Can they refuse my part time request?

[Irishgene]

I currently teach full time, after my maternity leave I want to go back 3 days instead of 5.

I've not mentioned to my employer yet, but can they refuse to let me drop 2 days? Is there a chance I'm stuck doing full time?

I'm not going off on maternity leave until the summer so I've still got lots of time to notify them.

Yes they can refuse. They only have to consider it.

Yep. They're not obliged to give you part time hours.

Yes they can refuse, some schools are better than others for accepting. You will need to write a formal request- lots of help online for this or talk to union.

Yes they can. Don’t think you need to notify them until much later on in your mat leave.

It's only a consideration. They have to decide whether it's going to work for the school. If they feel part time would not benefit then you may find that they decline.

Thanks all, I'll check if there's anything in the school/trust policy. My only thought about letting them know sooner rather than later was so they know and can plan in plenty of time.....if they agree that is!

I'm afraid they can decline, and often do. I work at a non profit and two colleagues were recently declined their part mat leave part time hours with very little reason.
It's shit.
That's not to say don't ask! But create a water tight argument for it to make it difficult for them to decline. And be prepared for a plan B.

*post mat leave

If you're not part of a union you can still contact ACAS I think

Thanks @anotherypasswordtoremember I'm part of a union. I'm hoping they'll agree to it :)

Hi @irishgene

You are only allowed to apply for flexible working once in a 12 month period.

The best advice I can give you is to have a conversation with your HT first to test the waters. Don't put anything in writing until you are pretty sure it will be approved.

If they plan to refuse p/t working then they are obliged to prove there is a legitimate reason for the refusal.

Definitely seek advice from your trade union. These things are often won on appeal if not granted when first asked.

Good luck!

My school agreed with no issues. I gave them a heads up before going on mat leave to give them plenty of time to plan for it. I would say how you approach it would vary massively by school. Is your department over hours atm? Do you have lots of part timers? Do you know anyone who has returned to work recently who used to be full time whose timetable you could look up? Our head is very understanding and helpful. Is yours approachable enough just to pop into his/her office for a chat? Good luck

The legislation is very clear that you need to consider how the "business" may be affected and how that could be addressed. IME may staff think it's down to the employer to find a way to make it work, which is not the case. Also, if you have a good solution it will be harder for them to argue that the request can't be accommodated.

From .gov.uk

What the email or letter must include
The application must include:

the date
a statement that this is a statutory request
details of how the employee wants to work flexibly and when they want to start
an explanation of how they think flexible working might affect the business and how this could be dealt with, for example if they’re not at work on certain days
a statement saying if and when they’ve made a previous application

Ask sooner rather than later, if they have loads of warning it is easier to accommodate. Even if you don't make your formal request let them know you plan to do it. Then when they are hiring etc they can keep it in mind that you want to do this. They only have to consider it but they also need to have a reason to refuse it, the more notice you give the better.

Yes, of course they can refuse.

You don’t have to agree to going full time though-obviously you can leave instead.

If you're having a full year off, I wouldn't stress overly much about it now. But bear in mind that SLT will start looking at the next academic year timetable about now and writing it after Easter. So do consider the timing when you make the request, I imagine it's much more likely to go the way you want if they haven't already written the timetable.

Your union will support you in this. As women are the primary caregivers (rightly or wrongly) refusing part-time work after maternity leave is seen as sex discrimination. My head soon changed her tune when the union spoke to her!!

Yep, all they have to say it doesn’t fit the business plan. My request was refused even though fitted my timetable, I appealed to be told that it didn’t fit the business plan because they thought my boss needed me in to support the Dept.
The whole process was a joke because my boss was asked if they support my application and they did.
Any I handed my notice in & left. Got a new job to fit my family needs with promotion. Best decision I made.

Good luck op x

Yes, they can refuse. My school allowed me and several others to go part time but then turned round to the next few and said they could not manage any more part timers and that was that. Union said that’s fine if they can make a case for it (and considered that they had done so).

Also be careful what you wish for, I think primaries are often better as you can split a job down the middle and just have two class teachers but in secondary we were told that if we wanted a day off we had to be at mostly .6, even then one my my colleagues was working every day and another had a timetable that saw her working first and last period each day with the time in between unpaid as it wasn’t part of her hours. (The union did have a word about that one).

I was only allowed to go part time on the basis that I relinquished my tlr - even though I had agreed with my line manager that it would be entirely possible for me to continue doing the job as a part time member of staff.

I think it very much depends on the individual school and SLT. I have friends in schools that are much more accommodating and friends who have had a much worse experience. It’s definitely worth asking part timers at your current school what their experience has been and discussing informally ASAP with your line manager before you make your request, if it is made late after staffing has been settled for the next year it is likely the school will be unkeen to allow it but with plenty of notice, they might be more accommodating.

Please get advice from your union. I'm a primary school teacher and my school refused all part time requests saying it wasn't in the best interest of the school. When I spoke to the union they gave me loads of advice. They said that refusing part time because it doesn't work is not a good excuse as loads of schools manage it fine. They also said it was sex discrimination and they gave me lots of legislation(that I can't remember now). The school should prove that their not breaking any of these laws.

It turned out that as soon as I had a meeting with the head (in which she told me it was her sole decision to make) and informed her I had sought advice from the union and there was legislation (I did this in a much more informal way than it might sound like here) she said she'd review my request and get back to me. It must have spooked her as A week later she confirmed my part time role. There are now two more part time staff who returned after maternity (I like to think I helped but probably didn't 🤣

That's just my story and your school might make you fight it a bit more but they need a good case to refuse. I really wish you the best and hope you do get part time.

Also I don't know if it helped the head teachers decision but I was happy to do any teaching role as long as it was part time so was given the option of doing am nursery (which wouldn't have worked for my situation) and ended up as ppa cover and did interventions