Returning To Work After Maternity Leave

[Mumma1997]

Hi everyone looking for a bit of advice from those who’ve been there please.

I started maternity leave in July 2025 and baby was born the same month.
I’ve been on Statutory Maternity Pay only, which finishes in April 2026. I’m planning to take the full 52 weeks off so my last 3 months will be unpaid and I would be returning in July 2026.

I’m starting to think ahead about returning to work and would really appreciate advice on the following:

• How did you tell your employer you wanted to take the full 52 weeks?
(Was it a formal email? How much notice did you give? From my contract I need to give at least 8 weeks notice, but no return has ever been given)

• How did you approach flexible working?
Before maternity I worked 37.5 hours over 5 days (with 1 hour for lunch), hybrid, with 1 day in the office. I would like to propose 3 days with flexible hours (unsure how to suggest this!)
Any tips on wording or what’s reasonable to ask for would be amazing.

• How did you ask about pay rises while you were on mat leave?
Whether inflation-based or performance-based — did you ask directly, or wait for them to raise it?

I want to approach everything professionally but confidently, and not undersell myself — it all feels a bit daunting and don't want to do anything incorrectly!

Thank you :)

I had to do all that on a form when when I was pregnant, and a meeting right before going on leave, which I appreciate doesn't help you now already on mat leave.

What does your company policy say on mat leave and notifications if dates etc? I'd check there/with HR and follow that, or just go with the earlier the better approach.

And make sure you put everything in an email for a paper trail

By default it is assumed you take 52 weeks unless you have told them differently.

Don't forget you also accrue holiday and bank holidays while you are off so I used mine to go back on the payroll before I returned to work physically and then some more to reduce my days when I was back temporarily. It helped settled DC into nursery too.

Pay rises were not as relevant for me as we don't get them very often and nothing routinely.

I was always told that the employer has to expect that you are taking a full year until (if) you state otherwise. So don't stress about telling them, thry are going to be expecting it. Do you have any 'keeping in touch ' days? If so maybe mention about the flexible working. Enjoy the rest of your mat leave, it flies by!

You only give 8 weeks notice if you want to return earlier than the 52 weeks. Your employer should have told you when your leave starts and ends.

You'd need to do a flexible working request for the change in hours.

Have you had/ are you planning on doing any KIT days?

pay rise should be done for all staff including you as part of the normal cycle. Usually a follow up letter is issued and you should receive that as normal?
Re flexible working, is to ask confidently for what you want and dont be apologetic. But also-focus heavily on how your request will work for the business or not adversely impact the business rather then a lot of how it needs to work for you/is important for you. If you ask for 3 they may sign it off or they may offer 4.
Be clear about expectations for office time and also what your expectations are re flexible hours.

In regards to pay rises, what does your employer normally do - is there an annual inflationary pay rise that everyone gets? If so, you should be notified as normal.

Flexible working, you’ll need to put in a formal flexible working request, there will be a form to fill out.

As far as what’s reasonable to ask for, well you can ask for whatever you want but the likelihood of it being accepted, that very much depends on your role, the organisation and culture. Is it a role that can easily be job shared or managed on fewer hours? How inconvenient would it be for your employer to cover the work you wouldn’t be doing?

As a general rule, if there are other people in similar roles with similar set ups to the one you want then that gives you a better likelihood of your request being accepted.

I would suggest when you think about the request to think about what might work for the organisation as well as for you, and prioritise what’s most important to you (eg. Is working 3 days a week more important than flexible hours)

I had told my boss when I was pregnant I wanted to come bk part time probably 3 days. Funnily enough I wanted to ask for 1 day wfh but decided not to as knew it would be rejected! This was 2017. I now only go the office once a week 🤣

My manager also had a baby a few months after mine. So I had to go meet with a new manager about coming bk part time. I left it quite late, it was around November time. I was due back Feb.

I had planned to ask for a full year at this mtg. However she started telling me about what they had planned in place for me to come back part time and there was a particular role they were holding (same job just smaller area to look after). There was going to be a staffing gap for about a month until I came back, that was fine. I thought fuck I can’t now turn round and ask for more time off. I was just happy they had agreed to give me part time hours, I was flexible with the days too and we agreed everything there and then.

If you plan to use childcare I’d get your hours and days sorted asap. I only needed one day and there was only 1 nursery available, luckily it was the closest and a really good one.

Ask for a meeting to discuss you coming back from maternity leave. You could even do a kit day and have the meeting then. I wouldn’t be asking about pay rises but surely if they are company wide you get one anyway. If you think they’ll be awkward you might want to have some notes about how it would effect your role, your team etc and solutions to problems they may come up with.