Maternity leave question

[Cosmogirl]

Hi everyone,

A quick question about maternity leave. If you are in a job, go on maternity leave and don't want to go back to that particular job after the leave ends, do you have to tell your employer your intentions beforehand?

Also, if you employer pays above the SMP, did you have to go back for a few months to avoid paying the money back?

You dont have to tell your employer that you're not going back until it's time for you go back, IYSWIM.

Have no idea about employers paying over the SMP and having to pay it back.

Hi Cosmogirl.
You don't have to tell your employer of your intentions not to go back beforehand. Best advice is to see how things go whilst you're off and then make a decision.

And it is very common for employers who voluntarily pay more than SMP to specify that it has to be paid back if you don't go back to work/ leave after a few months. Some employers such as mine don't pay the extra money until you get back. Makes life hard whilst you're off but nice to back to a lump sum .

You only have to give your employer your normal notice period. So if you have to give a months notice one month before your maternity leave ends tell them you don't want to go back. That's it.

With extra SMP I would imagine most places would ask you to go back for a set length of time after ML but it would say in your terms of employment. If you don't intend to go back then it may be worth saving that money because I think most places would ask for the extra bit back if you don't go back IYSWIM.

Thanks ladies - much appreciated . It is quite hard to find info on the net about this, so I thought this would be the best place to ask.

Thanks gilly Will take a look.
I'm glad they don't ask you to state your intentions before you've had the baby.

My work is a little (read: a lot) disorganised and we don't have a proper staff hand book or HR dept so nowhere to discreetly find out what the company policy is on maternity stuff.

once you've told them you're pg you should get info from them, at some point, my work is S L O W IF they don't know about the pg yet just ask the appropriate person to have a look at the t&c's just don't tell them why you want to look.