Civil service career break after mat leave

[BeckieMc]

Hi I'm getting lots of conflicting information from both HR and my manager. I am due to go on mat leave in a couple of weeks and I have applied for a career break directly after mat leave for 6 months. My manager is saying she thinks I will have to pay some of my maternity back if I go on the career break.

I will be on unpaid leave therefore not resigning I'm waiting to hear back from HR but has anyone gone for a career break direct after maternity did you have to pay anything back?

Yes, I did, and no, I didn't. I did choose to take my accrued annual leave from my mat leave in between though, because my career break was 3 years so the accrued annual leave couldn't have been carried over for that long. I think if I'd not gone back after the career break, I would potentially have been liable to pay back the maternity pay, but I did.