Advice needed on employment/maternity rights

Line managers should not say such things! They are the voice of the company when talking about such matters.
Glad she has got in touch with lots of agencies as that is the best way to find work.

Thanks Jess and Iam for your input. To be fair, the company has not said she would be unable to cope with the role as it is now. That was something her line manager said to her on a very informal basis. He was simply saying how much he understood why she didn't want to return full time, and added something like, 'to be honest, the role has changed a lot and now you'd be expected to be available to take calls at evenings and weekends in addition to being in the office full-time". As she is a single mum, that would clearly be extremely difficult.
But anyway she made it clear from the start that she would not want return to work full-time. In her words, 'I didn't go through all this to have a child for someone else to bring her up'. So she will be looking for other, part-time, employment. She has had lots of help and suggestions now from several agencies and I think she feels calmer about her situation.
Fingers crossed that she finds work sooner rather than later.

I is unreasonable and discriminatory to say she wouldn't be able to manage the job. It feels like constructive dismissal because as JessM said, if she wasn't on mat leave they couldn't re-write her job description without negotiating the changed job description. I'd suggest she gives up her request for part time, finds a way of making it work in the short term, whilst looking for part time/job share elsewhere.

I am both disappointed and a bit surprised that flexible working seems more difficult to obtain now than it was 30 years ago. I understand that job share can create difficulties for employers but its sad so many young women find themselves discriminated against after/around maternity leave.

Employers are allowed to turn down requests for flexible working - if business needs do not make it possible.
So they are within their right to turn this down.

However if she says she wants to come back and they are saying "you wouldn't be able to manage this job any more dear, what with being a single parent, because everyone knows single parents can't do calls in the evenings" is completely unreasonable and discriminatory.
In fact it might be a perfect job for a mum - suitable for some home working time.
In reality nobody is on the end of a phone 24/7 or even continuously during a normal working week. They are in meetings, talking to other clients, on holiday, on lunch etc etc

If they are saying the job has just got more demanding - what is the evidence? Are there other people doing the exact same job? Who has been doing the work while she has been on leave? How much are they being paid?

If she was in work they would not be able to suddenly significantly raise the requirements of the job without a negotiated change in job description and
possibly pay.
So I think appealing the thing about flexible working is not worth the struggle.
I think she should try to find a way to go back to work full time and then start looking for another job with nicer people. Look on the Mumsnet job site where people are deliberately thinking "flexible".

Yes, that is what I thought Nonnie. The problem would be proving that the job has changed - she only had that in an informal telephone conversation and her line manager would very likely deny he'd said that. And the job title and JD are very likely still the same - they've just increased targets dramatically which, let's face it, employers do all the time. It doesn't mean it's a 'new role'. The expectation of employees having to take calls during evenings and weekends is probably not detailed in the JD, so that would be hard to cite as grounds for constructive dismissal. They are very careful these days, as you say.

Sorry, there should be a 'not' before 'sure'

I am sure she has a case on anything apart from Constructive Dismissal because the role has changed making it impossible for her to do the job. Sounds possible to me but I would suggest she calls ACAS again and asks them if that is a possible way forward.

Apart from that her employer seems to have done everything correctly and followed the process exactly. Employers are generally very, very careful with women on maternity leave and will do everything to protect themselves.

I don't know about the extension to maternity leave but this is another question she could ask ACAS.

Very difficult situation all round.

Thank you ann. Yes she does feel let down. She is not, in all honesty, surprised that this has happened, but of course she just kept hoping against hope that things would work out. It's that horrible realisation that she has to start job hunting all over again - not an easy task in the current climate, and especially not easy in our neck of the woods.

Oh how upsetting for you all. Sadly she is not the first and she won't be the last this has happened to. I think these very long maternity leaves can be a poisoned chalice in that things change within the company and also someone else comes in to do it and the company are then reluctant to go back. This happened to the daughter of a friend and she was able to set up her own business working from home but this is a long and expensive process. Your D must feel she has been let down and possibly even deceived by her company. I cannot offer practical help just sympathy.