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Original poster

Flexible working request following maternity leave denied

57 replies

Moll172 · 21/02/2025 20:06

Currently on Maternity leave with my now 5.5 month old. I work as a TA in a primary school and intend to return at the end of July (just in time for the summer holidays 😏) so need to start getting babies name down for a childcare place.
Before maternity leave I worked full time 32.5 hours a week 8.30-3.30. On my return I am requesting to work 22.5 hours 8.30- 1.00pm. Which are the hours other, already part-time, TA’s do. My reasons being 1. My mental health - leaving baby this soon is going to be really hard considering I had the luxury of 3 years at home with my eldest. 2. Financially I am better off working the part time hours and saving on the additional childcare and after school club fees than I am working full time hours (I only actually gain 6 and a bit hours pay once you take off the 45 min per day unpaid lunch break).
I have emailed my head and asked informally to pretty much be told they don’t intend to allow me to make the switch as they ‘do not intend to create any additional part time positions’. She’s advised I complete the formal request which will be followed by a meeting to discuss but judging by her response I’m almost certain the answer will still remain a no. If so, I intend to appeal the decision, with the help of my union, however still do not hold out much hope as the union have stated I do not have a statutory right to flexible working and the school do not have to create a role to fit my request.
Does anyone have any advice on how I can win the case??
Since going on maternity, although the school have hired additional staff since, my position specifically has not been covered by a ‘maternity cover’.

OP posts:
BornSandyDevotional · 21/02/2025 20:42

BeastAngelMadwoman · 21/02/2025 20:34

To be fair 32.5 hours is full time at a school. I'm a teacher and our contracts say 32.5 hours even though we work about 100 a week. So she isn't asking to reduce already part time hours- she's full time.

Show quote history

Fair enough. I haven't worked in education since my eldest was tiny. I did 25hrs a week (term time only) over five days. It was bliss! I didn't know teachers were contracted to such short hours. When I'm aware they put in so many more! I still feel this is a request for a reduction in hours rather than a flexible working ask. But I hope the OP does find something that works well. It is so very difficult to do!

Hoppinggreen · 21/02/2025 20:42

You have (understandably) told the school what's in it for you but what about them?
You might be more successful if you made a business case rather said why you want to go part time

Swanderer · 21/02/2025 20:43

if they really don't want to lose you they may bend

Realistically, if she left, a school would have a slew of candidates queueing up for a school-hours, term-time role. Like a lot of people have already said, many schools have cut TA roles- they’d have their pick of applicants.

OP doesn’t hold the power here, despite her forceful language.

doodahdayy · 21/02/2025 20:44

They aren't obliged to offer you the hours you want if it doesn't suit with the business needs. I assume it would be very difficult to hire a TA for a couple of hours a day.

RatedDoingMagic · 21/02/2025 20:50

BeastAngelMadwoman · 21/02/2025 20:34

To be fair 32.5 hours is full time at a school. I'm a teacher and our contracts say 32.5 hours even though we work about 100 a week. So she isn't asking to reduce already part time hours- she's full time.

Show quote history

Non-teacher school-hours roles often quote a "pro rata" salary in the advert that claims something like "£30kpa pro rata" where the logic goes "this would be £30k if you worked 40h/wk year-round but it's only 38 weeks a year 32.5h/wk so you actually only get £19.9kpa" - non-teacher and teacher rules are different.

StormingNorman · 21/02/2025 20:54

Your case isn’t a great sell. The MH case is farcical and an insult to people will mental health problems. Your nursery fees are not their problem.

What’s in it for them?

TY78910 · 21/02/2025 20:55

OP you mention in your post:

Which are the hours other, already part-time, TA’s do.

This is very likely the reason they will reject your request. They cannot give everyone the same hours as they would have to close the school at 1pm.

You can put the formal request in as your head suggested but bear in mind that if this is rejected and you can't negotiate, you can't apply for another flexible working request for 6 months. I would re-think other shift patterns. Can you condense your hours in to 2-3 long days for example and get someone to cover childcare so you can have 3-2 days off in the week?

There are other things you can do without pushing this pattern as you can be sure at this stage it'll get rejected. They probably want you to submit it so they get you locked in at FT for at least the next 6m

Original poster
Moll172 · 21/02/2025 20:57

Thanks to those offering helpful responses.

And to the others - aren’t we all ultimately seeking to benefit ourselves? Myself and my family come before any job, as I imagine is the same with you. I was trying to keep my post short and sweet but if you want details on how this would benefit the school as well as me, they include; saving money on wages, having me for core lessons in the am, without me having to take a lunch break I will be around to help with lunchtime duty and enrich the children’s lunchtime through various activities. I think my initial post was seeking more of these selling points you guys can think of to help my ‘case’.

As for working less days but full time hours - I would be keen for this however, I feel this is more likely to be rejected as I’ve not known any other TAs do this before at this school. It is an alternative I will suggest to them in negotiations though.

Surely the fact that they haven’t had a Maternity Cover covering my role counts for something??? They’ve coped without me entirely for a year.

To those referring to my ‘forceful language’ and ‘argumentative and entitled manner’ - respectfully, move on 😆.

OP posts:
TY78910 · 21/02/2025 20:58

Bobbie12345 · 21/02/2025 20:37

I would be very careful around your language when you talk to them.
You are asking the school for a big favour. Yet you are using language like ‘appeal the case’ ‘win the case’ and talk about involving the union. As many have said, you don’t have a good case. You just have personal wishes.
You comes across quite entitled/ argumentative.
You need to make them want you, not be put off by you.

I wholeheartedly agree with this.
It comes across as entitled (hate to use that term) but they are not doing anything wrong so to 'threaten' will make them not want to work with you.

Swanderer · 21/02/2025 20:59

Surely the fact that they haven’t had a Maternity Cover covering my role counts for something???

Yes, it counts for the fact that they don’t need to desperately hold onto a TA.

ChonkyRabbit · 21/02/2025 20:59

Surely the fact that they haven’t had a Maternity Cover covering my role counts for something??? They’ve coped without me entirely for a year.

Yes, definitely point that out. I can't see that being a problem, especially when your attitude is so good.

nahthatsnotforme · 21/02/2025 21:06

If they've managed without you I'd say you're rather surplus anyway.

crumpleduppieceofpaper · 21/02/2025 21:07

Yes, the fact they haven't covered your role in the meantime I think works against you, not for you..,

Hoppinggreen · 21/02/2025 21:07

Hopefully you aren't half as chippy in real life when people are trying to help you.
People are quite rightly pointing out that your position isn't especially strong and neither is your argument for going PT
Sorry if you don't like that but its a fact
If you want to be able to go PT you need a better "case" (no idea why you put that in italics)

Ohshutupdavidyoutwat · 21/02/2025 21:08

Me, me, me.

Greenwallpinkwall · 21/02/2025 21:10

You don’t put the reasons you want to reduce your hours for your own benefit in the request!

andyouwillknowusbythetrailofdead · 21/02/2025 21:20

The fact that you'll be sad to leave your child to go to work really isn't a "mental health argument". In fact, unless you're now going to drip feed that you have a diagnosed condition, it's pretty insulting to those of us who are actually mentally ill. Feeling downbeat about doing something you aren't that keen on is within the normal range of human emotions.

As for the school: you're entitled to ask. They're entitled to decline. What you do then is your call, but you can't make them agree.

QueSyrahSyrah · 21/02/2025 21:21

crumpleduppieceofpaper · 21/02/2025 21:07

Yes, the fact they haven't covered your role in the meantime I think works against you, not for you..,

To be fair it worked for me when my boss asked how I thought my team would get on without me for 2 days a week. 'Well they've managed alright without me [or anyone else] for the last 10 months...' Confused

nahthatsnotforme · 21/02/2025 21:26

@andyouwillknowusbythetrailofdead I completely agree and I was going to post similar.

To be sorry your Mat leave is over and you're having to leave your child isn't anywhere near a mental health problem, it's perfectly normal.

If I was the OPs manager (and I've looked at plenty of requests before I retired) I'd be rolling my eyes.

Cattreesea · 21/02/2025 21:31

Look for another job. I see so many TA roles advertised that there is a good chance another school will agree to your preferred hours.

Mh67 · 21/02/2025 21:36

You might have better luck if you can afford to do a proper job share. It's easier to fill

skilpadde · 21/02/2025 21:41

TY78910 · 21/02/2025 20:55

OP you mention in your post:

Which are the hours other, already part-time, TA’s do.

This is very likely the reason they will reject your request. They cannot give everyone the same hours as they would have to close the school at 1pm.

You can put the formal request in as your head suggested but bear in mind that if this is rejected and you can't negotiate, you can't apply for another flexible working request for 6 months. I would re-think other shift patterns. Can you condense your hours in to 2-3 long days for example and get someone to cover childcare so you can have 3-2 days off in the week?

There are other things you can do without pushing this pattern as you can be sure at this stage it'll get rejected. They probably want you to submit it so they get you locked in at FT for at least the next 6m

I agree with you that the school having agreed to other part-time arrangements works against the OP, not in her favour.

The school can pretty easily argue that they have no more capacity for part-time arrangements and point to at least 1 (I see 4 or 5, easily) or the permitted reasons for declining a flexible working request:

•	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

However, it's not the case that she'd need to wait 6 months to submit a second request. She can submit 2 requests in any 12-month period. She just can't submit a second request while the first one is still live... she'd first need either an outcome for the first request or to withdraw the first request.

ElleintheWoods · 21/02/2025 22:02

This is where they did not do well: "I have emailed my head and asked informally to pretty much be told they don’t intend to allow me to make the switch as they ‘do not intend to create any additional part time positions"

A request should not be dismissed out of hand.

How I think you can 'win' is maybe choosing different hours, i.e. offering to cover that afternoon slot nobody wants, 1pm-3:15. Or find another way where it works both for you and the employer. E.g. work full days but not every day.

The lack of afternoon cover is most likely the biggest problem for your employer.

You can discuss this in your meeting, ask for their rationale of what is causing an operational issue for them, and in your head consider how the below problems could be solved.

https://www.acas.org.uk/statutory-flexible-working-requests/considering-a-request

By law, as an employer, you can only reject a request if it's for one or more of the following business reasons:

  • it will cost your business too much
  • you cannot reorganise the work among other staff
  • you cannot recruit more staff
  • there will be a negative effect on quality of work
  • there will be a negative effect on the business's ability to meet customer demand
  • there will be a negative effect on performance
  • there's not enough work for your employee to do when they've requested to work
  • there are planned changes to the business, for example, you intend to reorganise or change the business and think the request will not fit with these plans
LostMyLanyard · 21/02/2025 22:21

I think you may be better asking for a proper job share, with you doing one half of the week (eg Monday-Wed lunchtime) and A N Other doing Wednesday lunchtime to Friday. This is a much easier option for an employer to work with (and it also saves you money in the long run...petrol money, as you're only doing the journey 3 days times a week instead of 5, and childcare, as I think you'll find that paying for 5 lots of 8-1.30 would be much more expensive...a nursery or child under would likely charge you for a whole day session as they wouldn't be able to fill those 'part' afternoon slots that you'd not be using. My daughter found this out when she tried to book this same scenario and ultimately ended up financially screwed!

orlandob · 22/02/2025 08:18

ChonkyRabbit · 21/02/2025 20:59

Surely the fact that they haven’t had a Maternity Cover covering my role counts for something??? They’ve coped without me entirely for a year.

Yes, definitely point that out. I can't see that being a problem, especially when your attitude is so good.

This OP. Your snippy attitude is not helping and you really really need
To think through the implications of the fact that they have coped without you for so long......this does not work in your favour, quite the opposite.

Also, wanting to work PT to be around for your child is not a mental health reason, it's a lifestyle choice. Citing Mental
Health is entirely inappropriate and offensive to those who have genuine mental health challenges at work.