Single mother is forced to take unpaid leave to home school because her bosses refused furlough her 

A single mother says she is suffering from depression after being forced to take unpaid leave to home school her son because her bosses refused to furlough her.

The mother – who does not want to be named for fear of losing her job – is one of more than 2,000 parents who have had their requests to be furloughed refused amid lockdown this year. 

The job retention scheme currently allows bosses to furlough parents who can’t work due to a lack of childcare while schools remain closed to all but vulnerable children or those of key workers. 

But it is at the employer’s discretion whether or not to grant them furlough – which would see parents receive 80 per cent of their current salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500. 

Nearly 80 per cent of working mothers who asked to be furloughed for childcare reasons since schools shut have been refused, a survey by the Trade Union Congress (TUC) found.   

Meanwhile, some 90 per cent had seen their anxiety and stress levels increase during the latest lockdown – while almost half were worried about being treated negatively by their employers because of their childcare responsibilities.

Employers are now being warned they face an imminent ‘mental health crisis’ and could be guilty of sex discrimination if they refuse to furlough parents. 

Earlier this week, Analise La-Band – a chartered occupational psychologist and mother-of-two – revealed had to quit her job last summer in order to teach her children at home as schools closed during lockdown.   

Issues sourcing childcare is a valid reason for employers to offer full-time or part-time furlough to staff unable to work their full contracted hours. 

However, thousands of struggling mothers are getting turned down by bosses.

A single mother from Hull said: ‘Being a single mum I had no childcare and was worried and my anxiety was not good, so I asked my company for furlough. 

‘They point-blank refused because they are still open and do not want to be taking on a cover person and furlough me as well.

‘But if they did it’s the Government that would be paying me so I am confused as to why its not an option. But I’m a “leave it alone” person rather than a fighter.

‘I am constantly worrying about work and depression is taking over my life.

‘I believe its not a difficult solution due to my circumstances but I have had to go to HR but they have told me similar.

‘So I am very close to be handing my notice in. That won’t help financially but my son comes [before] work.’

Ms La-Band told Radio 4’s Today programme that she was forced to resign due to the pressures of home schooling. 

The mother-of-two said yesterday: ‘Unfortunately I was forced to resign last summer as a result of the difficulty of trying to balance work and home school. 

‘My request for furlough was rejected and I didn’t see any other option so I’ve not been working since. 

‘I’m obviously very concerned with how I can maintain my career and get into the workforce again at some point, having had to make a very difficult decision to withdraw from it when i really wouldn’t have had i had any other choice at the time.’ 

TUC general secretary, Frances O’Grady, said the Government’s lack of support for working parents was causing huge financial hardship and stress – and hitting low-paid mothers and single parents hardest.

She said: ‘Just like in the first lockdown, mums are shouldering the majority of childcare. 

‘Tens of thousands of mums have told us they are despairing.

‘It’s neither possible nor sustainable for them to work as normal while looking after their children and supervising schoolwork.’

Since April 2020 the job retention scheme has allowed bosses to furlough parents who can’t work due to a lack of childcare – but the survey found that 78 per cent of working mothers had not been offered furlough.

Joeli Brearley, who set up the organisation ‘Pregnant Then Screwed’ which fights for parents’ rights, told the BBC that bosses who are rejecting furlough requests could be guilty of ‘indirect sex discrimination’ if they refuse to furlough working mothers. 

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She also warned of a mental health crisis as burnt out parents are being forced to work 17-hour days, incorporating six hours of tuition into their working day. 

She said couples are taking it in turns to do home schooling, beginning work at 5am then rotating child care and working late into the night.

She told MailOnline: ‘Women are now just walking out of their jobs because they just can’t keep doing it, and their mental health is so bad. They’re walking away.

‘Our analysis from ONS data shows that women aged between 25 and 34 have the highest per cent of redundancies and between August and October last year, women were 60 per cent more likely to be unemployed than men. 

‘It’s so concerning having mothers out of the workforce because it’s so dificult to get them back in. 

‘We should be deeply concerned about it, because it is about child poverty at the end of the day it – it affects whole families.’

Her concerns follow news that England’s schools are not due to reopen until March 8 – as the Prime Minister resists  mounting pressure to accelerate.

Meanwhille, Wales confirmed its intention to restart some primary classes after the February half term.

Welsh health minister Vaughan Gething confirmed that some of the youngest age groups would go back to school from February 22 under a similar plan to that underway in Scotland.

 Ms Brearly told Radio 4: ‘Many are not getting any break whatsoever…you’ve got six hours of unpaid work you now need to cram in to you job.

‘The average day has increase from 9 hours to 11 hours under lockdown – that’s already 17 hours of work you have to do before you consider cooking or cleaning or shopping or sleeping, or doing anything for yourself whatsoever. 

‘We’re hearing from frantic mothers who are completely burnt out and their mental health is rapidly deteriorating.

‘They can request to be furloughed and we would hope that their employer would consider that – but 70 per cent of mothers who’ve requested to be furloughed have had that request rejected. 

‘That could be indirect sex discrimination, because the caring responsibilities usually fall to women. 

‘And so if [employers] say you can’t be furloughed, that could be perceived as sex discrimination. 

‘We would really ask them to seriously consider that and if they don’t, they’re they’re going to have a mental health crisis on their hands. 

‘Over the summer between a third and 40 per cent of employers made redundancies so many are surviving on skeletal staff and desperately trying to rebuild their business.

‘Of course they need their employees, and they need them on full productivity, but sadly we’re seeing mothers being pushed out of their jobs because they’re unable to work on full productivity.’

Founder of the blog Mother Pukka, Anna Whitehouse added: ‘What working parents have been tasked with in lockdown is not humanly possible. 

‘You’re looking at an average eight hour working day, six hour school day, 12 hours of parenting wrapped around that – that’s 26 hours in a 24 hour day. And I’m hearing daily from women who are stepping back, standing down and logging off because they’re burning out.

‘Some are quitting out of choice, many not. Because who looks after kids home-schooling? Who looks after pandemic patients when out of hospital? Who takes a Tesco shop to elderly neighbours? 

‘Who runs community What’s App groups making sure everyone has everything they need?’

Source: Daily Mail