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Working Families’ Legal Advice Service reaches 1 in 10 UK working parents and carers  

Published: 25 Jun 2025

Working Families’ Legal Advice Service continues to be a force for good for struggling parents and carers. The latest figures show that the helpline and 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.

The figures show that the helpline remains a lifeline for those facing the most challenging of circumstances that require specialist, tailored advice. Last year, almost 1,500 people received a response in under four days, giving them legally sound, practical advice that enabled them to keep their jobs, negotiate working arrangements that made family life that bit easier, or access in-work benefits that they desperately needed. Alongside its 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.  

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.

And, for the first time this year, data has been included in the deep dive on visits to the website. Working Families are beginning to understand just how far the advice pages reach and what impact they have on people’s circumstances. The advice pages, that empower people to help themselves, have been accessed by 1 in 10 UK working parents and carers. The website can reach almost every corner of the country, evident in over 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.

Reaching those in need 

Those seeking advice via the helpline and online are predominantly women, most of whom are raising children. Over a quarter of those contacting the helpline live in relative poverty, despite working, but this rose to 43% of those seeking help via the advice pages. 

Our advice, delivered through the helpline and online resources, is reaching those who need it most. Three quarters of users meet our criteria for least access to justice, and many face multiple barriers to working while also caring for family. This includes two thirds of single parents living in relative poverty, and the fact that those on the lowest incomes are 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.

Common queries 

Across all income brackets, pregnancy and maternity, and discrimination were the top two queries – highlighting the persistence of such long-standing issues and the need for more guidance and support for employers in getting it right. The most popular advice pages visited were articles around employers changing hours or location, and childcare – which, in many cases reflects the challenges relating to returns to the office faced by many with caring responsibilities, and the often-unmanageable childcare costs.  

I know where I stand when it comes to being treated less favourably/discriminated against whilst on maternity leave.

The difference made 

The figures unequivocally show the positive difference Working Families is making to the lives of parents and carers. Collecting data both immediately after someone has received advice, and two to three months later (nearly 200 survey responses) showed: 

  • 98% of people felt better informed 
  • 95% felt empowered to act on our advice 
  • 100% of people needing benefits advice felt they better understood their entitlements 
  • A quarter of people flagged an improvement in their wellbeing 
  • Almost 8 in 10 said it was easier to manage work and family life or family finances  
  • 9 in 10 felt their situation was resolved two to three months later 

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 over £90,000 in unclaimed benefits. 
Read the whole Deep Dive

  • Contact us for advice

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

  • Free helpline for parents & carers

    The  telephone helpline is for parents, carers and their advisers. We are an independent charity offering free advice on employment rights for parents and carers and in-work benefits for families.

  • 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.