Maternity pay accrued holiday query

[4mogirl]

Hello, I was hoping you could answer a query for me.

I have been on maternity leave since 31.10.17, and am now trying to make a decision about returning to work, as a primary teacher in Scotland.

I am thinking about claiming my holiday pay.

Am I correct in thinking that I am allowed to earn up to £12000 per year, before getting taxed? If this money was in the form of maternity pay accrued holidays, this would still not be taxed?

So, the new financial year started in April 2018 and I have been earning SMP, at approx £580 per month, but this will stop in July.
So 4 months of £580= £2320.

If I accrue all my years holiday pay and get it paid in a lump sum in October, (at the end of my maternity year) would this lump sum be taxed, as it would still be under the £12000 per year?

My other option is to return to payroll in July, (but not actually return to work) and get my holiday pay paid over the last 3 months of my maternity leave.
I am assuming these monthly payments would not be taxed either?
However with this option, I only earn holiday pay whilst on maternity leave, so by returning to payroll in July, that stops the holidays that I could be accruing for the last few months of my maternity leave.

In a nutshell, will my holiday pay get taxed?
If so, would it be better to take the pay in 3 monthly instalments (bearing in mind that there are less holidays this way) or a lump sum ( with the whole years worth of holidays?)

I hope this makes sense, I have been pondering over this for a few weeks.

Thank you for any advice.

I'm not sure if it's different in Scotland, but in England I didn't get accrued holiday pay. My Maternity pay followed the Burgundy Book STPCD though in one case and was enhanced in another. Sorry that's not that helpful.

It depends on whether or not your employer would allow you to take it as pay rather than leave surely? You would also be entitled to any leave in lieu of bank holidays. My employer would sooner you took the time instead of money and allow all leave accrued on maternity to be carried over into the next year.

You may get taxed on your pay if it works out more than the monthly tax free allowance for that month. But, it should level out over the year. You should get any tax back at the end of the financial year if it works out that over the year you were under the tax free allowance.

So if you want to avoid paying too much tax, it would probably make more sense to get paid monthly.

I think you need to ask your union about this, OP. Teachers in England and Wales aren't usually able to accrue holiday pay so you need advice that's very specific to your individual case as well as to your jurisdiction.