not going back after maternity leave, any pitfalls to announcing this i should know about?

[lucykate]

have been off since mid may, so am now in additional leave, all work know is that i'm taking a full 12 months off. what they don't know is that our circumstances have changed completley, our house is up for sale and we are relocating with dh's job, so obviously i'm not going back.

i don't really want to announce this just yet, would prefer to wait til 4 weeks before i'm due back and hand my notice in then, don't want to be left high and dry if everything falls through.

only got the basic maternity pay, ie 90% for 6 weeks, the smp for the rest so i don't think i'd have to pay anything back but would i be in trouble at all for the fact that i'm still off knowing full well i've already decided not to go back?

anyone any experience of this?, thanks,

lucykate, as you are going to give the requisite notice to quit, I can't see any come back from the employer. If you can, check your contract/policies of employment to make sure there is no claw back or nasties, but off hand, can't think of any.

I was the same as you, had no intention of going back but didn't want to say. I had no problems. My office manager asked me off the record (we were sort of friends) if I was coming back. I said I'll see, but all four of the mums who worked in my office said if you can afford to lose the salary then definitely be SAHM.

my works policy states that if i don't return for 3 months(am currently on maternity myself) that i will have to pay my 6 months maternity pay back.

If you're only getting the basic statutory pay, you won't have to pay anything back. And you don't legally have to tell them. They might be a bit annoyed, thats all. Which is their problem.

If you really like them and are friends with your boss you could mention that you're probably not coming back (but stress that you're not handing your notice in yet until its definite). You have to do it in writing to make it official anyway.

I kept my mouth shut about not intending to return - and then got made redundant (they closed my whole department). So I got some nice redundancy money. . They had to wait until my maternity leave ended though as they're not allowed to make you redundant while you're off.