Redundancy support · Free

You're not on
your own here.

A free, curated list of organisations, charities, coaches and communities for women facing redundancy around maternity leave. Pop your details in and we'll send it over, plus new support as we add it. Or head straight in. No gatekeeping, remember.

Just take me straight there
Gigi. · A Curated Resource · Updated as we learn more

You didn't ask
to be here.

So we made sure the map existed before you needed it. Every organisation, community, and support network for women navigating redundancy at return from maternity leave, and the bigger career comeback.

No gatekeeping. No searching. Just the resource. ↓
Why this exists

Being made redundant at the point of return from maternity leave is not a niche experience. It keeps surfacing in research. It shows up in comment sections. It happens everywhere, and most women navigate it alone, at the exact moment they have the least capacity to search for help.

The systems around working mothers aren't failing randomly. They're failing predictably. This resource exists so that the next woman in this position doesn't have to start from scratch.

What I know, you know. No gatekeeping.

Jump to
Your Rights Return to Work Find Roles Coaching Community
01 · Know your rights

Legal clarity
first.

Redundancy during or immediately after maternity leave has specific legal protections in the UK. Before you do anything else, know what they are.

Your quick legal snapshot (UK)
If you are made redundant while on maternity leave or within 18 months of the birth of your child, you must be offered any suitable alternative vacancy before other employees who are at risk. Being dismissed because of pregnancy or maternity is unlawful discrimination. If something feels wrong, it probably is. Free expert advice is available, and the first call below is the place to start.
Free Legal Advice Line · New
Growth Spurt Legal Advice Line
Joeli Brearley MBE, with lawyer Danielle Ayres
As free legal advice disappears across the sector at the exact moment discrimination is rising, Growth Spurt has stepped in. Founded by Joeli Brearley, who built Pregnant Then Screwed, it has partnered with leading employment lawyer Danielle Ayres to run a completely free advice service for both employees and employers. It covers pregnancy, adoption, all forms of parental leave, returning to work, flexible working, and reproductive health including fertility treatment, miscarriage and menopause. You get expert advice from some of the UK's leading employment lawyers, with a guaranteed response within 48 hours.
Call 0161 831 0202
growth-spurt.uk
Government Body · Free Helpline
ACAS
The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service. Free, impartial guidance on employment rights. If you're not sure where to start, start here. Their helpline advisers will explain your position clearly and without jargon. One important thing to check early: if you're thinking about making a claim, there are strict time limits. You usually have only three months less one day from the event, and you normally need to start ACAS early conciliation before that deadline runs out, so don't leave it.
0300 123 1100
acas.org.uk
Charity · Specialist Rights Advice
Maternity Action
Specialist charity focused entirely on maternity rights in the UK. Their advice line handles the grey areas most HR processes pretend don't exist, from statutory pay disputes to unlawful redundancy to your rights on return. Precise, expert, free.
maternityaction.org.uk
Charity · Campaigning & Resources
Pregnant Then Screwed
Founded by Joeli Brearley MBE
The charity that put maternity discrimination on the national agenda, with a deep library of advice content, lived experience, and active campaigning that has shaped UK law. Worth knowing that founder Joeli Brearley has since moved on to lead Growth Spurt, which now runs the free legal advice line listed above, so check there first if you need urgent legal support.
pregnantthenscrewed.com
If you need a lawyer in your corner
Clare Chappell, Employment Lawyer
When you've moved past guidance and need formal representation, Clare brings a sharp employment law perspective. She has direct experience supporting women who've been sidelined, put into weaponised PIPs, or quietly made redundant during and after maternity leave, and she has spoken publicly on exactly this.
Connect on LinkedIn
02 · Return to work

Programmes built
for this.

These organisations were built specifically to support women coming back. You don't have to explain yourself. They already understand.

Return to Work Programme
Growth Spurt
Joeli Brearley MBE, Founder
More than the legal line, Growth Spurt is a full return to work programme built by parents, psychologists and coaches. It runs from pregnancy through to years after returning, with expert advice, career coaching, peer support, and skills development in one place. Built by the same person who put maternity discrimination on the map, so the credibility runs deep.
growth-spurt.uk
Psychology Led Career Platform
Waddyado
Claudia Gasson, Founder
For the moment you look up and think, what now? Waddyado combines organisational psychology, expert coaching, and the kind of peer support that makes the confusing in between stage of a career change a little less lonely. Structured career pathways, coaches who understand both mindset and market reality, access to psychologist career coaches, and a community of people who just get it. Built for navigating redundancy, circling a pivot, or quietly questioning everything on the commute. They also offer psychology backed outplacement for employers supporting departing staff.
waddyado.com
Return to Work Programme
Career Returners
Specifically designed for people returning after a longer career break. Works with employers to run structured returnship programmes. If your break was more than 18 months and you're not sure how to frame it, this is the right place.
careerreturners.com
Platform · Workshops · Employer Work
Mother of All Jobs
Evie Squires, Founder
Built after Evie was made redundant on her first day back from maternity leave. Connects parents with employers who genuinely understand flexible working, runs workshops for women navigating the return, and works with managers so they're actually equipped to support them. The problem isn't the women. It never has been.
Find them online
Coaching Programme · Reintegration
BloomBox Coaching
Rosie Colleypriest, Founder
A reintegration and confidence programme built because the founder went through a difficult return from maternity herself. Focuses on the identity shift as well as the logistics, because stepping back in is about more than the practicalities.
Connect on LinkedIn
Return Support · Creative Industry
nextphase
Lucy Freeman, Founder
Specifically for the creative industry, agencies especially. If you work in advertising, design, PR, or media, the culture of those environments is a different beast entirely. Stopping the female talent leak through parenthood in the sector that most ignores it.
Connect on LinkedIn
Return Support · Early Stage
KitDay
Mo Spargo, Founder
Early in its mission to support women returning to work after maternity leave, and something real is being built here. Worth following from the start. Connect directly with Mo to be part of it.
Connect with Mo
03 · Find flexible roles

Where the right
roles actually are.

Job boards and placement programmes built around flexibility, not the ones where "flexible working considered" is buried three paragraphs into a job description that isn't.

Verified Flexible Jobs Board
Flexa
The flexible first jobs board. Companies on Flexa are verified against their actual flexibility policies, not just the language in the job ad. Filter by remote, hours, compressed weeks, and more. This is the one to bookmark.
flexa.careers
Jobs Platform · Parents
Mother of All Jobs
Evie Squires, Founder
Beyond the return to work programme, Mother of All Jobs connects parents directly with employers who have genuinely committed to flexibility. Vetted employers, not just listed ones.
Find them online
Return to Work Placement
The Return Hub
A specialist return to work programme connecting experienced professionals who've had a career break with employers who are actively ready to welcome them back. Structured, supportive, and not patronising about the gap on the CV.
thereturnhub.com
04 · Coaching

People who get it
before you explain it.

Coaches who have been here, built here, or made it their specialism. The kind where you don't have to start from the beginning.

Career Coach · Working Parents
Hi.Ho.Coaching
Susie Powis, Founder
Return to work and career coaching for parents, working with individuals and with the businesses that employ them. Susie's mission is that every parent can access the support they need at the exact moment they need it. Not afterwards.
Connect on LinkedIn
Community · Support
Five Hour Club
Amy Grilli
Community and support for women navigating careers alongside motherhood. Amy is open to direct outreach and wants to hear from researchers and women in this space alike.
amy@fivehourclub.com
Executive Coach · Senior Leaders
Kelly McMahon
Coaches senior female leaders to thrive in their careers while navigating motherhood for the first time. Specifically for those at leadership level experiencing identity disruption alongside career disruption. The two hit at the same time and compound.
Connect on LinkedIn
Coaching · MCIPD Qualified
Wildwood Coaching
June Hogan, Founder
A Chartered MCIPD coach who has spoken publicly on maternity related redundancy and discrimination, including in direct conversation with employment lawyer Clare Chappell. Credibility backed by professional qualification and real experience in the space.
Connect on LinkedIn
Coaching · Free Mat Leave Plan
Zoe Duce
Zoe helps professional mums stay in the careers they worked hard for, and works with their employers to make sure they're doing their part too. She also offers a free maternity leave plan, which is a practical place to start if you're planning ahead.
Connect on LinkedIn
05 · Community

Find your
people.

Built by people who needed these communities and created them when they couldn't find them.

Community · Redundancy Support
Club Redundo
Georgie Hunter, Cofounder
A community specifically for people navigating redundancy. Not just the maternity adjacent kind. All of it. Sometimes what you need is a space that holds the particular grief of losing a job, not just the practicalities of finding a new one.
Connect with Georgie
Community · Working Parents
Liesbeth Symons' Network
Liesbeth Symons, Founder
Building an active support network for working parents, with specific focus on working mums returning from leave. Belgium-based, so most relevant if you're there or want a European connection. In development, which means the chance to be part of it from the beginning.
Connect on LinkedIn
Community · Female Founders
The Wilder Collective
Nicky Denson-Elliott, Host
An online community for female founders and women in professional transition. Runs alongside the award winning Women's Business podcast. Not maternity specific, but built for women who refuse to make themselves smaller during the hard bit.
Find them online
The research

If you've lived this,
your experience counts.

There's a pattern here. Women made redundant at the exact moment they return. If you've been through it, there's an anonymous research survey gathering these stories properly. Every question is optional. Share only what feels right.

Take part in the research

Know something
we don't?

This resource is live and growing. If you know an organisation, community, coach, or lawyer who belongs here, tell us. No gatekeeping means no gatekeeping.

Suggest a resource
Your smartest friend through matrescence.
Last updated · June 2026 · More resources added as research continues

Research-backed. Refreshingly human. Built on the work of The Matrescence Advantage™, because the neuroscience of becoming a mother deserves to be put to use.

Take part in the research

This resource was built from community intelligence gathered through research and direct outreach. Organisations are listed in good faith based on public information and their own stated services, which can change. Please verify details before relying on them, and get in touch if anything needs correcting.