Hi all,
I’m currently going down a rabbit hole of online forums to try to find some clarity around this. I had my DS in May 2021. Prior to mat leave I worked in two part-time roles (totally 40 hours a week) in two different NHS trusts. One of my jobs paid me OMP and SMP, the other only paid me OMP due to my length of continuous NHS service (I hadn’t been working for their trust long enough to qualify for SMP apparently).
Now I’m due to return to work in a few months and am stuck. Financially it’s just not going to be possible for me to return full time due to childcare costs, but my partner and I can just about make it work with me going back 2.5 days a week with one role. I’d really like to return to my longstanding team. I’ve worked for them for 4 years now and have excellent relationships with my colleagues. Even though the post isn’t offering as many hours as I’d ideally like, the team have been so supportive during my pregnancy and mat leave. Tbh I had a really miserable experience with the other trust and all the people I worked with have left now. My question is, will I liable to pay back my OMP if I give notice and don’t return to one trust but I DO return to work part time with the other NHS trust?
Another part of the puzzle is that the role I DONT want to return to was a fixed term contact which ended in Feb 2022. They have extended the contact to allow me to complete maternity leave but I have no idea how this affects my liability to pay back OMP. If the contract officially ended, will I need to return to work for them for 3 months? Or am I covered because I intend to return to my other NHS role?
Apologies for such a long post, I’m just feeling a bit lost at sea with maternity policies and how it works with two jobs 