Apologies for the v long post!
A bit of insight...I work full time and have 2 young children (ages 4 (DS) and 2 (DD) in September). I do shift work between the times of 7.30am and 10pm. My children attend a childminder and DS also attends nursery 5 mornings a week using the 15 free hours. The childminder works from 7am - 7pm (although she gives me leeway when I start at 7.30am, so allows me to drop the kids off at 6.45am)
My ex and I have been co-parenting for the last couple of years. I started the job I'm currently at in Sept 2016. This was a 12 month maternity cover, working part time. Due to the shift work, we had an agreement that he would collect the kids whenever I finish late (at 8pm or 10pm) and bring them to my house. He used to stay over whenever I finished late as he works 5 mins away. At the beginning of the year, my ex and I had a massive argument, which resulted in him refusing to collect the kids whenever I was on a late shift. As I do not have any other help, I had no choice but to leave my job as I could no longer work the late shifts. This was in March. My manager stated that if my circumstances change then she would be more than happy to have me back.
I was out of work for 6 weeks and as the department was so short staffed and I needed money, I asked if I could come back and they agreed but stated if I wanted to come back part time then it would have to be on a temporary contract as they could not allow me to work normal office hours permanently and that were already advertising for my position. They also stated that if I wanted to continue with the maternity cover contract I was doing then I could but it would have to be full time. I declined this as I wanted to work part time.
I started back in April 2017 and the temp contract was due to finish in June. As I was worried about being out of work again come June, I stated that I would like to work full time as I need stability. Due to the basis of why I had to leave in the first place, I had a trial in May working full time, and working all the shifts. This went well and my ex started co-operating with me again, so I was offered the remainder of the maternity leave contract on a full time basis. This was due to end in September but has now been extended to March 2018 - although the lady on mat leave is coming back in Sept. I told my ex that he could stay over whenever I finished late, but he declined.
So fast forward to now...there are 2 late shifts (12pm-8pm and 2pm-10pm). I work the 12pm shift probably one week of the month, sometimes not at all in a month. I work 2pm shift every 5/6 weeks. A few days ago, ex stated that he is going to stop collecting the kids in March (when my contract ends) or if I find another job sooner, when I am on a late shift as it's too much for him going back and forth so I will have to look for someone else to collect them when he knows I have no one else (He lives in South London, but works in East London - 5 mins from my house and 5 min drive/10-15 min walk from childminder). I am fed up with him going back on his word, which will affect my life, which will then also affect my children's lives.
I refuse to leave my job again especially as I can not afford to so I have made an appointment with solicitor for some advice but I don't know if this is the next best cause of action? WWYD?