Redundancy whilst on maternity

[Chimpette]

Hi,

Could someone please help me. I have just been informed that I will be made redundant from the 28th July 2011. I will be on maternity then, and they have said they will pay my whole SMP from Aug-Dec in one lump sum, along with my holiday pay.

The thing is that I was planning on returning to work earlier than Dec.. I was actually hoping to go back to work on the 1st October. So would I need to pay back the 2 months of maternity leave that they have paid me in advance, and would I also need to pay the 2 months worth of holidays that they have paid me if I manage to get another job starting on the 1st Oct..

Thanks
Susan.

 

[littleblonde]

I would speck to citizens advise for sure. But logic would say maybe have to pay back the smp as this is paid by government through your work and i cant see them letting you earn money and claim smp at the same time. But with the holiday as your redendant then i cant see how they would even no

 

[emsiee]

If you are just receiving standard SMP from your employer and no enhanced mat pay from them, then no, BUT, as for working somewhere else and claiming SMP, you cant do that. If you get another job, you need to tell the inland revenue (they will know anyway by your NI number) and will probably chase you for it, not your ex employer, unless your employer is paying you enhanced maternity pay, which, in that case, yes you would have to pay the difference between SMP and the enhancement back. If your going to another job in October, then no, you are owed the holidays too.

If you have put in writing you are taking leave from Aug - Dec, then thats what thay have paid you for and if you want to return earlier, you would need to speak to them about that.

 

[xxembobxx]

I wouldn't have thought you would have to pay any holiday back as they will have calculated your entitlement.
As for SMP you cannot continue to receive it if you are working so if you get another job it will need to be paid back.
Please note that I got a lump sum SMP payment due to redundancy and I was worse off as I was taxed a lot and NI charges were higher than they would have been if I had continued being paid weekly. Something to bear in mind.
Hope it all works out for you

 

[Chimpette]

Thanks everyone.

I've since had an email saying that my holiday would only be paid from Jan - July, so I'm losing out on my holidays. They haven't given me the option of paying my SMP monthly, after redundancy I guess this is something that I will need to look into.

Thanks again.

xx