Employment consultant Paul Coulson is to chair the board of Working Families, the charity that supports workplace rights for parents and carers.

Coulson is a long-standing trustee of the charity and has experience of challenges in the workplaces having grown up in a single-parent family and later becoming a single dad himself, said Working Families.

As a result “he understands first-hand the difference that flexible working and supportive employers can make to family life”, added the charity.

Coulson said: “I love being part of an organisation which is so focused on helping to achieve the things that my mum didn’t have and which so many still don’t have.”

Work by the charity, which is now in its 45th year, includes lobbying around reforms brought in by the government through the Flexible Working Act.

“There is still so much to do.  Many people are still not given access to the choices they need to enable them and their families to thrive. It's great to see so many progressive employers really embracing and championing the benefits of supporting those with caring responsibilities,” added Coulson, who has been director of PMC People Support for the last two years.

“Sadly, though, we know from the 1,500 employees who directly contacted our helpline last year, and the 1.6m unique visits to our advice pages, that there is still work for us to do to help to align employers, employees and government policy in a way which will drive real change for those who need it most.”

Coulson is also a former mentor for The Prince’s Trust and Involve – The Inclusion People.

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