More mothers returning to full-time work, official figures reveal

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that more mothers are choosing to return to work full time.

The figures show that at the end of 2010, 29% of mothers were working a 35-hour or more week. In 1996, the figure was 23%.

Although the number of mothers choosing to return to full-time work has risen, it is more common for mothers to work on a part-time basis. However, the figure for mothers working part-time has dropped by 1% since 1996, from 38% to 37%.

Overall, 66% of mothers (described as women with children under the age of 15 or between the ages of 16 and 18 if in full-time education) are in some form of employment. This is an increase of 5% since 1996 and means that the gap between mothers and women without dependent children in the workplace has narrowed.

Jamie Jenkins, a statistician for the ONS, provides a few reasons for the increase in working mothers. The rise in service-industry jobs after the decline of manufacturing may have led to more women with children going to work. In addition, he said that as women are having children at a later stage in their lives, in their mid-thirties rather than their twenties, they will be on higher salaries and less inclined to not return to work.

Brendan Barber, the general secretary of TUC, attributes the rise in working mothers to the family-friendly employment laws that have come into force over the last 15 years. For example, the more generous parental leave and pay, and the right of parents to request flexible working.

The term ‘flexible working’ covers a number of arrangements between an employer and an employee, including flexi-time, compressed hours, annualised hours, home working, and job sharing.

Not every parent has the right to request flexible working. The parent must be an employee and not an agency worker. They must have been in continuous employment with their employer for 26 weeks prior to making the request and they must not have made a previous request for flexible working in the past 12 months.

An employer is under an obligation to seriously consider the employee’s request for flexible working; however, they are not under an obligation to grant the request. This does not mean employers can arbitrarily refuse to grant flexible working; they must have a legitimate business reason for deciding to refuse the request.

For more advice on your employment rights at work, including your right to request flexible working, contact Job Justice today. We can put you in touch with a local employment solicitor.