Requested Part Time but work only agreeing if I change to Term Time contract

[mewbilly]

Returned to work in sales after a year mat leave. Mat Leave Contract means I only have to work 3/5 of a week for first 2 months back on full pay.
Whilst away my company bought a competitor company with their own sales team so have gone back to brand new boss & colleagues. Their sales people only work term time (195 days)as we work in educational sales. However, i was employed on a Full Time, 52 week contract.
I have asked to go Part Time, ideally staying at 3 days a week but have been told that they will agree to 4 days, and that is ONLY if I agree to change to working term time only.
Can they do this? I am so annoyed as I feel they are seeing this as an ideal opportunity to get me working the same number of days as their sales people. It means a huge salary difference to me, and as i will be paying for nursery in the school hols means i will be a lot worse off..
Can anyone enlighten me as I have an interview with my manager & HR representative from my company (ie. who employed me) on Wednesday..

mewbilly is this offer of a compromise a response to a formal flexible working request you've put in or is it all just informal discussions so far?

I am assuming since you were previously employed 52 weeks a year there was work for you to do during holiday times. What's happened to that now? Is the plan just not to operate during those times or something?

What I'm trying to get at is if you were to go back full time, would they still be trying to change your contract to term time only, or is it something that's just an ideal scenario for them rather that a crucial business decision?

When you put in a flexible working request it's fine and normal for the employer to propose a different arrangement and for a compromise to be agreed or trialled.

You can refuse to accept this compromise and you can appeal their refusal to accept your flexible working request if you want to. See here the process that must be followed.

I think you should have a think about whether this change to term time only working is going to come at some point anyway and decide how you feel about that. Do you really have to pay for nursery during school holidays if you don't use it? Have a think long-term about your options.

An employer can't force you to change your contract as such, but if it is a business-critical decision you might find it difficult to resist. Have a read here about what happens if you refuse to accept a proposed change to your terms and conditions.

Thanks, flowery.
It has been fairly informal until now. I put my request in writing after this offer was made as I wasn't happy with it.
There is work to do in the holidays, allbeit rather less & more relaxed working from home. The reps that i work alongside are all quite a bit older than me & have been there for years - term time working suited them when they had children, though some have grandchildren now!
I think that they are desperate for me to move over to term time full stop. The request for part time has just given them the ideal bargaining tool. There are other reps (from my old side of the company) who also work full time, but they work 5 days a week as none of them have children.

Of course, term time working will be great once my daughter is at school.