Work (council) have sent me a HUGE bill for not going back after Mat Leave. Can I beg with them to reduce it?? Help!

[umberella]

It's over £2000.

Crappity crap. We are so poor atm.

oh, delete that last line

Holiday - You accrue your usual allowance during OML and Statutory minimum during AML. These may be the same amount but as you work for the Council I assume the first 9m were enhanced in some way. You need to know when your Holiday year runs from and to and also how much you used or have already been paid for. You should have accrued a minmum of 24 days. If you have not used it or been paid it they owe you that amount of money.

i must admit my first instinct was " you shouldn't have taken it if you didn't intend to go back!" However, as you say circumstances have changed for us all, not just having a baby but the cost of living has really shot up. So I am now more sympathetic Do talk to them, they want the money and should be understanding to some degree, just check the figures first so that is straight, then you will know where your starting point is.

Isn't there a nice, approachable person in HR who could explain how the figure was arrived at?

DP's saying offer 'em a fiver a month

oohhhh my online statements only go back to november so there will be one month's pay missing from this but here goes.

(Please no-one jump in and berate me if you get/got less than this)
£ 1,119.76
£ 1,119.76
£ 1,012.07
£ 1,012.07
£ 872.97
£ 455.63
£ 450.31
£ 453.05
£ 453.25
£ 364.94
£ 8,433.57

I expect you will not be the first person who has done this, and surely they will be willing to come to some arrangement about staggering the payments.

You definitely to get them to explain precisely how it was calculated - I am sure SMP would be deducted from that 50%.

So you would be looking at six hundred and something quid. Will you lose more or less than that if you go back for 3 months?

i feel very odd putting my figures up here.

Think the spreadsheet is the way to go. Work out what they have paid you , what your statutory entitlement was plus outstanding holiday due - something like half of your Annual Entitlement for OML plus 5 days assuming you had 3 months AML (did you have any upfront of ML to take off ?). At the same time ask HR how they have calculated the amount owed and compare.

It actually makes more sense now I am looking at it on paper -what the heck have they given me for months 3-6??

In the absense of a friendl person, I would send them a letter like this:

"Thank you for your letter of X date.

I would be very grateful if you could explain how the figure of £2,000 has been calculated.

I was paid 90% of my salary for six weeks, 50% for 6 weeks and Statutory Maternity Pay for the six months remainder of my Maternity leave. I understand that the amount I need to repay is anything over and above the statutory minimum. By my calculations this is as follows:

Annual salary: £21,000
Weekly salary: £403.85
Weekly salary @ 50%: £201.93 x six weeks = £1,211.58
Minus Statutory Maternity Pay (£117.18 per week X 6 weeks = £703.08) = £508.50

I therefore calculate that I owe you £508.50. I would be grateful if you could explain how the figure of £2,000 was calculated, so that I can arrange repayment of the correct amount.

Many thanks for your help. Yours etc."

Does that perhaps coincide with the end of their holiday year ? Maybe they paid up the holiday accrued.

What months are those? Is the first month the month you started maternity pay?

And what shall I put in the Talk Roundup

Thank you MP you are soo helpful at your financial acumen.

Did you see my figures a few posts down??

Put Umberella is a NUMPTY

the first month is the SECOND 4 week spell of Mat Leave. My online statements don't go back that far.

hope you get a good payment plan in place after you determine what you owe.

Do they pay you 4-weekly or monthly?

BTW - I work in HR. We make mistakes on calculations (but don't tell anyone). Pay, especially SMP, SSp etc are complicated as they are weekly figures and most people at your level are on an annual salary with monthly payments, enhanced Holiday, pension payments etc. I have a feeling they have made an error - probably the SMP not deducted and the holiday allowance not being deducted.

four weekly.

good to hear that cmoc!

Re outstanding annual leave, it should only have been for current leave year - if you had any outstanding in previous leave year before you started, you should have taken it before you went - even on maternity leave, we can only carry forward 5 days.

lay off umbrella you miserable sods.

noone knows what they want to do before they have their baby really.
and circumstances change.

sounds like unfit mother had a good plan

pay 'em back a pound a week if ness, but you WILL have to pay them back so you might as well make it sooner rather than later.

good luck umbrella.

ok well HMMM

sorry it's not good

I think your NORMAL FULL TIME 4-weekly take-home salary at 21k AFTER TAX should be £1,244.44

So according to my calculations, they've given you:

12 weeks at 90%
followed by
10 weeks at 80%

followed by 22 weeks or so at SMP

So they are probably right.

What was the last month? It was quite a big figure. Oh! Was that the total amount?

thank you lovelysongbird

oh. my. god. MP!!!!!!

I am destined to be doing lidl shops and eating verry small portions for another year.

Should be back in my normal jeans soon then

any consensus on whether it would be unseemly to beg?