after 39 weeks of maternity

[Jesssleigh]

i want to have the full 52 weeks off work but obviously maternity pay ends after 39 weeks and my work are trying to say i wont receive any money till i return back to work its making me panicking

It's true. If you want the remaining 3 months off it's as unpaid leave.

Unfortunately unless your employer offers an enhanced package then the last three months are unpaid. Even most enhanced maternity pay finishes by that point.

Yep thats right, last 3 months are unpaid

Yeah, it’s unpaid. There will be accumulated annual leave that you can take, perhaps - your work can confirm.

The final part of maternity pay being unpaid is common.
If you have any accrued annual leave you might be able to "return" earlier using your leave - i.e. be on annual leave before you actually go back.

Some employers offer the option to average out your maternity pay over the full 52 weeks, so you get less to start with but don’t stop to £0. Worth asking your HR if they would do that.

Also, remember you can do up to 10 paid keeping-in-touch days. And you could also look at using your accrued holiday before returning to work, ie officially finishing maternity leave before the 52 weeks are up but being on paid holiday for however long you’ve accrued.

Correct- bullshit isn’t it

It’s true last 3 months is unpaid. I took 6 weeks of the 3 months unpaid and then they allowed me to take 5 weeks holiday I had accrued.

Can you use any annual leave at the end? That’s what I did. I spread my annual leave out over the last three months. Otherwise you need to save save save

I got paid tax I was owed which wasn't too bad & then 5 weeks of annual leave, so technically never received nothing.

What did you think happened in the last few months?