Granted part-time hours, but still having to a full-time job in them

This advice depends on how your arrangement has been formalised.

If you signed a new part-time contract then it would be difficult for your employer to force you to return to a full-time role without your consent as this would be a unilateral change of your contract.

If you are working under your original full-time contract with an agreement to job share/ flexible working much will depend on the nature of the agreement.

There are two types of flexible working requests that can be made, a statutory request or non-statutory request. Employers are legally obliged to respond to a statutory request and there are formalised procedures that must be followed. There are no set procedures for non-statutory requests.

If the request for flexible working/ reduced hours was granted without a trial period, then this is deemed to be a permanent change to your contract unless it was agreed that this change would be temporary. It would be difficult for your employer to change this without your consent.

If there is a trial period in place and your employer decides it is not working out, then you will be required to return to your former working arrangement.  You can then re-submit a request for flexible working. However, this may have to be a non-statutory request depending on when your statutory request was submitted.

Overall, the agreement that you currently have in place (be that through a new contract or flexible working arrangement) is not being met by your employer. You are being asked to complete the work of a full-time worker whereas you had agreed part-time hours. It could be argued that there is a breach of contract by your employer. You should consider raising a formal grievance with your employer regarding your employer’s refusal to employ a new manager to job share with you.

You have a review in two months’ and the fact that your department is not meeting its targets may be discussed. This is arguably a direct result of the flexible working arrangement not being fulfilled by your employer by your employer failing to hire a new manager. Therefore, if your employer states that you are failing to carry out your role effectively, you can explain that this directly due to the part-time flexible arrangement not being fulfilled.

If you are dismissed, you may be able to argue discrimination, however this would depend on the flexible working arrangements provided by your employer to other employees. You would need to show that you were being treated less favourably due to your gender.

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