Paying back enhanced maternity pay advice

[ItIsAllChange]

My current job says I need to return to work for a minimum of twelve months or else I have to repay my enhanced maternity leave. I’ve been offered a new job which means starting 53 weeks after my maternity leave ended. However, in the last year, I have had three weeks off for parental leave, two weeks for chicken pox and used up my annual leave entitlement. DH and carefully planned the parental leave and our annual leave to cover school holidays but hadn’t anticipated that I would also go down with chickenpox and that two children would (the eldest for the second time!) one after the other.

I’m assuming using my accrued holiday is fine but does the 12 months mean I must have physically been in the office and working for twelve months (so the time off for parental leave and sick pay are added onto the end) or not? I have also overused my holiday (leave year runs September to August and due to chickenpox, I borrowed more than I would have be entitled to if I leave next month) so will that impact?

Usually in my experience it would just mean employed for 12 months, so periods of annual leave, short bouts of sickness etc wouldn't matter, but you'll need to check the exact wording of the policy to be sure, it should be on your work intranet or ask HR for a copy?

Re having overtaken your accrued holiday, again my instinct says no (although you may have to pay back the overtaken holiday pay), but you'll need to check.

Provisions for enhanced maternity pay are down to the individual company to decide, not set in law like statutory maternity pay, so that's why I'm saying you'll not get a firm answer on here - 12 months already sounds like an unusually strict policy to me (I am more used to 3 or 6 months) so maybe your company has some weird rules around additional leave as well...

Thank you. I’m fully expecting to pay back the extra holiday. This new job is a short walk from home and is term time at a local private school so it’s perfect for school holidays. Due to the extra long summer holidays, I wouldn’t miss out on things like sports days etc at my children’s school either. It’s so ideal and I didn’t expect to get it, that I can’t say no but it could mean beans on toast for a few months!

I think my employer has such a strict policy because their enhanced pay is very generous, so it’s understandable. I have got the policy and it’s very vague and only has one paragraph, which is two sentences, about leaving before the end of the 12 months. I wonder whether it’s so they can use their discretion or interpret it how they wish. I’m guessing from what you are saying that they can do what they like (understandable as they did give me extra money) and that’s why I couldn’t find anything online.