Do You Have to Pay Back Maternity Pay?
No for Statutory Maternity Pay: your employer cannot ask for it back, even if you never return. Enhanced maternity pay can be reclaimed if your scheme has a return condition and you do not meet it.
Statutory Maternity Pay is never repayable
HMRC tells employers that an employee who leaves is still entitled to SMP if they meet the qualifying conditions, whatever the reason they left, and that "you cannot ask them to repay it". That holds whether you resign during your leave or tell your employer at the start that you are not coming back. The return conditions below are about the employer's own pay: SMP stays yours either way.
How much SMP you get, and for how long, is covered in Statutory Maternity Pay.
When enhanced maternity pay has to be paid back
Each scheme sets how long you must go back for and what it can reclaim. These are the rules in the scheme documents listed under Sources.
| Scheme | Return for | The rule |
|---|---|---|
| NHS Agenda for ChangeNHS Maternity Pay Calculator | 3 months, with the same or another NHS employer | You intend to return to NHS work for at least 3 months. If you do not return within 15 months of the start of your leave, you can be asked to refund the maternity pay less the statutory pay you received. Employers can waive this for undue hardship. |
| Teachers, England and Wales (Burgundy Book)Teacher Maternity Pay Calculator | 13 weeks, school closures included | You return to teaching for at least 13 weeks, including any school closure periods. If you do not, your employer may ask you to repay the occupational pay for the weeks after week 6. SMP is never repayable. |
| Teachers, Northern IrelandTeacher Maternity Pay Calculator | 13 weeks | You return to teaching for at least 13 weeks. If you do not, the employing authority may ask you to repay the pay for the weeks after week 6. SMP is never repayable. |
| Local government (Green Book)Council Maternity Pay Calculator | 3 months | You return to local authority employment for at least 3 months. If you do not, you refund the occupational pay after the first 6 weeks. SMP is not refundable. |
| Police staff, England and WalesPolice Maternity Pay Calculator | 1 month | You return to work for the employer for at least one month. If you do not, you refund the monies paid. SMP is not refundable. |
| Fire and rescue, England (Grey Book) | 3 months | You return to work for at least three months. If you do not, the fire and rescue authority may ask you to refund all or part of the payments. SMP is not refundable. |
| Civil Service, DefraCivil Service Maternity Pay Calculator | 1 calendar month | You return for at least one calendar month's effective service. If you do not, the department will ask you to repay the salary paid during your leave, less any SMP. |
| Scottish GovernmentCivil Service Maternity Pay Calculator | 1 month of paid service | You sign an undertaking to repay your contractual maternity pay if you do not return, and to complete one month's paid service after your leave. Annual leave does not count. It is waived if you move to another Civil Service department without a break. |
| Welsh GovernmentCivil Service Maternity Pay Calculator | 1 month, starting within 52 weeks | You return within 52 weeks and complete one month's service. If you do not, you repay the pay above statutory pay. It can be waived. |
NHSScotland's own maternity policy says the same: you repay the occupational pay if you do not return for 3 months, and your employer can waive it for undue hardship or distress. Private employers set their own rules, so check the return clause in your maternity policy.
How much would you have to pay back?
The most an employer can reclaim is the occupational pay its clause covers. These figures are before tax, for 2026 to 2027.
NHS, Band 5 top
£39,043 a year, England
- Total maternity pay
- £18,787.94
- SMP, never repayable
- £10,467.00
- Refundable at most
- £8,320.94
Handbook 15.83: the whole of your maternity pay less the statutory pay you received.
Teacher, England
£36,000 a year, illustrative
- Total maternity pay
- £14,581.76
- SMP, never repayable
- £10,151.04
- Reclaimable at most
- £4,153.80
Burgundy Book: a sum after the first 6 weeks' payment, at the employer's discretion.
Council, Green Book
£30,000 a year, illustrative
- Total maternity pay
- £12,989.46
- SMP, never repayable
- £9,527.94
- Refundable at most
- £3,461.52
Green Book: the occupational pay after the first 6 weeks.
The NHS figure is the highest because its clause reaches all of the occupational pay, including the full-pay weeks. The teacher and council clauses start after week 6. To see the figure for your own pay, use the NHS Maternity Pay Calculator, the Teacher Maternity Pay Calculator or, for any other scheme, the Enhanced Maternity Pay Calculator. Each shows the reclaimable part next to your total.
If you tell your employer you will not return
Some schemes pay less from the start instead of reclaiming later. An NHS employee who does not intend to return receives pay equal to SMP, so there is no occupational pay to refund. On the Band 5 top salary that is £10,467.00 instead of £18,787.94. Under the Green Book, an employee not intending to return gets SMP only after the first 6 weeks: £9,527.94 instead of £12,989.46 on £30,000 a year.
When the refund can be waived or reduced
- NHS: your employer can waive the refund for undue hardship or distress (handbook 15.83). There is no refund where you would have had no job to go back to because a fixed-term contract would have ended (15.86).
- Teachers:the Burgundy Book and the Northern Ireland scheme both leave the sum to the employer's discretion.
- Scottish Government: the refund is waived if you move to another Civil Service department without a break.
- Welsh Government: the refund can be waived.
Questions about paying back maternity pay
Do I have to pay back SMP if I resign?
No.SMP stays yours if you resign during your leave, and HMRC says your employer cannot ask you to repay it. Only enhanced pay can be reclaimed, and only under your scheme's own clause.
Is there a minimum period I have to go back for?
Only if your scheme says so. In the schemes above it ranges from one month (police staff, Defra, the Scottish and Welsh Governments) to 13 weeks for teachers and 3 months for the NHS, councils and fire and rescue. What enhanced maternity pay is, and how the return condition fits a scheme, is covered on its own page.
Does moving to another NHS employer count as going back?
Yes. The NHS return condition is 3 months with the same or another NHS employer.
Is the refund the gross or the net amount?
The scheme texts quoted here do not say. The NHS handbook frames its refund as maternity pay less the statutory pay you received. Ask your payroll team to confirm the figure in writing. Every figure on this page is before tax.
Sources
- HMRC, Statutory Maternity Pay: employee circumstances that affect payment: SMP survives leaving and cannot be reclaimed.
- NHS Employers, NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook, Section 15 (Version 63, published 1 October 2026): paragraphs 15.15, 15.83, 15.86, 15.100 and 15.101; Band 5 pay point.
- NHSScotland, Maternity Policy (version 1.3).
- Conditions of Service for School Teachers in England and Wales (Burgundy Book), Section 5 (Revised edition, June 2023).
- TNC 2021/1 Teachers' Maternity Leave Scheme (TNC 2021/1, page updated 1 July 2021).
- Defra network maternity leave policy (FOI2025/00955 Annex D) (Version 5.0, May 2021).
- Scottish Government maternity policy (FOI 202400432133 annex) (Released 21 October 2024).
- Welsh Government maternity and adoption leave policy (ATISN 23266) (Released 12 February 2025).
- NJC Green Book, Part 2, paragraph 11 (Maternity Scheme) (1 May 2024 edition, copy hosted by Surrey County UNISON).
- Police Staff Council, England and Wales handbook (February 2026 update).
- NJC for Local Authority Fire and Rescue Services, Circular NJC 5/24, maternity pay (3 July 2024).
Checked 8 October 2026. Totals are worked out with the Maternity Pay Calculator engine; see Methodology and sources.