Paying Back Contractual Maternity Leave - AIBU to be confused on how much i have to pay back?

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I'm currently on maternity leave and considering options, it may be difficult for me to return to my current role due to change of policy (office working 3 days now mandatory), and childcare logistics.

I have been receiving contractual maternity pay (6 months fully pay which is due to end next month), then i get 3 months of SMP. The contractual pay portion equates to £20k gross (roughly £13k net). if I don't return for 6 months then i have to pay this back in full. I've been putting this to one side and not spent it.

Speaking off the record to a colleague who works in payroll and she has confused me. If i decide not to return, will i need to pay back £20k or the 'net amount' i actually received after tax? if the payment back will be in a new tax year compared to the pay received will I be able to claim back the tax paid from HMRC if my employer demands the gross amount?

https://maternityaction.org.uk/advice/resigning-from-your-job-during-pregnancy-and-maternity-leave/#:~:text=Your%20employer%20cannot%20ask%20you,for%20the%20first%20six%20weeks.

You are legally entitled to the SMP parts and do not need to pay them back. This is the 90% for six weeks and then the negligible amount weekly. So you would deduct this from the £20k. You’d then receive an amount due from payroll, as they should reclaim the net but technically the tax portion will be reclaimed. For your own benefit of comfort work off of 20k less the SMP amounts.

Thanks to clarify the 20k is that contractual part. I have also received SMP on top of this…

I don’t mind paying back the ~£13k net amount of contractual pay I have received, but not sure I’ll be able to pay back the ~£7k tax that was paid to HMRC if I can’t reclaim it. If that makes sense? I’m unlikely to earn enough to pay tax next year so can’t offset it…

They owe you the annual leave you’ve accrued as well. I had to pay back my half pay but ended up with them owing me more once the holiday was taken into account.

Thank you! I forgot about the annual leave, I think this would work out about £3k gross. So that would mean I owe them back £17k gross, which is still a shortfall on the net amount I have received. I have been a higher rate tax payer this year, but next year will not earn enough to pay tax, so still unclear if I can claim back the tax paid on the contractual maternity pay I have to repay to my employer.