Needing set hours after maternity leave

[Catkinson]

i am due to return to work following maternity leave in September, I have 2 children both under 2 my partner works away permanently and my mum and mother in law work for seperate nhs trusts and also work long shifts. Due to this I emailed my manager asking for 2 of my 3 days to be set, and asked if there was a flexible working form I needed to fill out to request this I was straight away shut down and told nobody on the ward is aloud set days is this right? Or should my case at least have been considered not in a reply 15 minutes after I emailed asking. My mother in law had to complete a flexible workers form for her trust. Without 2 of the set days I’m not sure how I will return to work as nursery hours do not even fit round my work I have to leave at 6 in a morning and don’t get in until 8pm.

You have the right to request it. You'll find the form on your staff intranet, or email HR and ask for it.

Prepare for it to be declined though as it sounds like your manager is not supportive of the request and will find a reason to decline it.

My dp is also NHS and has requested set shifts, this was declined but they compromised at one set day off, out of 7 days, he's always off on a Tuesday.

I've known people get 1 set shift in nhs but not more than that.
Fill out the form and submit it but it will be considered whether this arrangement will work for everyone else, not just you, so be prepared it may be declined as your manager doesn't sound like she'll support it

I would start viewing nurseries and childminders now, as you are unlikely to get set days OP.

Make a formal request. It can only be refused because of one of these reasons:

extra costs that will damage the business
the work cannot be reorganised among other staff
people cannot be recruited to do the work
flexible working will affect quality
flexible working will affect performance
the business will not be able to meet customer demand
there’s a lack of work to do during the proposed working times
the business is planning changes to the workforce