Skip to content
Accessibility Sitemap Search

The UK's national charity for working parents and carers

Donate
Members log in

The difference we’ve made, together  

Published: 3 Sep 2025

Working Families Legal Advice Service continues to be a force for good for struggling working parents and carers. The latest impact report shows that the charity’s helpline and 200-plus advice and guidance pages touched many lives and helped some of the UK’s most vulnerable. 

You’ve been a lifeline for me at a terribly difficult time in my life.

Your advice gave me the confidence to speak to my manager about how my diagnosis impacted my plans to return to work and to discuss my options.

The impact report highlights how much progress the three strands of the charity’s work – empowering parents and carers, supporting employers, and driving change – has made during the past year. This has involved introducing a certification scheme for employers who want to build family-friendly workplaces, and re-establishing the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Flexible and Family-Friendly Working to facilitate cross-party collaboration to develop practical solutions and advance policy change.  

But perhaps the most striking feature of the report is how far the charity’s advice reaches. The advice pages, that give parents and carers the information they need to resolve workplace challenges themselves, was accessed by 1 in 10 UK parents in the past year. Having freely available webpages, accessible to those in almost every corner of the country, led to 1.6 million unique visitors having made almost 2 million visits. 

Your advice helped me to gain flexible working to support my son’s transition to primary school. Without your advice, I would have had to give up my job.

My flexible working arrangement has been approved, and I feel more secure in my job. This has also meant my child can attend nursery four days per week instead of five, which has given us more financial security. 

In addition, over 1,500 people received legally sound, practical advice that enabled them to keep their jobs, negotiate working arrangements that make family life that bit easier, or access in-work benefits that they desperately need. Alongside it’s team of expert advisers, Working Families depends upon the support of over 70 volunteer lawyers from 14 law firms to respond to a sustained level of demand.  

Over a quarter of those contacting the helpline live in relative poverty, despite working, rising to 43% of those seeking help via the advice pages. Many needing advice are facing multiple barriers to combining work and caring responsibilities, such as the two thirds of single parents living in relative poverty and those surviving on the lowest income being twice as likely to be from an ethnic minority background. 

It felt like a weight off getting this benefits buffer whilst on maternity leave as a single mum.

The impact report unequivocally shows the positive difference Working Families is making in the lives of parents and carers. Collecting data both immediately after someone has received advice, and two to three months later showed: 

  • 98% of people better informed 
  • 95% felt empowered to act on advice 
  • 100% of people needing benefits advice felt they better understood their entitlements 
  • 9 in 10 felt situation was resolved two to three months later as a result of advice given 

In addition, there was a tangible financial improvement for many families: 

  • 43% of the 46 people who received benefits advice and responded to the long-term outcomes survey told us they had increased their household income by an average of £4,592 per year.   
  • Overall, Working Families enabled families to access £90,000 in unclaimed benefits 

Ambassador Charlie Beswick, of Our Altered Life, said:  

For many carers, working is a lifeline – it’s the opportunity for personal and professional development, it’s a chance to earn and reclaim a part of your identity. Working Families’ advice and helpline helps more carers stay in work, whilst accessing the flexibility they need. It’s advice that really can change lives.

For any working parent or carer who is struggling with a workplace issue – from discrimination to wondering how to approach their employer to ask for flexible working – or has a query about benefits they may be entitled to whilst working, the Working Families’ website has a wealth of information, and helpline advisors can answer more complex questions. 

  • Our Impact

    Our annual impact report showcases how we are making a difference in the lives of working parents and carers across the UK. 

  • Contact us for advice

    Use our contact form for free legal advice on family and carer-related employment rights and in-work benefits.

  • Our Legal Advice Service – data deep dive

    Over the years, we’ve supported thousands of parents and carers in times of crisis—from everyday struggles to the pandemic—offering trusted advice when all other options felt exhausted. In 2023, we began tracking the impact of our support more closely. The results confirmed what we believed: our advice truly makes a difference.

  • Working Families Strategy 2024 – 2029

    The path to building a stronger future lies in developing diverse, productive and happy workplaces that empower individuals with caring responsibilities to contribute fully to the economy while maintaining harmonious family lives. And at Working Families, we’re ready to help make this happen.