not returning to work after a year's maternity leave

[lucykate]

i'm due to go back to work mid may but due to a change in circumstances and relocation with my husbands job, won't be going back. i was hoping for advice/other people's experiences with the following,

is it really cheeky to ask, prior to handing in my notice, if there is any chance of being made redundant instead?

if i'm becoming a 'stay at home mum', what do i do about national insurance?, do i need to sign on?

what about my pension, should i freeze it or take the money out? (it is quite a good pension scheme, but i've only paid into it for 8 years)

thanks!

[clairelb]

Firstly, I'd advise checking the terms and conditions of your Mat Leave. Where I work, if you fail to return to work after Maternity leave you are obliged to repay all your maternity leave money you receive from the employer.

As for asking for redundancy, is your employer actually looking to cut staff? You can only be made redundant if the job is no longer viable/present - if they would need to replace you/your position, then redundancy terms would not apply. The chances are that your employer has been aware of your intention to return and therefore is a position for you to return to.

National Insurance is covered by receiving child benefit, however there are different levels of NI payments and those you receive through the child benefit are not the 'full' amount. I am not too sure of the ins and outs of this, but it may have some effect on your national state pension and your entitlement to certain state benefits if you should ever need to claim them. People can sign on to receive their NI credits, but by signing on your are declaring yourself able and willing to work and would be subject to the same rules as those who are claiming full Jobseekers Allowance. The only other way to get full NI payments is to arrange to pay them yourself.

[Hgrove]

If you enquire about being made redundant, they will guess you are thinking of leaving, and they will not offer it to you meaning they do not have to give you a redundancy payment! You would be better off making discreet enquiries with your colleagues, if you are on friendly terms with them, to see if there are redundancies in the pipeline. Statutory mat.pay: the government pay that to the employer who pass it on to you so they cannot ask you to pay it back. But if your employer offers additional benefits, there may be something in your contract about paying it back. Pension: you are not allowed to take cash out of your pension scheme (in England that is). If you ever go back to work in a job with a pension, you may be able to transfer the money into the new scheme, but they will never be able to give it to you "cash in hand" so to speak.

[lucykate]

thanks for the responses!

i only got the govt basic maternity pay, so i won't have to pay anything back, and didn't know about the national insurance/child benefit link, so thats useful to know and i'll investigate it more.

my immiediate superior is a friend, so i will speak to her on the qt about redundancy. it's just last year a girl at work was in a similar situation to me, i knew they were going to offer her redundancy, but she handed her notice in first, so she never knew!.

[les saisies]

Go back to work for 1 day and then hand in your notice.

You should then qualify for back holiday entitlements or pay in lieu, any annual/christmas bonus paid during your absence and also any employer pension contributions paid into your pension.

Quite a little package for 1 days work plus period of notice, most of which you can take as holiday assuming you are on an average of 5 weeks holiday per year