Resigning rather than taking maternity leave - financial support?

[DoodleBugBee]

I would be looking to start my maternity leave in February and am trying to decide whether to go back to work or not afterwards. The main reason for not going back is (obviously) that I want to care for my child myself and DH and I are in a position to be able to afford to live (just) without the second income. I am trying to work out if I would be eligible for any kind of financial support from the state or if I need to be self employed in order to qualify for Mat Allowance.

Any thoughts? Advice very welcome.

Thanks
x

Can't you take mat leave anyway and just not go back?

Can you not just take maternity leave and hand your notice in towards the end.

Take mat leave, think about it through. You. Can resign on mat leave.

Yes I would say go mat leave first. But beware. Your employer may ask you to pay back any maternity allowance they pay you on top of SMP if you don't return.

Resign as late as you have to. My notice period was 3 months so I waited 3 months until the day I was due back in the office. You accrue annual leave on maternity leave which is approx a month's pay- you are entitled to this!

Yes I can resign whilst on mat leave but I would have to pay back what I had earned from work on enhanced mat leave, which would mean i would be out of pocket to the tune of £4k...!

Yes, don't resign until one month before you are due to return to work. You will then receive SMP, and will not burn your bridges, in case you actually decide you want to continue working.

BTW, I am an employer, and would advise you to do this if you came to me before going on leave. Your employer claims all your SMP back from HMRC, so will not be out of pocket if you take ML, rather than resigning straight away.

I would just put the enhanced pay in a savings account.

When you resign you will be entitled to holiday pay. Plus potentially a refund of any tax you have overpaid if you will no longer be working within the tax year. if you are a regular or HR tax payer this is usually quite a bit.

SMP will be more than MA, so just save up the enhanced payment in a deposit account, ready to pay back when it's demanded. You won't be out of pocket - you just have to treat it as if it was never yours in the first place.

So don't take the occupational mat leave. You'll still get the statutory maternity pay.

I did this after ds1 - said I wouldn't take it during my leave period. My work said if I did return after ll they would pay the occupational maternity pay element in a lump sum.

Put the extra in a savings account.

Your HR person should give you the option of just having SMP on maternity leave and enhanced on your return, or as the PP says, just put it in savings and don't touch it. Obviously you shouldn't spend it if you have to pay it back!

I would save all your enchance maternity pay - and then as everyone say give notice while on maternity leave

Woman in my team just did this. Ticked the box saying 'I do not plan on returning.' She gets 90% for six weeks and then SMP until 9 months. She is forfeiting the half pay for weeks 7-18 because she has said she won't come back.

However she still gets her holiday pay (which I think is weird).

AND, if for whatever reason she does come back, we just give her the enhanced maternity pay in a lump.

Another topic perhaps but as the employer it annoys me that a woman can come back entitled to a job even if she has said she won't be back! Makes it v hard to recruit to that position (short term harder to fill than perm and do you take the risk to recruit to perm...?) And why should they accrue annual leave? Yet more strain on my budget for someone who has said she won'y be back!

But you'll be more out of pocket if you resign before taking mat leave surely

Can you go back to work for a specific period of time so as not to forfeit your MP? my employer pays enhanced pay, and is not repayable on the condition that the employee returns to work for 3 months.

You could request flexible working for 16 hours a week for example? is that possible? that is only 2 days, for 3 months and then you won't have to repay the money back. I know someone who did this. She had not intended to, she returned and realised quite quickly she could not do it (she also went off sick with stress for the last month but not suggesting you be so devious, although I am sure she was v stressed...)

1. Don't decide now. You can take a year maternity leave and so many things may have changed by February 2014. Leave your options open. Put the extra mat pay in a savings account and don't touch it.

1. How on earth do you work out that you would be worse off on SMP + holiday pay than you would if you were entitled to MA?

Blimey. Seriously People, you've given me more support, valid information and help in less than an hour than I could ever hope for. Really truly THANK YOU. x

I've done the same thing - know I will be moving before I could commit to returning to work, and fortunate enough not to have to rely on the company's mat pay.

I also feel very strongly that for the sake of my colleagues I want them to have a proper replacement for me (it's a difficult job to recruit to, and they're not likely to be able to get a short-term contract filled - permanent is hard enough) and I really don't want to hang them out to dry. As it happens, I gave loads of notice and there still isn't anyone on the horizon to take over my position. Frustrating.