Leaving role at the right time without repaying enhanced Mat pay

[SW2025]

When I return from mat leave, contractually if I leave within 6 months of returning I would have to pay back the enhanced part of my mat pay. In general I also need to give 3 months notice if I find another role.

So if I was offered a new job says 3-5 months after I returned and due to leave/start the new role after that 6 month period will I have to pay my enhanced mat leave back. I.e start back at work 1st March, resign 15th July and give 3 months notice to leave 15th October (so will be around 7 months after returning to work). I only ask as this is not clearly outlined in the maternity policy.

I just want to leave my current job as soon as possible as it’s toxic environment even before I went on leave, they’ve rejected my flexible working request and only want me full time as it appears they’ve expanded the remit of my role and now the company is forcing people back into the office pretty much full time and with little childcare support beyond nursery it’s not going to be sustainable, so need to find a more flexible employer.

As long as you work for them for 6 months you won’t have to pay it back - so your proposed scenario of working 7 months before leaving is fine.

Thank you! I’m just figuring out when to start my job search after I return. So I’ll pretty start looking around 2.5 months.

I'm so desperate to leave as I’m just filled with dread about having to return to awful place. Friends and family have told me to just sign off with stress if it gets too much , but I would rather not have to resort to that

I'd give it a bit longer if you're in a small industry that's not a great look and word gets around, although only you can gauge it

I’m not really bothered by that as I can take my role into any sector and definitely not planning to stay in current sector. Plus why should it go against you if you’re looking for flexibility? I think it’s a sound reason to leave a role

Thank you, that’s really lovely and supportive. I’ve tried getting an answer from HR and it’s a dead end plus I don’t really want to give them an ickling that’s what I plan to do as I just don’t trust them.

That's fair. More if you time it for the payout and it's obvious, that wouldn't go down so well in my circles (but mine is a small industry, where everyone knows everyone)

That’s a shame you feel like that would go against you! It awful as a mother, after carrying a baby for 9 months, giving birth, taking maternity leave for best part of a year, adapting to motherhood, you’re still expected to come back full time as if nothing has changed. But if you do something about it to make it work for yourself and family to get a work life balance to ultimately be more productive and deliver a better quality of work to advance you career, it goes against you.

I'd just leave asap and not be bothered about the payout. It's terrible working in a toxic environment, and I'm sure will be extra stressful after having a baby

Yeah payout would be almost £8k (3 months full pay plus 3 months of 50%) even if I had that, I would not give a penny of that to them 😅

Don't forget that it's only the enhanced part that is repaid - statutory maternity pay can't be recouped by the employer so that's 90% of full pay for 6 wks and then the rest at the lower smp rate

You need to check your contract, if they are entitled to pay you in lieu of notice (PILON) it would bring your termination date forward to the date you gave your notice which would then be less than 6 months. It would be a bit sneaky of them but legally I think they would be able to argue you had then not worked the 6 months and therefore they could reclaim the enhancement.

Is PILON similar to gardening leave?

It's lovely - but this is caring AI

Wow! We’re in an age when something that’s perceived to be nice must be AI 🙄

It use ai and copilot a lot - it's the style, language and framing that makes it's obviously written by ai. I didn't say it wasn't nice too. I just don't want you to invest too much.

Do you expect to go back and receive the same salary as if nothing has changed?

People taking advantage of enhanced mat leave and then bailing is one reason why ay my workplace we never hire women of childbearing age any more. It’s never said aloud, but the successful candidates always “just so happen” to be men or mature women. We’ve been screwed too many times in the past.

Do you expect to go back and receive the same salary as if nothing has changed?

People taking advantage of enhanced mat leave and then bailing is one reason why ay my workplace we never hire women of childbearing age any more. It’s never said aloud, but the successful candidates always “just so happen” to be men or mature women. We’ve been screwed too many times in the past.

You need to read the policy extremely carefully to see whether tied to date of leaving or date of resigning. Yes watching for impacts of PILON.

PILON is payment in lieu of notice. So if you resign with a 3 month notice period, gardening leave means you are an employee for next 3 months but don’t need to work. PILON brings forward your termination date but they pay you your salary for rhe 3 months up front. Mean you are out sooner and can start somewhere else but does mean you miss out of benefits for that period.

Isn’t that discrimination?

Checked it, it’s definitely not on there

Have you taken your annual leave accrued during mat leave? Plus you have the leave that will accrue during the 6 months.

Plan how to use it to your advantage. Statutory is 28 days = 5.6 weeks if you took the full 12 months mat leave. Plus 14 days = 2.8 weeks for 6 months worked. If you have occupational leave that’s higher all the better.

So rather than 6 months it’s less than 4 months of actual work. You could take 1 days leave a week for 26 weeks so you are only working 4 day weeks plus the rest of your leave in a block. .You could take one weeks leave every 4 weeks so you only working 3 weeks then have a week off. Be creative.

Not if it can’t be proven.

What a great company you work for! Very inclusive 😉

No gardening leave your contract continues and your remain employed you just aren’t required to work (& are normally prohibited from working elsewhere/going to the office etc). PILON would terminate your employment on the day they pay from. It’s not an automatic right employers have though so you would need to check your contract. There may be additional information in your mat leave policy.