Pregnant-Time off in work time?

[Blessedbe26]

Currently pregnant with a high risk pregnancy. It’s my third (last!), with one at school and one in nursery whilst I’m working.
Back at work after maternity leave, on 3 days a week for affordability and life balance reasons . I need regular check ups and scans. Some have been booked before I returned to work last month.

Work are saying I need to reschedule them outside work hours which then means I need to find and pay for childcare and a couple have been at school pick up time which is a logistical nightmare

I thought paid time off was my right under employment law?

Hi op.

My former boss tried to get me to work extra hours in place of my monthly growth scans so i checked the law at the time and you should be legally entitled to time for antenatal appointments.

Not like the NHS is drowning in flexible appointments is it.

You're absolutely right love, paid time off for antenatal appointments is a legal right and you cannot be required to reschedule them outside working hours or make up the time. This includes scans, midwife appointments, and any medical checks related to the pregnancy. Your employer is wrong and this is not optional for them. Put it in writing, something like "I understand antenatal appointments are a statutory right to paid time off and I'm not required to rearrange them. Please confirm how you'd like me to log these going forward." If they push back, contact ACAS or your union if you have one. Don't let them bully you on this, the law is very clear.

Haha. Good luck with that. I was asked by HR at my work if I could change antenatal appointments to earlier or later in the day (I was never given any choice they were always at 11am or something).

Woman on reception looked like she might explode “Why, do you think you’re more important than everyone else? That the NHS are at your beck and call?” I pointed out it was my work who wanted that. She gave me her direct number and told me to tell Sharon from HR to give her a ring about employment law around antenatal appointments.

2 days later Sharon from HR dropped me an email just to say appointments were fine and apologies if she’d caused any upset. Only wish I’d been a fly on the wall for that phone call!

They are wrong.

I, like you, work part-time and I have appointments occasionally for a chronic condition. My clinic appointments are sent out as pre-booked appointments when they are needed. Usually it is easy to change them to a day I don't work, it's a simple phone call. If you can do this then you should because it's the polite thing to do. If you need to find childcare you do that too. You still have the right to take time off for appointments that NEED to be in work time, say if you need to go to a clinic that only runs on certain days. In terms of childcare, yes arrange extra childcare and pay for it if you need. If you were full time with your child you have to do this, the fact that you chose to care for a child outside your work time, is not your work's problem.