We speak for you! To the media and to politicians, policy makers and employers, we represent the views and interests of working families.

If you want your voice to be heard, tell us what you think, what is most important for you as a working parent or carer, and we will do our best to put your views across.

In particular, we'd like to know where you stand on our key campaigning issues this year. Scroll down to find out more. Click here to have your say.

Work and Parents Task Force

Set up in June 2001, the Task Force looked at ways to make it easier for parents to change their working hours. Sue Monk, then Chief Executive of PARENTS AT WORK, was a member of the Task Force. Evidence from our helpline is that some employers reject parent's requests for flexible working out of hand. We believe that families and employers benefit if an effort is made to accommodate parents' needs and we sought new legislation to improve parents' rights in this area. The other members of the Task Force were representatives of the CBI, TUC, Equal Opportunities Commission and a number of employers.

Parents and Work - Government Green Paper

In December 2000, the government published a Green Paper (consultation paper) on "Parents and Work: competitiveness and choice". This set out a range of options for improving parental choice around work, within the context of maintaining or improving the economic competitiveness of employers. In our response, Working Families called for:

Better paid leave for parents: maternity, paternity and parental
A legal right to reduced hours working
Extending maternity leave to give the right to a full year off work

If you would like to read our full response, click here.
You can access the Green Paper at www.dti.gov.uk/er/g_paper/summary.htm

As a result of the responses to the Green Paper and the work of the Task Force, legislation comes into effect from April 2003. Although it does not deliver everything which Working Families called for, it does introduce a new right to request flexible working for some parents. For fuller information on your new rights as a working parent, click here to see the Factsheets pages

Working Families Priorities

More time with our children: we believe that parental leave should be paid for by the government and parents should be able to take leave flexibly.

Greater control over our working hours: many parents want to adapt their working hours to get a better fit with their responsibilities at home. They need flexible employers and improved legal rights for those whose requests are turned down without good reason.

Help in dealing with family emergencies: most parents are unaware that they have the right to time off for emergencies. Only twelve per cent of callers to our helpline know enough about their rights to use them. The new rights do not cover medical appointments and non-emergency hospital stays, which can cause difficulties for any working parent and are a major problem for parents of disabled children.

More help for disabled children: childcare remains a very difficult problem for disabled children, with a shortage of suitable care and extra costs for many places. We want to see more accessible, affordable childcare for all children and particularly for disabled children.

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