To think it's quite common to do this and it's not unreasonable?

[YuHu]

To go on maternity leave (and take the full amount) knowing full well you won't be going back without telling work until you have to give notice before you're supposed to be returning?

This is what I am doing at the moment, mid way through my maternity leave and I do not intend to return but won't be informing work until I legally have to.

My main reason for this is to safeguard myself in case the situation changes, I think it's far more sensible, even if you think you won't be returning, to not actually make it known until the end.

Look after number one! You're a commodity to a lot of employers, who wouldn't bat an eyelid if they decided to streamline and make you redundant. You never know what will happen in the meantime, your husband loses his job for one, anything could happen.
And it's discrimination to expect an employee on maternity leave to give extra notice, but ok for anybody else to just give the notice as specified in their contract. Do what is best for you and your family I say!

However I still think it can be helpful to the employer to have knowledge of the intention if the employee is planning not to return. They will know it isn't confirmed and they will know the employee might change their mind, for whatever reason, but I go through life thinking why not be helpful if you are able? How does it hurt ? Why wouldn't I ?

Telling your manager that you are considering not coming back can hurt because some employers would effectively 'mark your cards' if you told them you were planning to leave and then changed you mind. They might assume that you are still looking for another job and opt not to offer you additional training, pass you over for promotion or not place you on certain projects. It provides an excuse to treat you differently from your colleagues based on a decision that has not been made and is subject to change until the last moment.

If the OP's husband loses his job, if she really misses work and wants to go back, if a really good opportunity becomes available, if the OP's role changes, then she might want to go back and be keen to develop her career with that employer - why should she put herself in a worse position by sharing information unnecessarily?

When I've worked for employers who have restructured and made redundancies, they have never told staff as soon as it looked like a possibility - it's always handled according to the appropriate process. No favours, no 'heads up', just giving the required information at the required times, as the OP is planning to do.

Work is work. It's not your family, it's not personal. You're not there out of the goodness of your heart and they aren't paying you out of the goodness of theirs. Look after yourself and your family ahead of them.

If you left now, wouldn’t you be eligible for Maternity Allowance which I believe is the same as SMP? I might be wrong here so please correct me if I am.

I did this.
I fully intended to go back to work.
Took one look at my daughter's eyes and knew it. I signed up for a five year career break.
After the second year I resigned.

Some of the comments on here O_o Of course your doing the right thing OP, its work, keep it contractual! You don't owe them any more just because your taking your mat leave entitlement, its not like they are doing you a favor letting you claim SMP!

And people wonder why some employers aren't keen on hiring women of childbearing age! You are right, it is quite common - but it also is unreasonable.

I'm conflicted on this. The question never arose for me as I went into labour as soon as I went onto maternity leave and so lost all of it (back in the olden days)! There was always the sense that you were letting the side down if you didn't play fair with management, because it would make it harder for any other woman later coming down the path.

But, yanno, 'woman' - that's the thing. It's not 'father', it's not 'parent'. The conflict arose because the whole system was/still is borked.

@Kljnmw3459

My workplace requires you to return for 52 weeks after mat leave. Otherwise you have to pay the maternity pay back (minus the SMP of course). Check your contract!!!

Read the thread - or at least the OP's posts!!!

I did this but in the end returned as the situation changed. Damn.

I'm hoping to do this - currently on mat leave but also looking for a new job

Like others have said you will accrue your annual leave+bank hols so should get a lump sum at the end and also it’s good to have the option to go back if you want/need.

I did this fully expecting to have to return part of my maternity pay. They never claimed it back and I didn't bring it up! This was 5 years ago. It might be sensible to keep the money aside if you need to.

Definitely wise to hedge your bets.

@2kool4skool

It’s shit and it’s this kind of approach which puts employers off employing women of that age.

Wow, that's really how you feel about this? So much woman bashing on this thread 🤢

All the people commenting in here that are managers, small businesses owners and employers are sayings it’s absolutely fine and they would have no issue with it. Those saying you are wrong are guessing and clearly don’t have a full grasp of how it works. So really OP think that tells you all you need to know! Of course you need to put your family first, who else will? They will have the correct notice period to replace you or offer the job to maternity cover etc. People leave jobs all the time.

Can I just reassure people who think this is unfair to the employer that it can be turned to something positive. It can give you a chance to give someone a promotion without any upset if they don't prove up to the job or it allows you to recruit and train someone so if someone else leaves you have someone trained and ready to fill the post.

I'd say I've found it useful in the past and I'm sure I'm not the only HR manager who has.

The comments about not employing women confuse me. So I keep reading on Mumsnet and in the media that “nobody” gives people aged 18-25 a job as they are too inexperienced. Nobody employs women aged 18-40 due to pregnancy. And nobody employs those over 50. Obviously men aged 25-49 are the only people with jobs in the U.K. then!

Yet “ 15.61 million women in the UK aged 16 and over were in employment in October- December 2019. The female employment rate reached a record high of 72.4% in October-December 2019.”

www.ilo.org/infostories/en-GB/Stories/Employment/barriers-women

I'm going on Mat leave in a couple weeks but there's no way I could not return at all as I'd owe them a shit load of Mat pay back.

I wouldn't even tell them if you hope to not come back. That is why the notice period is legally still the same as if you aren't on maternity leave.

Say the absolute worst happens. You might want to go back to work.

Sorry I think it’s completely shit.

I remember someone I knew from university starting work somewhere just because she knew after so many weeks she could get pregnant, get a generous maternity package and not go back. It’s a horrible way of thinking and anything like this totally undermines trust.

Many businesses give a much more generous package of maternity to attract the right people (only standard maternity pay can be claimed back of HMRC) so all it does is make organisations wary of hiring women of a child bearing age. Plus, if it’s a smaller business you can leave it in the crapper as they will have less of a cushion to be able to cope - especially now.

I really hope your contract says that if you leave in such a manner you have to pay anything extra over SMP back.

I remember someone I knew from university starting work somewhere just because she knew after so many weeks she could get pregnant, get a generous maternity package and not go back. It’s a horrible way of thinking and anything like this totally undermines trust

I have not done anything like this. I've worked here for a number of years before getting pregnant and for the last time... I don't get enhanced maternity pay. I am getting the legal minimum, SMP only.

I really hope your contract says that if you leave in such a manner you have to pay anything extra over SMP back

Perhaps read my posts. I've said several times now that I don't receive anything over SMP hence nothing to pay back.

Sensible to keep options open I suppose and to be honest if you have anything other than a very short maternity leave your employer has to cope while you're gone as if you're "gone gone" anyway so it should have no seismic impact if you don't return.

In the flip side I planned to take short maternity leaves (the second time my husband was taking over the parental leave at 20 weeks) and told my employers of my plans. I didn't have to, they couldn't and didn't ask, and I could have still changed my mind, but were incredibly relieved and grateful because it was just about possible to cover my client accounts/cases (senior solicitor) for 4 months. If I'd been gone 9 months or a year they would have had to recruit someone new and permanent (temporary cover had not been reliable or good quality in the past) at great expense. Plus I would have had pretty much nothing to do on my return and I'd have hated that.

Getting a bit like cancel the cheque this 🤣

I DON'T GET ANY ENHANCED MATERNITY PACKAGE. There is nothing to 'pay back'.

But people might not be 100% sure about returning to work. A year is a long time.

I have to return to work for at least a month or pay my enhanced maternity pay back. I’m in the civil service. But DH is military and could be moved and we would go with him. In that case, I would have to take unpaid leave or look for another civil service job internally if we moved.

I really have to keep my options open! I’m intending to return to my job but I can’t guarantee it.