Repay enhanced maternity pay if leave

[CherryBlossom456]

I am desperate to change jobs as my workplace is very toxic. However I am required to ‘return to work’ for 3 months otherwise I have to repay my enhanced maternity pay (a huge sum that I can’t afford)

my work have unfortunately found out I have found another job and are insisting I must ‘be at work’ for the 3 months for it to count and I can’t use 6 weeks annual leave as part of my notice/‘returning to work’

I called ACAS and they said it’s a contractual legal matter unfortunately and the phrasing in the contract is open to interpretation (ie what does ‘return to work’ mean in relation to annual or sick leave) so they couldn’t advise.

Has anyone else been in this situation? Ideally I’d use my annual leave first so I can stay off as long as possible with my kids TIA x

Is there any update on this I have a similar situation I returned to work in April and since being back they changed me from manager back down to sales due to going part time & I’ve currently got a grievance case against management due to part time working and them not treating me the same as other employees. I found another job but I also took the enhanced maternity id of been happy to stay if they weren’t treating me so crappy but they’ve said I’d owe thousands not sure if they’d actually push for it or not though. Thanks

What is the payback period for your enhanced mat pay? It is usually only 3 months so you should be out of the claw back period but you need to check your company’s policy.

It’s twelve months unfortunately