Maternity Leave

[FirstMumToBe]

Hi,
Just wanted advice on maternity leave, the company I work for is only small, with 3/4 full time staff members, I am entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay.

The questions I want to know is about the holidays I accrue whilst on maternity leave.
I am due at the end of March, and was planning to finish work about 2/3 weeks before my due date as my work isn't very demanding I feel like I will manage till then, I was planning on taking 9 months off, which would take me to going back around the middle of December, I usually get 21 paid holiday days and they run from January to January. So I wanted to know when I will be best to take my holidays to maximise my leave, etc, etc.
My work place has no HR department to discuss this with.
I was hoping for people who have been in similar positions to let me know how they went about it as it will be a big help.

Lastly I wanted to know, if I am only getting Statutory Maternity Pay could I hand my notice in at my job if I get a better offer applying for jobs whilst off, or if I decide I want to go back into education!

Sorry for the rambling, need advice to know how to work my maternity leave the best!!
Thank you

I used my holidays at the start and end of my maternity leave as it spanned two holiday years.

So I left at 33 weeks and took 5 weeks holiday then started 2 weeks maternity before my due date. I took the full 52 weeks then tacked 3 weeks holiday on the end, leaving me with 2 further weeks to take before the holiday year is up next March. So I had 60 weeks off in total.

You can hand your notice in whilst on maternity if that's what you're asking sorry? If you get paid any enhanced pay you are required to pay it back in some jobs (not mine thankfully!).

If full time you should get the equivalent of 28 days off per year (do you get 8 bank holidays on top of your leave?). You'll get the same amount of leave whenever you take it.

Hi, yes sorry I get bank holidays off too. So 21 days + bank holidays!
So I could take a week off before I start my Maternity Leave pay then use my last 3 weeks holiday at the end of the year so if I was to go back, I'd start in the New Year? And this won't affect my Maternity Pay?

Yes @Unihorn, that's what I mean, I didn't know that if I got paid just the Statutory Pay would I owe my employer anything and if it is allowed to give my notice towards the end of my Maternity Leave and my pay won't be affected!
Thank you x

Someone I work with just handed her notice on ML and used her accrued holidays as her notice period so she got a full salary for her final month but didn’t need to come back to work.

It is really personal preference. Where I work, we are encouraged to take any accrued annual leave for the current year prior to going on mat leave. Our year runs Jan-Jan.

I've used very little leave so far this year, so I'm taking 2wks before I start my maternity leave then rolling the rest, along with bank holidays and anything accrued in the next year before I go back to work next year. In total I'll be off for 11 months and still have some of next year's entitlement to use before the end of 2018.

With my first I finished at 37 weeks, baby was due in June. I get 25 days holiday a year, which run Jan to Jan. I saved 4 weeks annual leave which I used to take me up until ds was born, then my stat mat pay kicked in. I went back the following march and took my holidays as normal.

This time I saved 3 weeks annual leave as baby is due this month. I had planned on finishing at 37 weeks again but I as struggling and there were some issues with the baby so I ended up finishing at 35 weeks. I'll use some of next year's annual leave to give my salary a boost before returning to work in July.