Maternity leave, return to work, pay

[Loubun38]

I am due to have a baby in December and work in a school.
I am considering taking mat leave from dec to end of July and then returning to work full time for the summer hols.
I am then thinking of requesting flexible working for the autumn term of three days a week moving back up to full time come January.
I cannot afford to take the full year mat leave and thought this might be a way round it.
Has anyone done anything similar?
I'm not sure about whether I am being cheeky (I know I am a little) asking to go back full time for the summer hols then to drop to three days.
My employer is great and I know wants me back ASAP so I thought this might be a happy compromise.
There may also be a chance they will not fill my position when I go off given my role so wouldn't be double paying over the summer.

It’s common for teachers to return on the first day of the school holidays.

I’m fairly sure most would do what you propose. You’re able to do it. I won’t comment on the morals of it.

You might struggle to return on full pay for the summer holidays - they're more likely to move you to 3 days from your return date.

Wow. I’m a teacher and there is no way my school would be so accommodating. I think it’s very cheeky returning full time then dropping to part time but people do it. Not many people then go back to full time though. Also how does that work with time tabling and staffing your dropped hours? It would be a nightmare. I just can’t see them paying you full pay for the summer holidays. Then allowing you to drop hours. Then pick the hours up again when you choose to jan? How will those hours you dropped be available in January suddenly?

Personally I think your three options are

1. return full time last day of summer term paid full pay holidays remain full time.

2. return part time when you’re ready not necessarily summer remain part time.

3. take your full allowance.

Hope you have a supportive line manager you can talk this through with.

Good luck with the baby.

If you’re already full time, then you’re not requesting ‘to go’ full time for the holidays, you’re just putting one request in to go part time in September.
Usually you’re not allowed to do more than 1 flexible working request in a 12 month period, so no it’s not at all cheeky.

Erm, following the end of M/L request to be paid full time during the summer hols when you're not working, then drop hours when the holidays are over?

Yes, that is v cheeky.

I dont think you can put in a request to drop hours in Sept, and then a request to increase hours in December.
So, what is the lesser of 2 evils, 3 days pay for the school year, or unpaid for your years maternity leave, coming back full time?

I agree with @DancesWithDaffodilsyou need to do the maths on a flexible working request on your return-including the variables of childcare costs. I'd be cautious about assuming you can then go back up full time at a later date as well as presumably they would appoint someone to fill the 'gap'. I assuming from your post you are support staff so that might make it a bit easier.
Remember as well that staffing changes won't be down to one person so don't bank on that one person being able to facilitate everything you ask for.

Worth a look but do the maths on what is the best compromise you could ask for.

Thank you all for your comments, very interesting (and of course mixed!).
I would never dream of taking advantage of my school (or my position, I am actually the DH) but do have a very honest and open relationship with my head and governors and just wanted some opinions really before going any further.
I am trying to think of solutions to suit me and them i.e they get me back sooner than 12 months (possibly saving them from needing to recruit for my cover as phase leaders could possibly pick some of my workload up) but I also get some time at home and a healthier income than mat leave will give me.
I often do work a lot over the summer with my position although I would never try to convince anyone it's full time but that's one of the perks of being in this profession I guess.
I think either way a return to work end of July will be the way to go with the guarantee to them I will go back to full in January.

Oh well in that case one thing I would be wary of would be if you get 'special treatment' in being allowed to pick and choose when you're full and part time your staff may not look too kindly on that, especially anyone that's recently made a flex request or struggled on non-SLT maternity wages and had the 12 months. There is also the risk of setting precedent.
My school were desperate to get me back 'early' so let me do 1.5 terms part time then back up to full but that was because they'd got (cheap) timetabled cover in place (mid year return) and had other uses for me. I considered myself very lucky to get that tbh, I was paid part time all through the summer then went back full in the new school year.

Have you looked into whether you'll be able to apply for universal credit whilst you are on maternity leave. This might give you a bit of leeway to take a bit longer.
It can all depend on your family income but it might be the boost you need.

@Loubun38

Thank you all for your comments, very interesting (and of course mixed!). I would never dream of taking advantage of my school (or my position, I am actually the DH) but do have a very honest and open relationship with my head and governors and just wanted some opinions really before going any further. I am trying to think of solutions to suit me and them i.e they get me back sooner than 12 months (possibly saving them from needing to recruit for my cover as phase leaders could possibly pick some of my workload up) but I also get some time at home and a healthier income than mat leave will give me. I often do work a lot over the summer with my position although I would never try to convince anyone it's full time but that's one of the perks of being in this profession I guess. I think either way a return to work end of July will be the way to go with the guarantee to them I will go back to full in January.

I’d be well pissed off if I were one of your phase leads and was expected to increase my workload to accommodate you.

@Soontobe60 thank you for your comment (blunt but I get where you are coming from) however I think you are making the assumption that they are already fulfilling their phase leader roles (which is not your fault as I have not given all the detail).
There are many things that I am still carrying out that should be our phase leaders duties however due to COVID and pressures on all staff these have remained with me (believe it or not we think an awful lot about staff wellbeing). They have only been in post officially for the last couple of years.
Whether I was due to go on maternity leave or not we are due to look at and clarify their job roles and descriptions as we are with the whole of the SLT as there have been some significant changes over the last couple of years. My job responsibilities are inclusive of these changes as we now also have an inclusion lead who has taken on many of my roles with the idea being I would take on some of the heads freeing them up to be more strategic. It really is a bigger picture

It sounds super cheeky, but it’s actually very similar to what most people do when they go back from mat leave. Most people accrue AL whilst on Mat leave at their full time equivalent, the summer holidays would be like your AL. I dropped my hours after taking my 6 weeks of full time AL. This was what my manager expected when I returned. I don’t see why teachers should be penalised because their AL works differently to most.