I'm in the slightly unusual position of being pregnant at the same time as my wife (she's 2 months behind my due date). I think all being well, for her it's likely to be more clear cut - I'll go on mat leave near my due date, she'll take her pat leave, then either go back to work for a week or 2, or bridge the gap with annual leave, and then she'll take her mat leave as normal?

I need to tell my work soon about my pregnancy, but just wondering before I start talking to them about it (and Google is being unhelpful, probably because this is semi niche) whether or not I'll still be entitled to pat leave if it happens 2-3 months into my mat leave? It kind of feels unfair if I don't get it, but at the same time I'd already be off so I can see why it might not happen.

I think I'm entitled to 4 weeks pat leave, and at the 2-3 month mark I'd still be within my work's policy of 20+ weeks of full pay, if that matters. This situation is obvs not covered in the documented policy 😂

Thank you to anyone who can help!

Hi all,

The background...

• Location: England.
• My 2015 Ford Mondeo was parked and was hit by another driver on 13 September 2026. It was subsequently written off.
• Liability is not in dispute; I’m dealing with the at-fault driver’s insurer, Direct Line, for my uninsured losses.
• I bought a 2023 Hyundai Kona as the replacement vehicle.
• Rather than taking out a new insurance policy, I substituted the Kona onto my existing Hastings policy.
• Hastings charged me an additional £484.14 for the mid-term change.
• Hastings’ documentation states that £20 is the administration fee for changing vehicle, leaving £464.14 as the additional premium (including applicable IPT).
• Direct Line initially rejected the insurance costs altogether. After I challenged them, they’ve agreed to consider/reimburse the £20 administration fee, but are refusing the £464.14 additional premium.
• Their position appears to be that an increased premium for the replacement vehicle isn’t a recoverable loss arising from the accident.
• My argument is that but for their insured writing off my Mondeo, I would have continued with the Mondeo on my existing policy and would never have incurred this mid-term additional premium.
• I accept the Kona is newer/more valuable than the Mondeo (£17,500 insured value versus £10,000), so I appreciate Direct Line may argue that some of the increase reflects a different insurance risk.
• I’ve asked Hastings for a detailed underwriting breakdown. They’ve told me they can’t provide one because the premium is generated by their underwriting system.
• I’ve found FOS decision DRN3079179, involving a parked car being hit and written off. The claimant’s losses included “the additional premium he was required to pay as a result of substituting a new car onto his motor policy”. The decision indicates the additional premium was among the losses successfully recovered. I appreciate an FOS decision isn’t binding legal precedent.

My questions to the experts...

• Q1: Is the £464.14 potentially recoverable from the at-fault driver/Direct Line as a consequential/uninsured loss, or is Direct Line correct that the increased premium for the replacement vehicle isn’t recoverable?
• Q2: If the fact that the Kona represents a different underwriting risk means the whole £464.14 isn’t recoverable, does that justify Direct Line paying £0, or should some reasonable proportion still be recoverable?

Hello

I bought phone insurance for my iPhone 15 a few months ago. I recently upgraded to the iPhone 18 and the phone insurance company have told me they don’t yet cover this model. When I asked if I could cancel instead they said I’d have to pay out the entire year to cancel even though they don’t support my new phone.

Is there anything I can do to get out of this contract? I can’t afford to pay out the whole contract, nor do I think I should have to as I’m no longer getting any service from it

England

EDIT 2: fuck it, I'll just be identifying. I am the child's mother and was a victim of controlling & coercive behavior and financial abuse from my ex. I was trying to be vague because I didn't want him to recognise this post. Of our two children, one child has also been a victim of his behaviour and they choose to live with me. Our other child (currently in France) chose to live with their dad because my ex initially stayed in the family home when we separated. (I couldn't make him leave so I had to flee). It was a time of major upheaval for both children and I appreciate why they wanted the continuity of the house that was familiar. I am pretty sure my other child is also a victim of their dad's controlling behaviour, but I can't prove it, and the child still idolises their dad and believes everything that comes out of their mouth. Their dad deliberately drives a wedge between us.

I have tried on more than one occasion to be listed as child's parent with the school. It hasn't happened. I should have pushed harder sooner. It involves cooperation from my ex who, as demonstrated above, is anything but helpful.

It's a shit situation and I hate it and I miss my child terribly. There has been social services involvement, but as child wants to live with dad they have let them.

I just want to make sure that their father isn't going to think he can take the children out of the country without my knowledge or permission.

I was asking for legal advice based on the necessary facts. Not an assessment of my character as a parent.

-

EDIT: to answer some common questions.
Yes, both parents are listed on the birth certificate. We also have another child who has chosen to live full time with me. I have deliberately kept this gender neutral so it is less identifying.
Both children are secondary school age (different schools) and under 16

-

I have just discovered that my child has been taken abroad on a school trip without my knowledge. Child lives full time with their other parent through choice. There are no court orders and we both have parental responsibility.

Despite multiple times of asking, I am not listed on any of child's school paperwork. I'm not even sure I'm an emergency contact.

I am somewhat alarmed to discover that my child is currently stuck in France due to the issue with the channel tunnel.

Should it have been possible for him to leave the country without my knowledge?

Is there anything I can do about this?

Bit of a random one but me and my colleagues are seriously considering having our employer looked in to. It’s just that we don’t know where to go.

Basically- he’s a very dodgy man. Accounts are always getting cancelled, cards are being rejected, payments are late and never in full (our salaries), he mishandled our tax payments and pensions.

We have spoken to HMRC and ACAS on separate occasions about these issues but they were actually pretty unhelpful. They suggested just talking to him about it (we have no HR) or any opportunity to investigate would mean him knowing we’ve reported him (there’s only 3 of us).

What we’d love to do is to have some anonymous investigation into him, his accounts and his handling of the business.

Is there actually a way to do this?

Location: United Kingdom

In England,

Ex was sexually, physicallly and financially abusive. We seperared, we do split custody. I have concerns they are driving with child intoxicated. I am considering not letting child stay overnights. We're both on the birth certificate but I am main caregiver.

They have also, recently, used child to manipulate me/cross boundaries(imem turn up annunnounced). We have no formal thing in place, going through mediation. I am unsure if mediation will work.

Is it illegal for me to simply say ex can't have child overnight for a little while?

I am a university student on a nursing course which requires sign off from university staff to be entered onto the professional register and 2300 hours of placement hours.

I have disabilities, multiple, that are controlled with medication. The University know this. I had to briefly intermit (6 months off). Otherwise I have passed every single academic module, every single practice module, I am only short actual placement hours. They scheduled me time to do said hours, but to meet the number of hours I was having to work 48 hours a week.

I reached out saying that I was struggling with working the 48 hour work week because of my disabilities, it was making them worse, and that was meaning I was needing to call in sick. It took 7 or 8 emails to get a response from anyone, right up to the course leader, at which point I was told it would be discussed. I didn't hear anything further.

A few days ago I again emailed after being signed off for two weeks because of an acute illness. I have been told by the University not to work whilst this is going on. However, and I think this was accidental, I was copied into an email where the course leader was saying she didn't want to sign me onto the register as she didn't think I would find a job because of my absences on placement.

I have always been open and honest. As part of signing documents before my registration, I declared that I had disabilities which would be manageable with reasonable adjustments when I was on the register. I repeatedly reached out for help when I needed it- to say 48h a week was too much- and never heard anything back.

I am reviewed regularly by multiple None of my consultants have ever expressed concern. None of the staff have brought this up before. I have not been referred to Fitness to Practice or ever accused of being unsafe in practice. I have offered to see Occupational Health- they have not referred me since my intermission two years ago and I cannot self refer. There was no mention of needing to start a proper process in the email, only that they would simply decline to sign me off to be entered onto the professional register.

I am a member of a union (RCN). But given this was only a single email that I am not sure I was supposed to see, and not a formal notification, can I contact them already? Am I correct in my thinking that this isn't the appropriate way they should have handled this? The student union only offers support for if the actual FTP process is initiated, which it hasn't been and it seems like they don't want to, but I think they should as I'd have more rights. What are my next steps and my rights here?

EDIT: Yes, I understand the 2300h has to be done to graduate. A reasonable adjustment would be to allow me to work the maximum suggested hours by the university (37.5 a week) rather than the 48h a week they've scheduled me to do.

My partner (we’ll call her V) got divorced from her partner (and we’ll call him X) a couple of years ago, and while they were together they got a dog. While they were going through the divorce they maintained a shared care arrangement whereby V cared for the dog the majority of the time, and X saw the dog on a sporadic basis as he had chosen to move to a non-dog friendly flat.

Fast forward in time to about a year into this arrangement X is in a relationship with a new partner, they have a puppy together, and he chooses to move 180 miles away. At the same time the new partner begins to change things about the shared pet which V was explicitly clear should not be happening (keeping him in a crate when he wasn’t crate trained as a puppy, leaving him home alone for hours when he has anxiety, etc.). The relationship between V & X deteriorated as a result and V decided to end the shared custody arrangement as it was taking a serious toll on her mental health, and the dog’s health was visibly taking a toll.

Now, a few months on from this, X is threatening legal action to enforce the reinstatement of the shared ownership arrangement. They have sent an initial letter from a solicitor requesting exactly this. V is not comfortable reinstating it due to no remorse ever being shown by X for the previous behaviours.

Some things to note;
- X did not request this formal arrangement during the divorce proceedings, so the final consent order makes no reference to the dog.
- X frequently gets speeding and parking fines, which is one of the causes of anxiety for V about him being driven 360 miles every two weeks.
- V is suffering mental health concerns as a result.
- X has been verbally abusive towards V as a result of her ending the shared arrangement.

So, question to the audience - can X get this legally enforced? AI advice would suggest courts in England are hesitant to award shared custody for pets, especially older pets with health issues. Is this fair, or is it actually quite easily enforceable?

Also, X is financially better able to take this to a lengthy legal position - is there any way to level the playing field, i.e. make him liable for any legal costs of the process?

Hello, looking for advice, my parents neighbour has recently moved their oil tank to within 2m of my parents water supply (borehole), the company that installed the borehole has said this is an absolute no no, the company that fitted the oil tank has said its fine, they (my parents) are worrying a lot about contamination of their water supply.

Background info, the new oil tank is right next to the borehole, the tank is on a tiny concrete pad to the edge of a shared driveway turning point with no anti ram barriers etc, the oil tank is directly next to the neighbours property (about 2 inches from her wall), reason for moving it was the previous one leaked and she didn't want to dig up the floor to fix the leak.

The neighbour was informed about the borehole so was the company fitting the new oil tank, before they did any work.

My parents have already contacted environmental health and planning authority, but looking for any other advice.

Cheers.

Edit: corrected which company said what.

England – Need advice on getting contact with my son

I’m a father with currently zero contact with my young son. I want to take the proper legal steps to establish regular contact, but I’m on a limited budget.
I’m not named on his birth certificate, so I may also need to apply for parental responsibility. There is an active Non-Molestation Order involving his mother, which I must comply with.

I’ve already paid £375 for a solicitor consultation and have found a service called Dads Consultancy, offering ongoing support with the C100 application, Cafcass interviews, court statements and hearings for £975.

They’ve told me I’m exempt from a MIAM because of the Non-Molestation Order.

My questions:
Is C100 the right route to get contact with my son?

Is Dads Consultancy worth £975, or is there a more affordable option?

Does an NMO mean I’m exempt from a MIAM?

Has anyone been through a similar situation and successfully established contact?

I’d really appreciate advice from anyone with personal experience or knowledge of the family court process in England. Thank you.

last week I won £10,000 from Gala spins when I tried to withdraw the money they stopped the payment sent me £950 and blocked the account!! after contacting me they told me they were looking into it because of making the payment from my partner’s card I was breaking the rules even though I won roughly 2 thousand the week before which they paid me! and 522 transactions to and from the same card I tried to withdraw from over the past year.

i have to now wait till the 3 weeks for a final decision

what are your thoughts do you think they will or should pay?

My Mother passed away in 2024. She left a UK bank account which had around £12k in it. She had a house in SA but the will for here was separate. HSBC won’t release the funds without full probate. I’m under the impression that £12k is well under the probate limit. Is there someone to complain to or do we just have to bite the bullet?

Hello! I have a trial in Romania for alimony from my father who lives and works in the UK, and the romanian court has sent documents to The Senior Master- For the attention of Foreign Process Section in order for them to provide income evidence. These documents have been sent over on the 24th of November 2025, and I still have not received a response. How do I know? Because it is my burden to translate the response from the English Court. Is there any way to find out how long it takes, or if there is anything going on? Can I proceed in anyway to speed things up?

For context: my father lives and works in the Wolverhampton area.

I sent a package this week through Evri (expensive bottle of wine, well packed!), paid for next day and tracked and signed delivery - they made an error on the charge and I was triple charged for the delivery (£15, not the main problem here).

I was asked about the package contents when sending- said the value was £50 bottle of wine - apparently wine is on their list of items they can't insure so protection wasn't offered.

Posted the package, watched the tracking as it basically stopped when it reached the delivery depot. Yesterday it said 'out for delivery' but never arrived.

I've raised a ticket with Evri - the response has essentially been 'sorry, we lost it, unlucky'.

I feel like I've paid them £15 to essentially steal a bottle of wine from me, and having put the value of the contents has probably enticed someone to open the package.

Is there anything I can do? Genuinely can't believe they can get away with zero refund or compensation.

England btw.

This has baffled me today and I’d like to know what other people think about this.

This morning my husband, myself and my 7 year old daughter were heading into town with our new kitten for his vet appointment, my husband was driving.

He isn’t that familiar with where the vet is and he’s not a confident driver so I was telling him where to go and we were taking our time so we didn’t miss the turn. This is a busy built up area, cars parked on one side of the road, pavements both sides, crossings, bus stops etc.

A car overtook us quite dangerously just as we were coming up to the junction where the vet is. Then this other car started tailgating us, flashing, beeping their horn and turning their hazards on. We panicked and thought there must be something wrong with our car. We turned into the vets and pulled over, put the window down, and a police man came out an unmarked car and was really standoffish with us.

He asked if my husband has been drinking or taking drugs, why he was driving “carelessly” by doing 20 in a 30, and that his driving “forced” a car to dangerously overtake us. He also claimed there was a huge queue of traffic behind us, which was a lie. The officer’s hands were visibly shaking, he seemed nervous. My husband explained he was driving carefully with the kitten in the car as the kitten was crying, and he didn’t think he was doing anything wrong by taking his time in a built up area.

He asked some bizarre questions once we gave the driving licence, “have you ever given a false date of birth?” “is this a new licence, have you actually been driving for longer than 12 years?”. He took my husband’s driving licence and went to his car. He asked if he had been in trouble with the police before, we had to explain that we’re due in court as witnesses for a case against our really antisocial neighbour who threatened to kill us, so we probably are on their system but as victims not suspects. We’ve never been involved with the police personally.

Once he realised we were just going to the vet and not drunk or anything, he completely changed his personality and was acting friendly. He then said he pulled us over because he thought my husband was a learner who had forgotten to put his L plates on as driving 20mph in a 30mph zone was unreasonable and careless. I showed him our kitten and he was all happy, then he went on his way. He said he was in an unmarked car because he was heading to a sensitive case, but he was alone. No points or fines were given to us.

It was a bit strange being pulled over for taking our time. To be fair I did wonder why my husband was going so slow, but it must’ve been for less than 5 minutes til we found the junction we needed to go in. He never speeds, if anything he does take his time, he’s a really cautious driver and especially when we’re travelling with our daughter.

I don’t blame the police for doing their job but I felt he was a bit off with us and he had no blue lights on his dashboard, we thought he was road raging at us. Why did he not pull over the car who overtook us dangerously? I felt like he completely wasted our time and his own.

I wont be making a complaint or anything, but I was wondering if this is standard for the police? I understand his logic due to that car overtaking us, but we weren’t all over the road just going a bit slow, it wasn’t bang on 20mph anyway it was closer to 25mph. It seemed if the car hadn’t overtaken us he wouldn’t have bothered. And when the car overtook us we were pretty much at the vet anyway.

Hello,

I received confirmation that my wife and I would be being awarded compensation for our recent flight from Scotland to england which was delayed for over four hours.

We paid £25 (booking fee?) for my son, who sat on my wife's lap. He was named on her boarding pass.

My son experienced the same delay as we did, we paid for him to be on the plane, I think he should be entitled to the same compensation as me and my wife.

I've read an article on monesavingexpert where a father took Ryanair to court and won in a similar situation, how would you proceed?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Edit: we live in England

As said employer is looking to make Redundancies

The rationale used for Selection doesn't make much sense and appears to be a very weak reason not supported by evidence

Our team operates across 4 sites the employer wants the team at my site to be made redundant due to wanting to operate from 3 strategic sites

Reasons given we are at risk

Operational challenges

No face to face collaboration with wider team

Reduced work load (this effects all 4 sites equally)

No evidence has been provided to support the rationale that operational challenges exist at our site or that there is an issue with collaboration with the wider team

The pool is 4 people with 4 to be made redundant.

What has been confirmed from the collective questions is

It is only our site at risk

Our site is not closing

Other members of the team at other sites who perform the same role are excluded

Skill performance and attendance haven't been used for the Selection.

From my understanding this is a set up for a potential unfair dismissal as the only reason thats supported by evidence is the reduced workload but that effects all sites as we work from the same CRM?

Any advice on how to challenge this effectively would be appreciated as so far they arent willing to negotiate or expand on their rationale.

I'm lucky enough to be paying off my mortgage soon, but have only just found out I need to arrange separately for the charge to removed from the land registry.

Registers of Scotland say on their website you can do so without a solicitor and I was wondering if anyone had any experience of doing so. Was it relatively straightforward filling out the forms and following their instructions?

I've so far had a quote of £300 + VAT + fees from a solictor and it really seems like money for old rope.

This is not for me this is for my mum. She was recently dismissed from her bus driving job that she was doing for 10 years under gross misconduct (there was an accident) and is currently trying to appeal it. Her appeal was delayed by roughly 8 days and last night we got a call from another former employee and he told her that the manager that carried out her fact find discussed her case after he asked about what was happening with her. apparently the manager said that he doesn't know what the appeal verdict would be because of the reasons that were not public. My mum looked through the transcripts and found the cctv still frame that was discussed with the outsider to the case. Is there anything my mum can do about this? I believe that the company has a confidentiality policy and that policy was breached by the manager. Her appeal is today at 12PM

Hi all, just after some advice.
My husband has a daughter with his ex, she’s 7. She has recently moved in with her partner, and wants to change the daughter’s school. We don’t have a problem with her moving schools, the problem is the school her mum is proposing is completely out of our way. If my husband dropped her at breakfast club then doubled back on himself to get to work, he would be late every day and it would be a distance of 30 miles, so a 60 mile round trip. The school is right next to his ex’s house, so she wouldn’t have this issue.
His ex is completely refusing to budge and has said she will apply for the place with or without his consent (which I don’t think she can as we have 50/50 custody). Any ideas on what to do? We’re in England.
Thanks

Advice needed regarding neighbour’s approved planning application (England)

Hi, I’m looking for advice about whether there is anything my mum can do regarding a neighbour’s approved planning application.

Timeline:

April 2025: Planning application notification received. December 2025: Application approved. September 2026: Building work began.

Background:

The neighbour lives on a different street, but their garden backs onto my mum’s. Their application included a rear extension and a large garden outbuilding. The extension doesn’t affect my mum, but the outbuilding does.

My mum was in hospital and a care home from May 2023 to December 2025, recovering from a subarachnoid haemorrhage. Although family members saw the planning notification, she was unable to make a decision at the time, and as she is the sole homeowner and we had no lasting power of attorney in place, we were unable to act on her behalf.

The outbuilding was described as “single storey only”, and as there had previously been an outbuilding in the garden, we assumed it would be similar to the existing structure.

My mum has now returned home, and construction is nearly complete. She is concerned about the building’s height and proximity to the boundary. It also significantly affects the view from her kitchen window, replacing what was previously greenery with a large brick wall which takes up over half of the width of the garden.

The planning officer’s report states that the proposal is acceptable because there are no windows facing my mum’s garden and there would be “no undue harm to the residential amenity”.

My mum is considering selling her house within the next year and is worried that the outbuilding could put potential buyers off.

My questions are:

Is there any point in contacting the planning officer now to explain the circumstances and raise concerns about the building’s height and impact, given that construction is nearly complete? Is there anything worth checking to establish whether the building is being constructed in accordance with the approved plans?

I appreciate that the opportunity to object may have passed, but I’d be grateful for advice on whether any practical options remain.

Thanks for reading.

I(20m) made food at around 4pm and i didn't clean my dishes immediately.

for that, my flatmate(~45m) threatened to beat me up, abused me verbally & has been passing a lot of racist comments (which I have proof of).

i want to call the cops on him, i need to know what my rights are. Im terrified.

Please help

I live in London, UK

I moved into this place 2 weeks ago, and no we're not at all close. It did not start as a heated argument, i was on call with a friend and he came outside my door and started speaking shit to me. Then when I got in the kitchen, he had his fists almost next to my face ready to throw a punch at me while I kept saying "call down". Then he started saying racist stuff nom stop which I have on recording btw.

I fucked up really bad. I was going through a depressive episode and drinking very heavily. I got very drunk one night, got arrested for drunk and disorderly and then assaulted the officer arresting me and later kicked out in the cells. Been sorting myself out since - signed off sick from work, going to AA, going to key worker appointments attending weekly therapy.

I feel so awful about the whole thing. I’m sober now for 1 month and working on myself. What’ll happen?

EDIT: I'm baffled that I have to say this because this is AskLegalUk and not AskUK. But in case it wasn't clear in the op. I am looking for answers that contain the facts of the law and not people's opinions. People's opinions are more than welcome and I appreciate even the ones I disagree with or don't like. But I want to know what the law specifically states in regards to my question.

In December 2025 I bought a car from the Trade Centre UK (I know, my mistake). It had a serious engine fault on the motorway in June, the dates line up so that it happened and was reported before a full 6 month period after purchase, which is important for the Consumer Rights 2015 act. The wet belts on the model of my car need to be replaced every 75000 miles or every 6 years, whichever occurs first. This should have happened in September 2025 but the Trade Centre sold it to me without sorting it and without informing me it was an issue that needed sorting. They initially denied responsibility and blamed me for not being a more car-savvy customer for buying it and not checking that specifically. Eventually in September they took it in to repair at their own cost and hopefully it should be sorted soon.

I'm not the type of person who can't wait to get their compo face at the top of the Daily Mail website, but I do have a level of expectation for some compensation from them for the reasons/amount I'll list below. I know compensation claims like this can be discretionary, but my question is, are they legally obligated to provide compensation and if so, what is covered by that and potentially what amounts?

There are costs that I've been paying since June for a car that I haven't had access to because of Trade Centres negligence. Approx number per month and then total over the 4 months:

Car Finance - £234 - £936

Insurance - £169 - £676

Warranty - £60 - £240

Tax - £18 - £72

Total = £1924

There is also the initial diagnostic I had to cover for £160 and I've spent about £270 on Uber getting around on trips I would have used my car for. Finally, it's less quantifiable but in hindsight I'm borderline traumatised that I'd been driving a vehicle with a dangerous fault in it for 6 months when I've got two young daughters that have spent a lot of time in it and the stress of dealing with this problem has legitimately caused me health issues in all this time.

Thankfully it's coming to an end, the car is in the garage slowly being worked on, but I'm out of pocket to the tune of nearly two and a half grand and I'm not happy about it.

I'm not expecting compensation for the stress/trauma/health issues/inconvenience, although it would be a nice bonus. But I'm expecting my expenses to be covered at the very least and would love to be equipped with the legal knowledge I need to make sure I'm not screwed by them... again.

Thank you in advance!

Hi all,

I'm wondering if anyone can advise me on this or offer any helpful experiences.

My ex, is taking me tomorrow to family court for a hearing for a non molestation order. She is doing this on the back of allegations she making about me.

She previously made these allegations to the police, but the police dropped the charges as she had no evidence. And I had all the evidence to the contrary which was submitted to the police following my arrest.

I will bullet point my questions to make it easy:

- She has lied and embellished facts multiple times in this "statement of truth". And she has also deviated many times from the statement she gave to the police. Some of it is quite ridiculous, and quite frankly disgusting to think someone would even make that shit up. Should I mention this to the judge? Or whoever?

- Will I get a chance to say what I want from the situation? I am either going to offer underwriting or deny the allegations and request a full hearing where I can share the evidence I have. Does that sound wise? Okay?

- What is the experience actually like? Am I in a big room with others? Or anything like that? I have never been to court in my life, my criminal record is 100% sparkling clean.

Please note, before any suggests it. Legal aid does not cover family court. There are no duty solicitors on standby at family court. I have spoken to a solictor, bit I cannot afford to be represented by one tomorrow.

Thank you all in advance for you help on this, really appreciate anything anyone can offer.

Many thanks