Angry my manager has taken away WFH perk?

The difference is that OP wants to reduce her hours overall, but wants to cherry pick that she only reduces her office hours.

That's not what you said in your OP?

So what have you been offered?

A choice of
a) the hours you requested but they all have to be in office, including the Friday that was previously wfh
b) to drop the Friday and work slightly longer days Tue-Thurs in the office?

I think those options seem reasonable. And I'm not sure (do you live a very long way from your office) why working a very short day on Friday is so unpalatable to you? You'll still have plenty of the day at home.

This. It’s also possible that the employer suspects OP won’t have childcare on the day she works from home.

So you were doing 22 hours on site and 4 hours at home if I’m understanding correctly (I may not be, the way you have posted about your Friday hours is confusing), so 26 hours total.

You asked to work 22 hours total.

The boss has said “yes but we need all 22 hours to be on site”. This is not unreasonable. You always did work 22 hours on site.

The only other thing I would say, in relation to your proposed work pattern, is that the different finish times on each day could potentially be a problem depending on your role. Other people can’t be expected to remember, “oh it’s Tuesday so she’s finishing at 3.30 today” but rather it would always be “where the hell is she? She’s never here when I’m looking for her!”

So who did it when you were on maternity leave?
This is the only aspect where maternity is relevant here. You were off for (presumably) some months during which time someone else has done your normal job. Your manager had to put that in place so has had the opportunity to see how the job works with someone else doing it, potentially with different hours and working arrangement. It seems that this new insight has led them to think that more hours on Tue-Thurs are needed, and Friday is less busy (for example).

I don't think you are unreasonable - if you have been WFH for years on a Friday what is the difference now? I would appeal their decision.

The point here is that your employer isn’t obliged to accommodate your preferred childcare. You put in a request for reduced hours and your manager has accommodated your request based on the operational needs of the business. If you’re needed in the office Tuesday to Thursday then it makes perfect sense to cut the WFH hours.

So there hasn't been anyone covering your job while you've been on maternity leave? Are you coming back to a year long backlog of work - if so surely they will not want you to reduce your hours at all?

Did you ask to reduce your hours or did they just want to rescind it?

It is a perk. No-one else has it. If OP is requesting reduced hours then the employer is entitled to structure them in a way that least affects the business. It’s nothing to do with maternity leave.

That's nonsense op.

You are not the only one who can do your job. You are not indispensable.

Everyone is replaceable.

I wish people wouldn’t call it a perk.

But it is a perk as the OP correctly describes it, as none of her colleagues enjoy the same privilege. It might have suited the business all those years ago, but times change, and that has nothing to do with maternity leave; rather the OP's own request to change her working pattern.

I’d contact Pregnant then Screwed for advice.

They haven’t made any change to custom and practice while OP was on mat leave. She herself requested a reduction in hours. Her manager is entitled to structure this in whatever way has the least impact on the business.

Sounds like you need to leave to find somewhere that is happy to have to wfh contractually.

He has got a very good reason to deny it. He’s not obliged to accommodate OP’s childcare needs, his remit is to consider her request for reduced hours within the context of the operational needs of the business. If OP is needed in the office Tuesday to Thursday, then it makes perfect business sense to accommodate her request in a way that has the least impact on the business, which is to cut the hours worked from home. OP has what she said she wanted. Nothing has changed except that she no longer works Fridays.

That’s not what your OP said.

Withdraw your flexible working request and tell him you will return to work following the same working pattern before maternity leave as wfh has become an accepted part of your working pattern and this change constitutes maternity discrimination as they’re only removing are changing your role following your maternity leave, which they wouldn’t have done had you not taken leave.

OP herself describes it as a perk.
She knows she gets special treatment compared to all the others.

I hate it when people take a benefit that has been granted and try to enforce it as a right - it means that everyone else gets screwed because the message goes out "no variation to the shitty contract for anyone, ever"

Yes, WFH is nice, especially if otherwise you do all the travelling for only half a day in the office but the OP has been entirely honest about the situation.

I don’t know why people are allowed to automatically assume that?

Because enough people take the piss for it to be a valid assumption. Plus people are 'allowed' to assume whatever they like, there's no thought police.

It does sound like their needs are fairly straightforward whereas you're wanting to shave x minutes off here and add y minutes to z and their solution is simpler, has you in work for the hours the business needs, and the wfh hours aren't needed. Just use the wraparound care and your parents, it's still a pretty nice set of hours that gives you more time at home and ability to do several school runs. To be regretting not taking a job six years ago is a bit of a stretch, given that you've enjoyed the perk for this long and it's you whose brought up changing the deal to be even more flexible than it already was.

But the perk would have still been there if it wasn’t for my maternity

Actually it was your request for fewer hours which triggered this rather than the maternity itself, but nice try at making it about a protected characteristic

Worse still you told him it was for childcare, which isn't an employer's responsibility and is often a huge red flag as to what they can expect from you in future

Incredible that you're moaning about this when you're the only one with such an arrangement, but good luck if you make it clear how "disappointed in him" you are

Suggest joining a union and seek advice.

If your manager persuaded you not to take a better job on the basis you could have flexible working in your current job, it seems a reasonable request to continue doing so

It wasn’t a ‘perk’. It was a long-standing change to your working arrangements as part of your contract. Plus, changing this custom and practice while you’re on mat leave seems risky. You have more rights while on mat leave.

If you’ll need to look for a more flexible job in any case, there’s nothing to lose in challenging it.

Know your worth 💐

But it's not the maternity that's caused the change, its the request to work fewer hours?

If you'd come back after maternity happy to work the same hours you'd still be allowed to wfh on Friday.

If you'd requested a change of working hours for any other reason he'd probably have suggested the same thing (dropping the half wfh day).

Therefore I don't think you can "blame" maternity or suggest he's "punishing" you because of it - even more so when none of the rest of your team are allowed to wfh.

You're not being treated less favourably than anyone else in your team so you aren't being discriminated against.

Tbh it would be really unfair if they had to be on site 5 days a week and you could wfh one day despite only working 3 days.