How your donation can help

Every day on our helpline, we hear from people struggling to get by. The mother who has been fired just because she’s pregnant. The father who can’t access the basic flexibility needed to provide essential care for his children. The parent who is working three jobs but still can’t find the money to pay for childcare and put food on the table. Everything we do is shaped by their lived experiences.

Here are a few of the ways that we have helped callers to our legal advice helpline.

How we helped a mother returning to work after maternity leave
Yvonne’s* major retailer employer said she couldn’t return to work from maternity leave on her old hours. She got in touch with our helpline and we advised her of maternity law and supported her to negotiate with her employer who finally agreed that Yvonne could return on her old hours. They also issued guidance to all their staff explaining the right to return in full, so that other women won’t lose out in the future.
How we helped a mother having difficulty balancing work and caring responsibilities
Anne* worked part-time in the care sector, regularly doing night shifts so that she could look after her young twins who have autism. When her twins were five, Anne had another child and took maternity leave.
How we helped an expectant mother suffering pregnancy discrimination
Jane worked for an international organisation. After 2 years abroad, she moved to London, where she was given a 6 month contract. Soon after this she found out she was pregnant and was subsequently told that her contact was not going to be renewed. She was told this was because there had been complaints about her work and she had missed her targets but Jane had never been told about any such issues before.
Priyanka’s story
Priyanka called us when she was 28 weeks pregnant. She had worked for her employer on a zero hours contract since before she became pregnant. But at this point in her pregnancy her employer refused to give her any more work and told her she was on maternity leave. In fact, the law states that…
Jenny’s story
Working Families took a call on our legal advice line from Jenny, a mother whose family had been forced to pay back a tax credit ‘overpayment’ they simply couldn’t afford. Although both she and her partner worked, they were struggling to make ends meet and to provide the essentials for their children. Jenny explained they…
Caroline’s story
Caroline is a mother of two disabled children. She was about to return to work with her large employer after a period of unpaid carer’s leave. When she checked that she would still be working the family-friendly hours she had worked before, she was told that if she needed to take one of her children…