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.
When she came back to work, her manager told her that she had to work day shifts. This was very difficult for Anne to do because of her childcare responsibilities and because her children attended different schools to best meet their additional needs. Anne started working day shifts but she found she was often unable to come in and had to take annual leave. She felt very stressed.
Anne was put in touch with Working Families by an autism charity, and we advised her to write to her manager explaining why she wasn’t able to work day shifts. With our help, Anne felt confident to meet with her manager and was able to go back to working the night shift pattern she had before taking maternity leave.
Anne is just one of almost 3,000 parents who contact our legal advice line each year seeking advice on issues such as maternity/paternity discrimination and flexible working. If you need advice, you can reach our free advice line on: 0300 012 0312
Just £10 could go towards providing a trio of bespoke guides supporting parents and carers of dependants with a disability, exploring topics such as how to balance work with caring responsibilities.
* Names of case studies are changed to protect callers’ identities