A third of parents with youngsters have left a job because it is not flexible enough to care for their children, results from a new poll show.
The poll by Opinium found close to a third (30 per cent) of workers with children aged under seven said they had seen informal flexible working requests being rejected, either in part or in full, while more than a third (33 per cent) of parents chose to leave a job due to lack of flexible working options.
It also found some parents are actively avoiding roles which they do not deem as flexible enough.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has warned that companies rolling back on flexible working is harming parents and leaving them having to seek employment elsewhere, putting pressure on household finances.
But the group warns it could also be harming businesses who may miss out on talent by not making necessary provisions for these people.
The findings come ahead of changes to UK law which will place a burden of proof on businesses to show why requests for flexible working need to be rejected.
Under the Employment Rights Act 2025, which has also impacted across sick pay, strikes and whistleblowing, employees have the right to request flexible working as soon as they start at a company, while the firm will need to prove why there is a valid reason the request must be denied before doing so, along with following specific protocol.
These changes will not come into effect until 2027 but some trade bodies, including the TUC, are arguing they could go further.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “As many parents return to work after the half term break, anyone with kids knows that being able to work flexibly isn’t a perk. It is a lifeline for working families.
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“But the truth is too many parents are still being locked out of the labour market due to rigid and outdated attitudes in the workplace.
“Improving access to flexible working benefits workers, businesses and the economy – whether it’s through increasing staff productivity or higher retention.
“That’s why the government is right in its ambition to make flexible working the default through the Employment Rights Act. But ministers must go further. It’s time we saw a legal duty on employers to advertise possible flexibility in roles to fit around workers’ lives.”
More than half (53 per cent) of potential applicants said they were less likely to apply for a job without knowing if the working pattern would fit around their life and responsibilities.
The results also showed a significant number workers felt their views were taken less seriously or they were seeing fewer progression opportunities after making flexibility requests.
Rebecca Horne head of campaigns and communications at Pregnant Then Screwed, said: “We need to stop looking at flexible working as a work perk, and instead, we need to prioritise it as the lifeline that it is. And it’s not just parents, everyone deserves the flexibility to care and work.
“We need to increase the pressure on companies that are pushing people out of work due to inflexible working practices, and shift the focus from being a favour to an essential for employees who need it.”
Separately, one in three workers earning under £40,000 a year are needing to raise additional income to make ends meet amid rising household bills and mortgage repayments.
A survey for the Vanquis Financial Wellbeing Index shows a quarter of households are unable to save any money in any consistent way while almost a third (29 per cent) have saved nothing at all over the last six months.
Groceries, car repairs and utility bills are the biggest offenders when it comes to wiping out any extra income, the survey revealed, with the past year seeing water bills go up by nearly a third (30 per cent), rent and mortgage costs up almost a tenth (9 per cent) and council tax also rising (7 per cent).
Inflation in the UK is expected to continue rising over the coming months, with the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) having warned that grocery inflation could tip close to ten per cent in the latter period of 2026.
“This data paints a vivid picture of the ongoing cost-of-living squeeze on hard-working Brits. People are doing everything right – finding extra sources of income, cutting back, managing their money carefully – yet rising essential costs continue to erode the financial headroom they need to get ahead,” said Ian McLaughlin, CEO of Vanquis Bank.
“While there are encouraging signs that spending is beginning to stabilise, the bigger challenge remains converting short-term resilience into long-term financial security.
“Too many households are finishing the month with little or nothing left to save. Without that buffer, financial confidence remains fragile.”
Further findings in the report suggest more than three-quarters (77 per cent) of households are cutting back on non-essential spending, while average figures show less than £3 out of every £100 earned is going into savings.
