What a good return-to-work programme looks like
Most employers say they support women coming back from maternity leave or a career break. Far fewer have actually built anything. The gap between the two shows up quickly: a welcome-back email, a laptop that needs resetting, a team that has changed, and no real plan beyond hoping you find your footing.
A proper return to work programme closes that gap deliberately. It treats the return as a designed process with owners, checkpoints and a defined end, rather than a date in a calendar.
The stakes are not small. Research by the Equality and Human Rights Commission found around one in nine mothers reported being dismissed, made compulsorily redundant when others were not, or treated so poorly they felt they had to leave. Scaled across the UK, that pointed to roughly 54,000 women a year losing their jobs after pregnancy or maternity leave. Most of that happens not through a single dramatic act but through a badly handled return.
Here is what a good programme actually contains, and how to tell whether the one you are being offered is real.
The difference between a return to work programme and a returnship
The two terms get used interchangeably and they are not the same thing.
A return to work programme supports an existing employee coming back to their own employer after maternity leave, shared parental leave, adoption leave, long-term sickness or a sabbatical. The job already exists. The programme is about re-entry.
A returnship is a recruitment route. It is a paid, fixed-term placement, usually three to six months, for someone returning to the workforce after a longer break, often with a different employer entirely. It functions as a supported audition for a permanent role. Our guide on what a returnship is and whether it is right for you covers that route in detail.
If you are being offered something labelled a returnship but it comes with no pay, no defined end point and no route to a permanent job, it is neither of these things. It is unpaid work with a friendly name.
What a good programme includes
The strongest UK programmes share five features. Very few employers have all five, and the ones that do tend to be worth working for.
A phased return, written down. Not “we can be flexible”, but an agreed pattern: for example three days a week for the first month, four for the second, full pattern from month three, with the salary treatment for each stage stated. Vagueness at this stage is where goodwill quietly disappears.
A named person who is not your line manager. A buddy, mentor or returner coach gives you somewhere to ask the questions you do not want to ask the person who writes your review. This is the cheapest element of any programme and the one most often missing.
A deliberate reintroduction to the work. Somebody should have documented what changed while you were away: the reorganisation, the new system, the client that left, the process that replaced the old one. Being handed a full workload on day one with no context is not trust, it is neglect.
Keeping in touch built in before you return. UK maternity rights include up to 10 keeping in touch days, and 20 shared parental leave in touch days, that you can use without losing statutory pay or ending your leave. A good employer offers these proactively and pays you properly for them. Our explainer on KIT days and how many you can take covers how they work.
A real conversation about the shape of the job. Since 6 April 2024, the right to request flexible working has been a day one right in the UK. Employees can make two requests in a 12-month period and employers must respond within two months. A serious programme raises this before you come back rather than waiting for you to ask.
The legal floor, so you know what is a favour and what is a right
A programme is a benefit. Some of what sits around it is law, and it helps to know which is which.
You have the right to return to the same job after ordinary maternity leave of up to 26 weeks. After additional maternity leave, you have the right to return to the same job, or if that is not reasonably practicable, to a suitable and appropriate alternative on terms no less favourable.
Pregnancy and maternity are protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, so being treated unfavourably because of them is discrimination, not a management style.
Since 6 April 2024, redundancy protection has been extended. Pregnant employees are protected from the point they tell their employer, and the protected period now runs for 18 months from the expected week of childbirth. In a redundancy situation, protected employees must be offered first refusal on suitable alternative vacancies.
ACAS publishes free, impartial guidance on all of this, and gov.uk sets out the statutory position. If a programme’s promises sit below the legal floor, that tells you something about the employer.
How to test a programme before you commit
Ask specific questions and listen for specific answers.
Ask who has been through it. If the employer cannot name a cohort or point you to someone who returned in the last year, the programme is a document rather than a practice.
Ask what happened to them afterwards. Retention at six and twelve months is the honest measure. So is promotion. If everyone who returned is still in the same grade three years later, the programme is managing exits gently rather than rebuilding careers.
Ask how pay and progression are handled during the phased period. Reduced hours on full responsibilities at reduced pay is a common and quietly punishing arrangement.
Ask what happens if it is not working. A programme with a review point at week six and a route to adjust is designed for real life. One with no checkpoints assumes nothing will go wrong, which is a strange assumption to make about anyone’s first months back.
Ask about the manager, not the policy. The policy is written centrally. The experience is delivered by one person. For broader signals to look for, inclusive employers and what good looks like is a useful benchmark, and returning to work after maternity leave covers the confidence side of the transition.
Why this matters more than the CV
Career breaks read as gaps on paper. They are not gaps in capability, and a well-run return to work programme is essentially an employer saying so out loud, then backing it with structure.
The employers worth your time are the ones who understand that a woman returning after a year out is not a risk to be managed but an experienced person with a short reorientation period. Everything else is a welcome-back email. Our piece on why CVs flatten women explains why the paper version of you undersells the actual version.
Frequently asked questions
What is a return to work programme?
It is a structured support process for an employee returning after an extended absence such as maternity leave, adoption leave, shared parental leave or long-term sickness. A good one includes a phased return, a named mentor, a proper handover of what changed, and a review point after a few weeks.
How long should a phased return last?
Most UK programmes run between four and twelve weeks, depending on how long you were away and the nature of the role. What matters more than the length is that the pattern, the pay at each stage and the end date are agreed in writing before you start.
Is a return to work programme the same as a returnship?
No. A return to work programme supports an existing employee coming back to their own job. A returnship is a paid, fixed-term placement, usually three to six months, that acts as a recruitment route back into the workforce after a longer break.
Can my employer refuse flexible working when I return?
They can refuse a request, but only for one of the eight statutory business reasons, and they must handle it properly. Since April 2024 you can request from day one, make two requests in a 12-month period, and expect a decision within two months. ACAS has free guidance if a request is mishandled.
Ready to be seen for what you can do rather than the year you took off? Join the RecruitHer waitlist and be seen for your full potential, not flattened into a CV.
This is educational information, not legal advice. Employment rights vary by contract and circumstance. For free and impartial guidance on maternity rights, flexible working and returning to work, contact ACAS or check gov.uk.
Last reviewed: August 2026