Not getting a pay rise due to being on maternity

Hi everyone, I’m looking for some advice and wondering if anyone has been through something similar or works in HR/employment law.

I’ve had my return-to-work meeting ahead of coming back from maternity leave, and I’ve been told I won’t be getting this year’s pay rise. This is what my employer said:

“As you have been on maternity leave for a significant proportion of the current review period, it has not been possible to complete a full performance assessment against these criteria in line with the rest of the team. Accordingly, your salary will be considered as part of the next annual pay review in April 2027, when there will have been sufficient opportunity to assess your performance against the same criteria applied to all employees.”

The thing is, the company only changed to performance-based pay rises in December 2025, and I started my maternity leave on 15 January 2026. So I was only working under the new performance review process for a very short period before going on maternity leave.

I’m currently challenging the decision because I don’t think it’s fair to effectively miss out on a pay rise because I was on maternity leave. I’ve already spoken to ACAS, and they’ve advised me to send a further email explaining why I believe the decision is unfair before taking it any further.

Has anyone else had something similar happen? If so, what was the outcome? Or if anyone works in HR or employment law, I’d really appreciate your thoughts. I’m just trying to understand whether this is something employers can legally do or whether I have grounds to challenge it.

Thank you ❤️

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