Pregnant women and those on maternity leave can now access a free telephone hotline to learn their rights thanks to a Croydon law firm.

Experts from Martin Searle Solicitors will be available throughout February to offer advice on maternity issues, including the new rights on additional paternity leave.

Director Fiona Martin said: “Despite previous years’ high profile campaigns around the issues, pregnancy and maternity discrimination continue to be a major problem and blight the careers of many women.

“While some employers discriminate in the belief they will get away with it, others just don’t understand the law sufficiently to ensure the rights of women are fully met, for instance with respect to health and safety, maternity pay and leave, flexible work and maternity returners’ rights to return to work.”

The company has also produced a series of factsheets for employers and employees covering basic pregnancy and maternity rights at work well, as more challenging areas such as avoiding pregnancy discrimination in a redundancy process.

Anyone interested can call the hotline on 01273 609911, on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 4pm and 7pm.