Seeking Advice on Maternity Leave Dilemma

[Parenting92]

I've been with my current company for four years, and recently found out I'm expecting. Though my workplace is unaware, I plan to inform them at the right time. I'm eligible for enhanced maternity pay, offering 13 weeks at 100% salary and 26 weeks of SMP. The catch, however, is that if I take this enhanced pay, I must stay with the company for a year after returning from maternity leave, or I'll have to repay the enhanced amount. Currently, my daily commute spans nearly three hours using public transport, and I'm required to be in the office three days a week. Juggling this extensive commute with the demands of parenting, especially considering an 8am to 4pm work schedule, seems overwhelming. The prospect of dealing with early mornings, long commutes, and childcare responsibilities, including night-time feeds, raises concerns about my mental health and potential burnout. I'm contemplating rejecting the enhanced maternity pay, a move unprecedented in my company, which would signal my intention not to return. Instead, I'm thinking of opting for 39 weeks of SMP, followed by giving a three-month notice after nine months of maternity leave. This would involve using accrued holiday pay and searching for a local job. Despite the potential culture shock of transitioning from a central London office to a more local setting, the idea of a shorter commute and a more manageable work-life balance, particularly with a child, makes this decision appealing, even if it means taking a pay cut. I'm curious if anyone has faced a similar situation and if they would agree with this rationale? Unfortunately, I haven't been able to discuss this with family or friends yet, as only my husband knows about the pregnancy. I'm also taking steps to set aside money before maternity leave, acknowledging the financial challenges associated with the SMP rate, but I'm fortunate to have my husband's support in this decision-making process. Would you consider making a similar decision to prioritise a better work-life balance with a child?

Firstly congratulations on your pregnancy! If you can afford would look at putting in a flexible working request for reduced hours/days when you return from Mat leave. If you only had to commute once or twice a week it would make it much more manageable I reckon.

Or could your husband go part time?

I personally wouldn't reject the enhanced pay now but would save it and then decide on what you want to do towards the end of your Mat Leave. Then you have the funds available to re-pay it. You don't necessarily know how having a baby will impact you - for me, it made me much more committed to my job and much more ambitious although I appreciate that's not the norm maybe.

I think you are being really sensible and realistic. Future you will thank you for your foresight.

Is it worth having a conversation with your line manager to say that you are considering this, in case they are able to offer a creative solution to keep you?

To be honest I think you have the right idea. However what I would do is take the full pay and save it. You then have the option to do both once the time comes to make a decision. I changed my mind 1000x during mat leave as to what i wanted to do, and then my circumstances changed and we found a pathway that was right for us. Good luck, you sound very switched on!

Don’t rush to make any decisions. Save the additional money so you can repay it later if you decide against going back. Also, make sure you look into all the options available for flexible working and tax-free childcare.

I would take the enhanced pay and put it in a savings account so it’s ready to pay back if/when you leave.

That’s basically the same as not taking it, but not announcing your intention to leave. Keep your options open for as long as possible.

Thank you so much! I've definitely considered going part-time, working four days a week if I was to stay in this job, reducing my in-office days to two. However, after weighing the potential loss in income from dropping down one day in my current central London job, it seems like the financial impact would be pretty similar to taking a pay cut for a more local full-time position with a huge cut on the amount of time I would still spend on commuting and waking up early for the train.

This approach appeals to me as it allows me to avoid revealing my cards too soon, preventing a hasty decision that I might regret later. It's interesting though that the 13 weeks of 100% salary, in my perspective, isn't vastly different from the initial 9 weeks of SMP where you receive 90% of your salary. Essentially, by rejecting the enhanced pay, I'd be sacrificing four weeks of full-time pay but without the obligation to stay for an additional year. I do wonder about the practicality of saving and setting aside that money, but given that maternity leave often involves more time indoors during the initial months, spending might not be as extravagant.

I agree with getting it and saving it, but also you might find it easier to argue for a higher salary or getting a sign-on bonus if you get a new job by letting them know you would need to pay-out of the agreement.

Yes, but I think you're doing the right thing to wait until much closer to the time to decide. The job may change, you can ask for flex working, other circumstances may change. Don't commit yourself mentally to leaving before you have all the options

I would have certainly explored the option of a flexible working request, but being in a privately owned company means their decisions hold significant weight. Recently, a colleague put a request in to reduce her office days to two per week for childcare reasons, but the request was denied because the company is firm on the minimum office attendance being three days per week unless you work part-time. That rejection indicated to me that a similar request for reducing office days likely wouldn't be approved in my case.

Will your DH be changing his employment? Presumably one of you could drop to nursery whikst the other starts early and one collect so the other can work late.

Don't be too hasty to back yourself into a limited career as local job options may well lead to a much more limited progression over your career trajectory, which impacts your pension as well.

This is something for both you and your DH to accommodate, not just you.

Firstly, congratulations on your pregnancy. I hope that when you are looking at the potential future childcare situation you are sharing that with your Dh, ie he does either some drop offs or pick ups. His life will change too, not just yours. Dh and I worked that between us even though his salary was much higher than mine. We also discussed what would happen with potential illness situations who would be able to cover what.

I agree with everyone else saying take the higher rate, don't reveal your hand yet and wait to see how it all pans out and how you feel. Some people are desperate to get back to work at some point in their maternity, some are not. You won't know how you feel until you are there yourself, leave as many options open to you as possible.

I returned to work, literally made the 26 weeks part time that I needed not to pay back my maternity leave and Dh's job relocated on a higher salary so we moved hundreds of miles away and I had to quit that job. There was no way to predict that ahead of the pregnancy. You could end up with new manager who is more supportive of wfh than being in the office a set number of days.

Absolutely take it and save it.

SMP is only 90% of pay for 6 weeks. That's 7 weeks uplift from SMP to 100% pay, along with the 6 weeks of 10%uplift.
I'd keep the excess, but make sure you put enough aside to repay when (if) you decide not to return.

He is likely to transition to a less demanding company in the next year or two due to the long hours expected at his current workplace. Importantly I should note in case others think similar, he hasn't asked me to scale back my career, but it's a decision I willingly want to make, driven by a desire to prioritise my family over work. I've attained the job title I'm content with and currently have no inclination to progress further, as advancing would lead to a managerial role with additional stress and responsibilities. My current perspective is to treat work as just that—work. I want to go in, fulfill my hours, and leave it behind, with family taking first place. It's ironic, working in HR myself, that I'm well aware of my company's operation and the reluctance towards anything less than three days in the office. I witness this firsthand in my manager's approach and the higher-ups' insistence on three days as the absolute minimum which clarifies to me that it wouldn't be the right place for me with a family.

He would provide substantial support during instances of illness, sharing the responsibility for our child. He's likely to handle drop-offs at nursery and school, allowing me to begin work at 8am, potentially in a more local setting. I would then manage pick-ups, aiming to finish work by 4/4:30pm. Given the demands of his job, which often extends until 7pm, his flexibility in the morning would be crucial for our childcare routine. I've attained the job title I'm content with and currently have no inclination to progress further, as advancing would lead to a managerial role with additional stress and responsibilities. My current perspective is to treat work as just that—work. I want to go in, fulfill my hours, and leave it behind, with family taking first place.

It's ironic, working in HR myself, that I'm well aware of my company's operation and the reluctance towards anything less than three days in the office. I witness this firsthand in my manager's approach and the higher-ups' insistence on three days as the absolute minimum so already am aware it would be a dead end conversation sadly which almost makes me know this place wouldn't likely work out for me and my family plans but time will tell. Thank you for sharing your view on this.

Also thank you so much for the congratulations message, very kind.

Most comments in this thread recommend a similar approach, opting for the enhanced maternity pay without revealing all my cards in the early stages.

@Parenting92 not sure if someone already said this as I haven't read everything, but remember you accrue holidays whilst on leave too, plus the amount you would naturally get each year anyway- for me this means I can gp back to work part time for 8 months without even needing to make a flexi working request and by just utilising all the holidays a few days each week! all whilst getting full pay. so you might only need to "survive" a couple of months with the longer weeks before you were past the year threshold.

I would take the enhanced but put it aside. Depends how your company then sort paying it back but my friend had to pay some back and it ended up being reduced by the amount of time she went back for (i.e. she went back for 3 months so only had to pay back 9/12ths of it). Save up as much holiday as you can (you also accrue holiday whilst off) and use that to extend your mat leave, meaning you pay less back if the above does apply.

I used my holiday to go back 3 days a week (but get paid for 5) whilst I worked my notice period then left (I didn't have to pay any back luckily). I originally worked for one of the big 4 accountancy firms and left for the work life balance. I got a job at a MUCH smaller local firm, 3 days a week and took a huge pay cut but it's just for a few years whilst children are small then I'll go back and chase the money again.

I found saving up for maternity very easy when I was working full time with no children. It's been a lot harder this time round working part time with a child in childcare. So save as much as you can, don't touch the enhanced then any you get to keep is a nice little bonus.

Yes to PP post - you could use accrued annual leave when you go back to bring you down to part time hours, then decide to either move jobs or enquire about flexible working then? I took a month of annual leave, then returned on condensed hours 5in4, and took a day of annual leave per week for 12 weeks and then went up from 3 to 4 days. This would give a bit more time to work it out and also bring you nearer to the year deadline

Ahh, as a HR person then you would be more in the know as to the thoughts of managers. But what is the company reason to why they need people to be in the office 3 days a week? What is the business need for that? What was the official response in writing as to why that employee couldn't drop down to 2 days in the office? They are potentially going to lose employees if they are inflexible as other companies in the same field may well be more flexible.

It is also brilliant that your Dh has flexibility in his job. We are lucky that Dh works for a company that is completely family friendly, they want to retain who they have (and headhunted like Dh) so they are willing to trial things if someone requests a change to their working hours.

Pay I agree with taking the enhanced pay and saving it as someone else has pointed out, SMP is only 90% for 6 weeks so you're getting 7 extra full pay weeks, plus 100% instead of 90% for the first six weeks, depending on what you earn it's probably not an insignificant amount to turn down, plus if you put it in a savings account for the year you'll get some interest in it you can keep.

Do you know if people in your organisation who have left and have had to pay back the enhanced pay? I've also heard of lots of organisations who have this clause in contracts about having to pay back the enhanced leave money but in some cases they don't actually follow it up unless you're going to a competitor or something, so even if you do leave it's not guaranteed you'd have to pay it back.