“Back in 2015 I had a job I loved, but the hours were long and rigid and managing my daughters’ childcare felt almost impossible.
“I’d asked my employer about flexible working, but they refused because it would ‘open the floodgates’ to others wanting the same thing. One evening, I was 12 minutes late to nursery pick-up because my briefcase had got trapped in a Tube door. When I arrived my daughter was crying and the nursery charged me £1 for every extra minute they’d had her. I felt broken by the stress.
“I knew I had to quit, but I remember thinking, ‘My girls can’t go through this when they’re older.’ Since then, I’ve been fighting for flexible working for all, through my campaign Flex Appeal. Mother Pukka recently conducted research that found flexible working already contributes £37billion to the UK economy. Increasing current rates by 50% could unlock a further £55billion, while creating 51,200 new jobs and the pandemic has shown us myriad ways to do it.
“As we speak, there is the Employment Bill that seeks to make provisions for the rights of workers being read in the House Of Commons. Alongside a team of amazing female barristers, I recently convinced the Bar Council to send an official message to the Law Commission, arguing that the government should look at overhauling the ‘entire area of law’ around flexible working.
“Here’s what I’ve learned along the way.”