Resigning on maternity

[deadon]

I am currently on maternity leave which ends in August, I have saved all my leave to say off another 2 months
I really hate the place I work for the usual reasons of being under valued and very under paid! I have applied for a fantastic job opportunity and have an interview this week which I'm really excited about!
My question is about maternity pay, I know I don't have to pay back the SMP l received, I also get additional pay on top of this, I have checked the staff handbook and my contract and there is no mention in either that I either need to return to work after maternity leave or pay any of this back, so I'm asking is there another way they can get me if its not stipulated in either of these?

Do you have a maternity leave policy?

I think that unless it's in your contract or maternity policy then they can't ask you to pay it back. Good luck with your interview.

Yes it's included in the handbook and it doesn't mention any pay back or returning for a certain time

Thank you peas

My employer made me sign a form when I submitted my maternity leave dates saying what I would have to pay back if I didn't return. Can you remember if you had to sign any firms saying you intended to return afterwards or not?

Definitely not fuzzy, they are very amateur with HR stuff they don't have anyone properly trained in it they ring to a consultancy for advice, im also thinking so what if they try to make me pay it back i would throw them £20 a month

Double check your contract, if you receive enhanced maternity pay it is very unusual not to have to repay this if you don't return.

I am a civil servant, so get 6 months at full pay, 3 of SMP and as long after that as we like unpaid. In order to avoid paying it bsck you have to work a full months notice, but if you have AL accrued you can use this for the notice period.

Whatthefreak I got my friend at work to check today because our contracts are all generic and she said there's definitely no mention of it
I have over a months annual leave saved up, so would I just submit my notice and ask them to use this or would they know to do this?
I am being so presumptuous that I am actually going to get this job aren't I!!

I think they would need to mention it in a policy for it to be enforceable. My maternity policy clearly states that you must 'return to work' for a minimum of three months or be liable to have to pay back your maternity pay (not the statutory).

That said, annual leave means you have technically returned to work. I 'returned to work' in terms of payroll in May but didn't physically return until July. So your holidays will count.

It sounds like you could just leave though if there is no clear policy.

Thanks everyone for replying! If I got this job I'm leaving no matter what and will deal with them after!

It might be in the pay policy, not necessarily in the maternity one!

If you have enough leave though yes, just say you would like to use leave in lieu of notice and of you have enough to cover it you won't physically need to return. I have to have one month, but I know for others it's 3 so be mindful of this.

I work in Payroll. It's illegal for an employer to make you pay back SMP. However, any company pay you may have received it is entirely up to the company. But they cannot touch your SMP.

Oops, I didn't read the OP first. D'oh

If it was repayable it should state it in the letter confirming your ml and pay, if not evident in the handbook/intranet policy.

LIZS I don't even know if I got a letter confirming my maternity I got a print out of a spread sheet my manager did to work out when I was off to etc