Holidays after maternity leave

[elmo89]

I am due back to work in July after taking a year off on maternity and have 4 weeks worth of holidays to use up.
I have asked work and they have said there is nowhere in the diary for me to take them as our holidays run october to october and august and september are full up.
They have told me I will have to squeeze them in where I can but I don’t see how I can squeeze 4 weeks off if there is no space??
Am i within my rights to add the 4 weeks holiday onto the end of my leave and so return in August instead of July?
My work are being very difficult in so many ways as I have already had difficulty with them in agreeing days to return which is why I took the extra 3 months off in the first place.
Any advice would be great!

If the last 3 months are unpaid could you not take the last month as annual leave so you get paid?

I’d do @mummyh2016 ‘s suggestion unless you can carry any days over to the new holiday year.

This is Acas’s advice on holiday and maternity leave
www.acas.org.uk/your-maternity-leave-pay-and-other-rights/holiday-and-maternity-leave

And it says:
By law, your employer must allow you to take your statutory holiday entitlement during the holiday year. If they do not allow you to take your holiday because of your sex or because of pregnancy and maternity, it could be discrimination.

Were your last 3 months unpaid? I effectively finished my mat leave after 11months and then have agreed the last 4 weeks as paid holiday so only took 2months unpaid. Could this be an option?

I never even thought of this. Only thing is we were wanting to book a family holiday but eldest is in P1 so can only go July or August!

If it's august and September that are full could you beg for the first week of the school hols in July off, then if they agree end your maternity leave 3 weeks early and take the other 3 weeks AL then?

Sorry July is full too!

How annoying. Could you spread them across multiple weeks taking every Friday or Monday off, say?

Legally I don't think they have to let you take them straight after your maternity (so ending in August instead) however, they do legally have to let you take them at some point in the holiday year.

I would personally try use some during the last month of maternity rather than taking it unpaid but you don't need to.

When in July are you due back, could you not go on the holiday before you're due back at work? Even if it means taking your DD out the last week of school say? If she's only P1. I don't know when in July the holidays start though - I'm in Scotland and they usually start the last day of June.
The fact that it's the school summer holidays is probably why July-September is already booked.

Your employer can legally dictate when you take your holidays but they have to let you take them so I would be asking them to let you know which dates are available for you to take and if you're allowed to carry any days over