notice period

You’re entitled to your normal pay rate during your notice period, including when you’re:

off sick
on holiday
temporarily laid off
on maternity, paternity or adoption leave
available to work, even if your employer has nothing for you to do

So your normal pay rate during maternity leave in your case is SMP.

maternityaction.org.uk/advice/resigning-from-your-job-during-pregnancy-and-maternity-leave/

This should explain it OP, I found it to be a very useful site when planning my may leave.

I do believe the PPs are right and also according to this site, you will continue to receive your SMP / maternity allowance as normal and continue to accrue holidays, receive any other usual benefits but that's all. Your current "wage" is what you get during your maternity leave so what you read refers to that, not your salary before you went on mar leave.

If you wanted to get paid for the notice period you'd have to end your maternity leave and either take the accrued holidays and then leave or do a mix of work and holidays. Otherwise you stay on maternity leave and pay until your notice period ends. Your 'usual' pay at that point will be whatever maternity pay you are receiving or no pay if you're in the unpaid portion of maternity leave.

You’ll get paid what you’d get paid if yiu were intending to return to work.

As SMP only pays for a max of 9 months, if your notice period is in months 9-12 of mat leave, then you won’t get paid.

Obviously, if your employer has a maternity deal than is better than SMP for this time in your mat leave, then that will override SMP, and there will be tweaks around untaken leave - many employers will ask you to take it all though.

Hi @jess414 I work in HR and have had a few employees done this before and the above posters are right. If you're still on maternity leave when you hand your notice in, then you will just get SMP (£0 in your case as at the end of it). You don't have to pay any back. They'll have to pay for your accrued holiday. We had one lady return for a day who then immediately went off sick for her entire notice and therefore got paid her normal wage. I'm not advocating you do this - the company we're furious as it was clearly planned and it broke any friendships down.