Returning to work after maternity or parental leave

Dr Emma Wong shares her best advice for GPs going back to work following parental leave, navigating pay, childcare, clinical hours and more

Returning to work after a prolonged absence is always difficult. It can feel even more challenging when you are returning after taking extended time out for parental and caring responsibilities.

What if you can’t remember any medicine at all? Will your child be OK without you? Are you going back too soon? These are all common thoughts that might run through your head.

Having recently returned to work after maternity leave, here are my five top tips to make the transition easier:

1. Pay

Be aware of how your maternity (or paternity or adoption!) pay works, as this can affect how much leave you can take.

As a salaried or trainee GP with at least 12 months continuous NHS service at the beginning of the 11th week before the expected week of childbirth, you are entitled to:

• Full pay for the first eight weeks’ less any Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) or Maternity Allowance (MA);
• Half pay plus any SMP or MA (providing the total does not exceed full pay) for the next 18 weeks;
• SMP or MA for the next 13 weeks;
• Unpaid leave for the final 13 weeks of the 12 months.

You can ask your employer to pay this as an averaged monthly sum over the time you’re taking off, which can make budgeting easier, otherwise the drop to SMP alone can feel really tight. Don’t forget you can also share parental leave – up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay between you and your partner.

As a GP partner, leave depends on your partnership contract.

Remember, you will accrue annual leave while you are off work – think about whether you wish to take this at the end of your leave or hold some over to use throughout the year.

2. Childcare and help for working parents

Get your childcare sorted early! A lot of nurseries have very long waiting lists, with some even asking you to reserve places before your baby arrives. The cost can also vary wildly between nurseries and childminders.

The Government provides two schemes to help with childcare costs:

Tax free childcare

This provides up to £2,000 a year for each of your children to help with childcare costs, doubled for children with disability. For every £8 you pay into this account, the government will pay in £2 extra, which you can transfer directly to your childcare provider.

This can be used with the Free Childcare for Working Parents scheme, giving you 30 free hours a week to use with an approved provider. However, this is often only available in term time, and only covers care hours, not “extras” like nappies, wipes and food. Don’t forget to factor this in, as it can be a shock otherwise when the bill arrives, especially over the summer holidays.

Child tax benefits

There are also child tax benefits available if your income is below a certain threshold. Even if you’re not eligible, it may be worth setting up an account anyway, as this means your child will automatically receive an NI number without having to apply when they turn 18.

3. Restart your memberships

Many organisations provide reduced or discounted membership while you are on parental leave. The RCGP and BMA offer lower fees (and conference rates) and defence unions can pause subscriptions entirely.

Do remember to restart these before you return to clinical duties to make sure you are covered.

4. ‘Keeping in touch’ days and CPD

If you are a trainee, you are entitled to up to 10 KIT, or ‘keeping in touch’ days. These are paid days which can be used to shadow colleagues at work and get you back into clinical practice or to do mandatory learning, sort out your IT access, attend conferences, or anything else vital to allow you to return confidently.

KIT days are paid at the normal daily rate, minus any maternity or statutory maternity pay that you are currently earning, so it’s usually best to take these in the unpaid portion of parental leave.

As a salaried GP, KIT days are voluntary and negotiated between you and your employer, as is the pay. Negotiate them in advance and set clear boundaries for what you want to achieve.

If you’re using KIT days for CPD updates, make sure you log this for appraisal. The RCGP has lots of free online e-learning for members and provides several one-day courses (as do some other organisations) that can be very useful for a quick and concise overview of any changes that have occurred in your absence.

The RCGP Annual Conference, held every October, offers a reduced-price ticket for members on parental leave, and has a dedicated baby and toddler room with toys and feeding facilities so that you can bring your child (under 18) with you. You can also bring a carer free of charge to help supervise and share the load

5. Flexible hours and schedule changes

You may never have considered flexible working before, but it can certainly help with manging childcare responsibilities. It is useful to have an early conversation with your practice about any new requirements. For example, many nurseries state pick-up by 18:00 but the GP working day may not finish until 18:30, which can cause logistical issues. It may also be hard to reduce your hours with the added burden of childcare fees.

You might need to discuss whether you could start your day later initially and how your on-call commitment might need to be adjusted. It is also useful to discuss what the policy would be if you had to leave early, for example in an emergency.

It is also acceptable to ask for an induction, phased return or blocks to help settle back in.

The retainer scheme can also be helpful. It allows GPs who may otherwise leave the profession to work up to four sessions a week with protected time for CPD, defined job roles and additional support.

As an employee or trainee, you are also entitled to unpaid parental leave, at a total of 18 weeks’ leave for each child and adopted child, up to their 18th birthday. The maximum yearly amount you can take is four weeks for each child per year.

In summary, going back to work can often be much more emotionally charged and stressful anticipated. If you are finding it difficult, please do speak to your team and let them know of any issues early, so that people can be there to support you and help you settle back in.

Good luck – you’ve got this!

Dr Emma Wong is a GP partner in South Yorkshire. She is a member of the RCGP Parents and Carers Special Interest group and mum to a very energetic toddler