To think if my colleague does this with her child then I should be able to as well… and it is unfair unlike what HR are saying?

[Hawua]

Colleague came back from maternity last year and used holiday 2 days a week, effectively working a 3 day week. This meant she could put her ds in nursery 3 days a week, saving quite a chunk of childcare cost.

We are exactly the same level and do the same job and joined in the same year, four years ago.

I am being told on my return from mat leave that I can’t use holiday like that and must take it all in one go. This means I will have full childcare costs while my colleague had 8 months worth of 3 day week (we have a lot of holiday allowance).

HR have said that the cost for childcare evens out as I am having six weeks off in one go, so saving a bulk in childcare that way? Am I missing something? they’ve also said my colleague is a single parent and so they made an extra flexible option for her, how is this fair?!

The issue with these dilemmas is you never know what's going on behind closed doors, and they are under no obligation to tell you either.

A similar situation played out in my workplace. One member went into reduced hours, didn't work a Wednesday. Another colleague wanted to do the same thing but HR refused. Queue onslaught of 'it's not farm 'why can they do it and not me' etc. turns out a year or so down the line that the colleague who was on reduced hours had cancer and couldn't physically work full time and needed Wednesday off to recover from chemo. No one would have guessed they had cancer and they didn't want it known so HR and the manager didn't tell anyone.

Everyone's circumstances are different. Her baby might be ill, they may have to look after a family member, mental health issues / the list is endless. She might even lie and not tell you 'why'. The saying 'paddle your own canoe is very apt in this situation'

She needs to forget about comparing herself with the colleague, and compare herself with other members of staff who haven’t been on maternity leave. They wouldn’t be told when they have to take their holiday, so she shouldn’t be told that either. The protected characteristic is the maternity leave / pregnancy.

Its entirely unreasonable that they're telling you how to use your holiday entitlement! Annual leave isn't a 'perk', its an entitlement, and as such its there to be used at times that suit you (I'm assuming you're accruing annual leave entitlement whilst on maternity leave. Make sure you get your accrued public holidays too).
I'd send an email to HR (keep your exchanges in writing) saying that you want to use your annual leave entitlement as intended, ie at times that suit you, and taking it in one go doesnt suit you.

It's irrelevant - as most posters have correctly pointed out, they don't need to do what they did for her colleague for OP - but I wonder if the colleague started mat leave early or had a lot of sick leave and so had a lot of holiday accrued from before mat leave as well as during it? It may also be where it falls in the holiday year. When I came back from mat leave I had no choice about using mine in a block because I had to use it by the end of the leave year, which was only a couple of months away. If I'd come back with 11 months of the leave year left I'd have had a lot more flexibility about how I used it.

Have you ever had a job? You're entitled to leave, you're absolutely not entitled to unilaterally decide when you're taking it.

I am sure Op can say that she doesn’t want to take the six weeks at the end of maternity leave if she doesn’t want to. But it is a fairly typical thing to do and is generally welcomed rather than considered discriminatory. Even if OP does not want to take the extra six weeks and is keen to get back to work sooner, it still doesn’t mean the employer has to agree to two days a week.

I would escalate this and agree it’s unfair. I would provide documents from nursery saying the place is for a year and a six week break is not possible- it doesn’t work like that at our nursery; the contract is over the whole year on the set days so in practice yes 6 weeks = 30 days but that’s not the same cost at nursery.
I would also put in an official flexible working request to help push it further.
If they still refused I would consider leaving tbh as I wouldn’t respect an employer who forced me into that situation and didn’t see how much this would impact me. Best of luck x

But OP does not need to take a six week break from childcare, she would start the childcare six weeks later due to the extra leave. Unless she has already agreed a start date but surely she would have determined a return to work day before doing that? In any case, the cost of childcare is not the employer’s business or responsibility.

A flexible working request would lead to a permanent change in circumstances, OP has not said whether she wishes this to be permanent or not. But if she does, yes she can ask and maybe the company would be more open to this than merely using annual leave this way as it would free up headcount and they could maybe recruit another part timer. Or they could turn it down as well of course.

Patronising much...

I've made clear that a unilateral approach (that the OP's employer is taking) is entirely unreasonable!

Unless contractually otherwise agreed, employees are, in fact, absolutely entitled to determine when is best to take their annual leave. An employer should always accept requested dates whenever possible, unless there are valid, demonstrable, reason(s) not to.

You are talking absolute rubbish and yes it really doesn’t sound like you have ever had job.

What have I said, explicitly, that's 'rubbish'?

HR are working on the the assumption that OP will just delay the start of nursery until after the 6 week annual leave period, in which case childcare costs would be very similar to the 3-day week pattern of the colleague.

Depends on the nursery though. My eldest DC went to a nursery with flexible start dates. We had moved by the time DC2 started nursery, and their nursery had a number of fixed start dates through the year. So it may not be possible for OP to delay the start of the nursery place without charge if she has already accepted it.

I was advised the same when I wanted to shorten my week to 4 days for 4 months using holiday. The VP said it wouldn’t work in my role. And she had a point. Instead I took the leave in one go and my child started nursery some weeks later.

Some jobs just can’t be done in less than full time, and you don’t want to be left doing 40 hours’ worth of work in 3 days.

This is just wrong. See here on the actual rights employees have - it is absolutely within the employers rights to say when annual leave should be taken and when it cannot be taken: https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/booking-time-off. OP has been told that the dates she wants to take annual leave don't work for the employer, so that's that.

Is it not the same? Sorry if I'm being thick, but you're both taking all your annual leave days off to look after your child. Hers is just spread over a number of weeks and yours is all in one go.

Presumably it means she went back to work earlier than you did? So she'll have started paying for childcare earlier than you?

Let's use 6 weeks (30 days) annual leave as an example.

Using £50 a day as an example, for 6 weeks you pay no nursery fees, then 46 weeks you pay £250 a week = £11,500 for the year.

Your colleague starts back at work 6 weeks earlier than you, and spends 15 weeks only having to pay nursery for 3 days a week - £150 for 15 weeks, then up to £250 for the remaining 37 weeks = £11,500.

I think we're probably all aware that there are government guidelines. I think we're also probably all aware of the expectation on employers to recognise the nuance therein, and develop a policy (unless there is a contractually asserted necessity) that allows employees to request leave at times best suited to themselves.
The OP's employer appears not to be of the tedious parochial 'that's that' variety (given they've been very flexible with a colleague), thus an agreement in partnership is likely achievable for the OP.

I am shocked by the number of poster who don’t know that employers have a right to dictate when annual leave is used. Yes, the employee usually has a choice, but HR is not forcing OP to use it all at once, all they are saying is no to the 2 days a week - most employers would say no as well TBH.

Furthermore, the fact the a previous employee’s request was granted doesn’t mean it creates a right for other employees to get the same!
The business trialled it and judged that it wasn’t working for the business, end of story.

No, because you can't take your child out of nursery for hols and not pay

This is ridiculous- do HR understand how expensive childcare is! And that tax free works as only 20% of the cost AND in quarters? Which means that you are absolutely losing out: this makes me so angry.

You need to complain and highlight the issues and take it to ACAS if you have to. Please don't let it go - there is a precedent set so you are absolutely allowed to use your leave this way. It would be different if they said no to everyone.

It is NOT the same
2 days off a week for 8 months equals to approximately
2 days X 4 weeks = 8 days a month
8 days a month for 8 months = 64 days

5 days a week X 6 weeks = 30 days - which means you are getting about half the number of days she got.

HR are wrong. I totally agree that they can argue that the needs of the business have changed since your colleague had mat leave, and that that you going part-time doesn't work for them now. But they can't argue that you are actually getting the same amount, because you are not.

Are you able to legally point out where OP is right? Doesn’t seem fair to give her false hope.

What do you mean by precedent set?

Do you really believe if an employer tries something and it doesn’t work they are then obliged to keep doing it? Because they did it once?

Maybe it didn't work well for the company

I doubt HR give a flying fuck how much childcare costs (unless they have kids themselves), it was the op's decision to have a child and as such is responsible for the costs.

As for setting a precedent, where are you getting that from? What has been agreed with the colleague is absolutely none of the OP's business.

All the HR maternity and holiday procedures I've seen, it always clearly states that any changes requested will be reviewed on their own merits. The OP has a legal right to holidays, but those holidays need to be agreed with her manager and get her managers approval.

It’s very unfair.