Can my manager force me to change my hours?

[Avanturra]

Hi!
I wondered if you can help me. I'm going to come back to work soon but my new manager want me to work in different hours. I don't like it, because I still breastfeeding and I'm not going to start my job at 8am. Also I don't want to wake my baby up at 6am to get to work on time. I used to work from 11.30am till 6pm and I want to keep this like that.
Does my employer have a right to do it?

What does your contract say about your hours? And how long have you taken off work for your maternity leave? I know my contract stated 40 hrs a week to be worked between 8-8 mon-sun. Also, if you have taken mor than 6 months maternity leave they don't have to offer you the identical job, just something on no lesser terms than your original role. I doubt if starting your shift earlier would be classed as lesser terms.

anyone can have their hours changed for business reasons given enough weeks notice

is this happening to anyone else or just you?

I work for that company almost 6 years. My basic contract, when I started was 40 hours mon-fri . But last 2 years I was working for other unit (the same company, I asked for transfer) which offered me job on afternoon shift. I agreed because I had enough to wake up at 5.30am.

They didn't change anything in my contract. I didn't get any copy of new one.

I was on maternity leave for 52 weeks, then I used my holiday (21days), and after that 4 weeks of Parental leave.
This situation happened only to me, they never had a woman on maternity leave before.

IME contracts are worthless anyway as they can be renegotiated and this has happened to me in the past. Contract says one thing, work say they want to change, I say well you can't make me 'cos contract says x and go to union and union say oh well they can do that.

Unfortunately they are well within their rights then. Copied from direct.gov.uk
*When returning to work after Ordinary Maternity Leave (the first 26 weeks of your Statutory Maternity Leave), you have a right to the same job and the same terms and conditions as if you hadn?t been away.

This also applies when you come back after Additional Maternity Leave (the last 26 weeks of your Statutory Maternity Leave). However, if your employer shows it is not reasonably practical to return to your original job (eg because the job no longer exists) you do not have the same right. In that case, you must be offered alternative work with terms and conditions as if you hadn?t been away.*