I went for a job on maternity leave and was told that unless I was willing to come back full time that I shouldn’t bother applying.

Later in my mat leave the job was still available, I went for it again and got it, only to be told that I needed to work five days. If I didn’t agree to this then the job would be offered to someone else. I was forced to leave my young baby and toddler to ensure that I wasn’t overlooked. Nowhere in the job advert did it say that the position required full-time hours. More importantly, I offered to work full-time hours compressed around my childcare – but no, this wasn’t good enough.

This has to stop.