Section 10 - how far does it go?

[Mayandbump23]

My SIL is in a bit of a pickle. Whilst she was on maternity leave, her company went through a major reorganisation, everyone had to apply for jobs, go to interviews, lots of people got made redundant etc. My SIL did as was advised by company HR and her line manager and applied for a role in the new structure, went to interviews and got the role she applied for. She has now started back at work and realised that the new role she applied for (and got) is below (in terms of grading and space in the company hierarchy) her previous, pre-maternity leave role and that she has effectively been moved from management to non-management as there has been a further reshuffle of roles whilst she was away (of which my sister was not informed of ). She is now scared that her salary and benefits may be reduced as she is working in a 'lesser' role to that prior to her maternity leave.
Given that she is back at work, does section 10 still work for her or does it literally only apply when you are on maternity leave? Can she go back to her employers and say that her new role is not at the same level as her previous one and ask for it to be upgraded? Can her employers reduce her salary and benefits to fit into the new role?

should have said sister in law was not informed of (don't have a sister unless my parents have something to tell me )

Only applies whilst on leave. They cannot reduce her salary and benefits without her agreement, but she has no rights to claim that her role needs to be upgraded, especially as she herself applied for the role. Did they change the grading after she accepted the role?

I think she didn't realise that the role was below her previous one in terms of grading as it wasn't obvious from the structure charts she was given when she applied for it. It was all a bit of a mess to be honest, she had to do the whole applying, interviewing etc whilst recovering from c-section, having to cope with prem twins etc etc so I don't think she was fully on the ball and was just grateful to have any job (lots of other people got made redundant), she also didn't know anything about section 10 at the time and, in my opinion, wasn't very well advised (she didn't receive any of the briefings other employees got at the time, she just got a phone call from her line manager). She now wants to make a statutory request for flexible working but is scared of doing so in case her employers take that as an opportunity to reduce her salary and benefits to reflect her new role. I don't think she's too bothered about the grading, mainly just wants to keep her existing, pre-maternity leave salary and benefits. That's why I thought of section 10 as the whole role change happened whilst she was on maternity leave.

If she was made redundant while on maternity leave she should have been given - without going for interview - a suitable alternative post. I am not sure how she stands now she is back in work but she should speak to her union/acas for more advice.

So basically she shouldn't have had to go through the interview process at all but should have been offered a new job at the same grade (I think there were several available in the new structure, albeit in different teams) as she was previously, prior to maternity leave? Given that she has been back at work for a few months now, can she still raise a grievance based on section 10 or is it too late?

Was she told about the other roles that she now wishes she had been given at the time? Did she express an interest in them?

If she was told about the roles and didn't show an interest, although there may be a technical breach of rule 10 I doubt there's much of a claim. She may also be out of time (generally you have 3 months to claim) and should discuss this with a specialist lawyer.

A bigger issue would be if the role she took on was mis-represented to her. Has she queried that with the company? It's not a rule 10 point, but there may be other claims/issues associated with that.