Should I declare my intention not to return to work after mat leave?

[widgetsmummy]

Are there any pros to doing so? What does it mean if I changed my mind and did want to come back (pigs might fly!)? Should I be honest?

Got to fill in the form by end of the week, all advice welcome.

Thank you x

Not sure of any legal ins and outs, but personally, I would not say of any intention not to return, until I had to do so (ie however many days before I was due to return to work).

I had no intention of returning but never openly said it and no-one at work asked directly either. I just said I wasn't sure how I would manage so couldn't say.

Does it impact on your maternity pay at all?

I would in all honesty keep my options open - use your year and then see how you feel. You can give notice notice at any point your maternity leave.

HTH

Do not declare do not declare do not decl;are - they will hire someone else permenantly and should you wish to return, you won't be able to.

Keep your options open. You may yet change your mind!

do not declare - whilst on maternty leave you accrue holiday so when you resign they have to pay you for it Thats what I did !

if i can remember it rightly when i had 6 months paid maternity leave off...if i didnt want to return back to work..i had to write to my company 4 weeks before i was due to return back.

Do not declare! The only way I would declare is if they are giving you more than SMP. If they do and you don't go back you might have to pay back the extra.

In the NHS if you don't return you don't get as much mat pay and if you get paid said mat pay and then don't return you have to pay it back agree keep your options open but look into your mat pay aswell, good luck!

lomondgore x posts!!!

Oh, good point about accruing holiday wheelybug, I'd forgotten about that. Also if you have any benefits, like health insurance, you will continue to receive them whilst on leave. I don't intend to go back after my next child, and I have unofficially told my line manager so, but I won't resign until the last possible minute in order to keep my health cover and pension payments going for as long as possible.

Thanks ladies... it is a good point about holidays and benefits.

Leaving work is so exciting!!! (Must remind myself of that fact when we have £10 to last the month)

Don't declare - you would still get all your holiday and benefits, that can't be taken away from you, and you do also have the right to change your mind unless of course you formally hand in your notice rather than just saying you don't at present have any intention of coming back. But there's no advantage to declaring, and so many people change their mind about their intentions - a year is a long time for anything to happen.

Other thing is as others have said, if you get enhanced maternity pay which is dependent on you returning for a set period of time, it might be worth saying you don't want to take advantage of it. Or you could take it just in case pigs do fly, but just put it in an account somewhere and not spend it. Then it's there if you don't go back for you to pay back without difficulty but if you do go back, you have it to spend.

There may be some benefits to taking enhanced pay even if you know you will have to pay it back. In my case the non-contributory part of my pension payments (the part the company pays) is based how much I'm earning, so the extra pay means more money in my penson fund, which they can't take back even though I will have to give back the pay itself. Also, I can put the extra money into something like a 6 month bond or premium bonds and then when I pay it back I will still have the interest/winnings.

On the other hand, if you think you will spend the extra money and then struggle to repay it I may be better to not take it in the first place.

Also, you can look into how long you have to return to work for in order not ot pay your enhanced mat pay back - I was working for the employment service, only had to go back for a month, so saved up a month's holiday and flexi, went back to work but took the leave, and didn't have to pay anything back! ES rules are very generous here though, but it is worth looking into - if say you were planning taking holiday before mat leave it would possibly be worthstarting your mat leave early and using the holiday to return to work with for your statutory period (I used to work doing the HR stuff around pay and leave and used it to my distinct advantage when I left)