“I came back from maternity leave and I was begged to do more hours,” explains Helen, 36, who works in sales. However, a storm was brewing: “I soon found out the man who’d worked as my maternity cover had saved his P45 on the company’s public server. The whole company had seen his salary, and it was almost twice what mine was. It was humiliating.”

Helen’s is just one story of new mums who are being failed in UK workplaces. But they all follow a similar arc: woman goes on maternity leave to have a child, technically contributing to the workforce of the future as she builds her child’s bones from within her own. She returns to work only to be treated differently, as though being punished for what she went and did.

We might never know how many women are on the receiving end of maternity discrimination. Partly because some, so grateful to accept the maternity pay they did receive, simply put up and shut up. Partly because once a woman complains loudly enough, her employer might seek to shut her up with a pay-out and a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).

Recent research from Pregnant Then Screwed in partnership with Women In Data found that 435,293 mothers are estimated to have signed NDAs following discrimination, bullying and harassment at work. Of those, three-quarters said it had a negative impact on their mental health. Sure, a new mum can opt to walk away from the payout and the NDA, but if she wants to bring legal action she has a paltry three-month window to begin proceedings (and potentially a long wait afterwards to see if justice is served). Who wants that on top of raising a young family?

Helen quit as soon as she discovered that wild pay disparity and has been out of work since. She spoke to Stylist on the condition of anonymity for fear of her old company taking legal action against her.

Women returning to work after maternity leave are being failed – what are politicians offering to make things better?