On Mat Leave but don't want to return to work

[jenna30W]

I'm currently on Mat Leave, I'm due to return to work after a year off but I do not want to return back to work. I have 20 days holiday to use up also.
Any advice on when to leave or how to do it without paying anything back

Did you get enhanced mat pay

They have me 5 weeks half pay extra

No one can really answer, you need to check with your hr department

In my work the agreement states you have to return to work for one month to "pay back" your enhanced pay. If you don't then you have to pay it all back

In my work you can return and then go on holiday which apparently counts as returning to work so effectively not actually going back and it's still ok but I'd check with your maternity policy / HR

Any conditions for enhance pay need to be clear upfront ie. In your letter setting out the dates and maternity pay. Your accrued leave would count as "working" .

You will have received a letter at some point detailing your maternity pay, dates and conditions. You could speak to HR at your work about it because it varies. At my work we had to do 13 weeks FTE to avoid paying back enhanced pay.

Can you afford to quit or will you be looking for different job? If you can't afford to pay back the 5 weeks half pay then presumably you couldn't afford to be jobless. If you're planning to look for a different job, I would go back to work while you're job hunting.

All you can do is check your contract. Typically you get to keep all statutory maternity pay whatever but have to pay back occupational maternity pay unless you return to work for 3 months but obviously each case is different.

I did this, I wrote to give notice about 5 months before I was due to return and I was given an invoice of what I needed to pay back and we did a bank transfer.