Fifth of working parents claim bosses have treated them unfairly over their childcare responsibilities during Covid crisis, research shows

One in five working families believe they have been treated less fairly at work because of their childcare responsibilities during the virus crisis, new research suggests.

Work-life balance charity Working Families said its survey of 746 working parents found those working part-time are more likely to feel they have been treated differently since the start of the pandemic.

The charity said its poll underpins its call for caring responsibilities to be covered in the Equality Act, providing a legal foundation to tackle workplace discrimination against parents and carers.

Working Families also called for Boris Johnson to back-up his own call for working parents to be 'defended and protected' that he made at the height of lockdown. 

Jane van Zyl, chief executive of Working Families, said: 'At the height of lockdown, the Prime Minister made clear that parents must be "defended and protected" if they are unable to work because they cannot get the childcare they need.

'But there is currently no legal or regulatory mechanism to defend or protect working parents in the way the Prime Minister has suggested.

'In terms of childcare, we are certainly not back to 'business as usual' – since schools reopened in September, parents have continued to struggle, managing staggered school times, gaps in wraparound care provision, and the ever-present risk of being required to self-isolate.

Many parents have had to juggle working from home with childcare responsibilities

'With millions of parents facing unfair treatment at work just for having caring responsibilities, and waves of Covid-related redundancies around the corner, now is the time for the Government to act and make being a parent or carer a protected characteristic.'

The YouGov poll commissioned by the charity asked working parents whether they agree with the following statement: 'I have felt treated less fairly at work because of my childcare responsibilities' since the Covid-19 outbreak in the UK began. 

One in five respondents answered 'strongly agree' or 'tend to agree' to the statement.

Mothers were found to be more likely to agree with the statement than fathers (22 per cent versus 17 per cent respectively).

Part-time workers were a lot more likely to agree than full time workers (29 per cent versus 15 per cent respectively). 

The response from mothers reflects a study done during lockdown in May that found that mothers working from home had taken on more childcare and housework responsibilities than fathers.

Analysis found that in families where both the parents were employed, women spent more time simultaneously trying to work and care for children compared with their partner. 

Women were also more likely to have quit or lost their job, or to have been furloughed, in May since the start of the coronavirus lockdown, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies report.