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 ❤️
Feeling excluded by other mums
I work for the police force, however I am not a police officer, I work in CCTV and surveillance.
There's a group of mums that attend my daughters playgroup and sometimes after playgroup we would all go for a coffee at the cafe around the corner.
I noticed recently that I stopped being invited, I was driving out the carpark a couple weeks ago and saw all the other mums walking down the road towards the cafe. It got me a bit upset honestly and I had a little cry on the way home but I tried to just convince myself they'd forgotten to invite me or maybe decided to go last minute when I was already in my car. But tbh I did feel like a couple of the mums didn't like me, I tried my best to chat with them but they weren't very warm or chatty to me.
We were all at playgroup yesterday and I was talking to one of the mums who I'm closest with and I asked if they were going for coffee afterwards and she seemed a bit awkward and she was like "well S is organising it, maybe ask her"
S is one of the mums who doesn't seem to like me very much.
It felt so childish like surely we don't all need her permission??
I went along anyway and immediately felt out of place and like everyone was actively trying to ignore me, even the mums who I am friendly with. Like I was definitely crashing the coffee date.
The only reason I can think of is my job. I had mentioned it a while ago and one of the mums said "oh watch out, don't say too much in front of this one!!" And then another had mentioned in a joking way that I might know S's man (at first i thought maybe through work but I quickly realised they were implying that he's some sort of petty criminal)
They were all laughing about it and never really brought it up again but since them I've noticed a shift and I can't think of any other reason to exclude me.
Honestly it's got me really down and I've spent a lot of today thinking about it and I'm trying to look for a different playgroup to go to with my daughter. I had a wee cry to my husband last night and he says I've just to ignore them and keep going because our daughter really enjoys it and it's so close by, but I don't think he understands that most of the reason I go is to try and make mum friends.
If you financially didn't *need* to work, would you still?
I'm not talking millionaire status, but if you had enough money to live comfortably, maybe your partner earns enough if you're in a relationship, or you have savings or something, plenty to live a comfortable life, go on holidays/vacations and buy your kids nice things. Would you still work or would you be a SAHM? Even if you have a small baby/toddler?
Help me make a decision pleasssee
Job a: flexibility, $28/an hour, no benefits, part time (4days a week,8-4) which allows me to focus on homework and have time for family.
OR
Job b: full time, benefits,$36/hr, no flexibility or days off, 8-5pm which makes time hard for family and homework
