If you worked full time and had Tuesdays off, but was pregnant and your midwife appointments are always on a wed, and your boss wanted to swap your day off to wed because of this, would you ?

[Getmystuffsorted]

Or is that illegal to even ask

thats the only day the midwife is at that drs surgery so all routine check ups would be on wed

This. Tell your employer no you are busy on a Tuesday.

Clearly it went wrong for me because I took everything I could get! I'm of the opinion pregnancy is hard work (it was for me) and I'm jealous of the women who skip along merrily while I could barely walk some days. I went on maternity leave early and saved up my annual leave so I could have two months off before DS arrived, and I'm glad I did. My managers were really good though.

It sounds like your work life would be less stressful if appmts are on your day off. I work part time and swap days if I have appointments or arrange them on my day off where possible. It is less stressful for me as very disruptive to my job to be trying to get to appointments elsewhere and then back to work. I am fully supportive of maternity rights but as a manager I also see the disruption to teams. I would aim to be as least disruptive as I am able personally.

You are clearly not fully supportive of maternity rights if you prioritise reducing disruption at work over ensuring the health of your pregnant employees by accepting they have maternity appointments that fall in work hours.

It’s a 2 way street I’ve managed a few maternity’s
it’s all about how it’s approached asking rather than telling is key
I’ve asked “ we’re short next week if your offered a choice can you do first or last it would be a great help “
sometimes it’s possible some it’s not all ok ether way
where as I had one working 3 days a week. Every appt slap bang in the middle of day ( and yes that was deliberate she told others )
again she got off me exactly what she was entitled to zero flexibility if she wasn’t entitled to and didn’t go the extra mile to push her flexible working request through just by the rules

where other that have been more flexible I was prepared to go above and beyond

It isn't great practice if comparators are required arising from an ET claim.

When I was pregnant, an age ago now, he's 31, the maternity unot only saw women for routine appointments on Tuesdays when I had non negotiable meetings that required a flight once a month. At the booking apt, I explained my situation and they gave me a schedule of appointments up to and including 36 weeks, avoiding the travel obligations. The midwife did double down on employers having to give women time of statutorily and I had to double down back that I was a professional employee with significant professional responsibilities. They found it quite hard to compute.

I will note that 31 years ago my employer valued my commitment to reduce hours to three days a week when it was unheard of in an investment bank.

No, reasonable just means that you don't take the whole day off for a 40 minute appointment unless your manager okays it. If you are due to work 8 to 4pm and it takes an hour to drive to hospital and 2 hours for the appointment at 11am with delays and your appointment then the reasonable time for it means you go to work in the morning, leave with sensible spare time to get on time for the appointment and then go back to work. It is not reasonable for you to not go to work before or after the appointment and the manager 100% can ask you to make up the time or not pay you for the time you chose not to work outside the appointment and commute.

You employer cannot force you to work an extra shift to make up the hours you have missed because of your antenatal appointments, that is illegal. Yes, if you have a fixed personal workload then you will end up covering it at some other time but you categorically cannot be asked to make up the hours you needed for antenatal appointments, you cannot be told change your appointments to a time more convenient for your employer, and your employer cannot deduct pay for time lost due to antenatal appointments.