Changing hours whilst on mat leave

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It appears that work want to start offering weekend and evenings. I have dc's under 5 and my dp works evenings and weekends. This means there is no way I can change my hours.
It has been a set 9-5 job for years and they are not asking other services to provide the cover, just mine. I can't afford to give up my job and do like it but I have no idea how I would do the hours, we have no childcare options.
Can they just change a whole team's hours like this? I feel really stressed about it.

What does your contract say about your hours?

Have they started consulting with the team about the proposed change?

My contract says 35 hours per week, normally 9-5. There is a clause in it that says from time to time I be able to work slightly longer to cover busy periods for a short amount of time.

Consultation started with managers. Other teams in the organisation have separate evening and weekend staff, seems very unfair that this is just being asked from my team.

Well you can refuse and then they'll have to make a decision whether to try and force it through or not. If this change would have an adverse effect on women more than men, due to childcare responsibilities, that gives you a potential indirect discrimination angle.

If this is happening to a group of you, acting together will also help you. Are your colleagues likely to be against the change also?

thanks for getting back to me flowery. it's affecting at least 10 staff, all female. I think others will be against it but as I am on mat leave don't have direct feel for general feeling on this. they haven't even told me yet! found out from a colleague