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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

Any teachers out there? A maternity leave question.

9 replies

Danilou22 · 07/10/2013 13:14

Hi,

I was just wondering if anyone knows what happens if you decide not to return to work after your maternity leave finishes?

I did return after my son although went from full time to part time without any consequences but I am now expecting twins and I am not sure I will be able to afford the childcare!!

If I don't go back do I have to pay any of my mat leave back?

Thanks

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Smerlin · 07/10/2013 13:21

Yes you would have to pay back anything your school offers above the basic amount. So my school pays half pay for a few months (after the short initial period of full pay) and you would have to pay that back but not the initial period of full pay and not the SMP component.

Original poster

Danilou22 · 07/10/2013 13:26

Thank you

OP posts:

TooTryHard · 07/10/2013 18:33

Yes. I've had to pay it back but then made sure I was back at work for the summer holidays to lessen the blow.

Teacher's maternity pay is only good if you go back whereas I know people in the civil service and private sectors who have had nearly full pay for six months and did not need to return to keep it.

sausagessausages · 07/10/2013 18:42

Sorry to hijack the thread OP but does anyone know how long you have to go back for if you don't want to pay back? And do the usual rules about leaving at the end of a term still apply?

whoop · 07/10/2013 18:53

I was informed by my school that you can always ask the school to only pay you the basic amount, not the enhanced amount, but tell them you are not sure if you will return or not at the moment.

If you do decide to return they can pay you the enhanced amount as a lump sum, and if you decide to leave you won't have anything to pay back. Check with your school though as it might have just been my school being nice!

Also worth noting that, to qualify for the enhanced amount you only have to return to work for a minimum of 12 weeks (you can then resign) but this includes any holidays. It may be that depending on summer holidays etc it might be financially worth while returning to work for 12 weeks to get and keep the enhanced pay, especially if 6 of those weeks are summer holidays, and you would only have to pay for 6 weeks child care.

Original poster

Danilou22 · 07/10/2013 23:00

I have a feeling (reading between the lines during a conversation with our school manager) that I can work the extra that I get rather than paying the money back.

I am going to have to ask, it is just not a conversation I feel ready for. I would like to go back for a couple of days a week but childcare is just soooo expensive. For one it has been nearly half my wages so for three I will be paying to go to work!

OP posts:

TooTryHard · 07/10/2013 23:15

I think it's 14 weeks you have to return for. If you're returning in order not to pay it back, you'd be paid your normal salary in addition to not paying it back so would be worth it if you time it carefully with holidays.

For the amount of unpaid work you'd need to do it probably wouldn't be worth it.

You'd always have at least three weeks of the 14 as holiday because you can only hand your notice in for the end of term which includes the last two (or six for summer) weeks holidays. You also get half term.

Whoop - you're always given that option.

Sausages - normal end of term rules do apply as does early resignation if you don't intend to go back. I.e. If you weren't expecting to return until June and then decided you didn't want to, you'd had to have resigned by Feb half term.

AhoyAhoy · 08/10/2013 18:10

Received some letters from the head todau about my mat pay. It said there were 2 options. The first being the most beneficial, time at full pay then half pay then SMP only, with the understanding that you return for 13 weeks at end of mat leave. The second being just the SMP option if you are not sure about returning, so you don't have anything to pay back. If you choose the second option and do return, you receive a lump sum of the extra that you were entitled to but chose not to receive. Hope that makes sense.

BlackholesAndRevelations · 08/10/2013 18:21

What ahoy said! It's 13 weeks. If you were full time before mat leave (which I know you're not, op) then it's 13 weeks full tine but if you go part time it's fte so, eg if you went back 0.5 you'd have to work for 26 weeks so as not to pay it back. I'd opt not to receive it as paying it back is over £3k. (would be amazing to get that as a lump sum though, if you did go back! )

How old is your oldest dc? Will he or she get the 15 free hours nursery care soon/starting school? Mine starts school just before I go back so childcare won't be so much.

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