NHS maternity leave

[June628]

Sorry if this has been asked before I haven’t had a chance to look through past threads.
I am currently on mat leave (NHS) I know I have to either return for 13 weeks following this or if I go to another NHS employer then I don’t. My question is about my required contractual notice. I spoke to HR who gave me the impression I can give my notice during my maternity leave and not physically go back to work at all, which I was surprised by.
Has anyone got experience of changing jobs within the nhs straight after mat leave?
I was under the impression I would have to go back following any accrued annual leave and work my notice (a/l counting within that)
Any help gratefully received.

You can give your notice during your maternity leave and start in a new NHS job straight after maternity leave. You just have to give them the normal amount of notice as detailed in your contract. If you move to a new job within the NHS you don’t need to repay your occupational maternity pay but if you leave the NHS completely then you’ll have to pay it back unless you return to work for 3 months first.

Yeah as above you can give your notice at any point on your mat leave and obviously assuming you have enough mat leave to cover your notice you wouldn't need to return. If you work outside of the NHS you would need to talk to your HR and find out how much OMP you accrued and what kind of payment plan they will accept you to pay it back over.

Its exactly as pp said. Think of the notice period and 3 months work in NHS as 2 seperate things.

You can hand in your notice while on mat leave and the end of your mat leave count as notice period (as long as theres enough time remaining) . In this case, annual leave owed will be paid to you. Or you take the annual leave during notice period (same end result).

If youre moving to another nhs trust, you need to work there for 3 months minimum otherwise repay the omp

Amazing. Thank you both. I don’t know why but I’m really surprised by that. I seem to remember colleagues coming back to work their notice despite moving to a different trust.
Now I need to find out if my new potential employer is classed as an NHS employer which my HR dept couldn’t tell me, said to ask them.

I suppose it’s possible they found a new job without having enough mat leave left to cover their notice period. That would make sense.