A WIRRAL midwife has been awarded almost £5,000 in compensation at the end of an industrial tribunal over indirect sex discrimination by her former employer.

Naomi Leigh-Poole took One-to-One Midwives North West to a tribunal because she said they failed to inform her of potential jobs she could apply for at the organisation at time when she faced possible redundancy.

This was despite her making a written request for them to keep her informed of potential jobs while she was on maternity leave.

The company has said it offered "alternative posts" to Mrs Leigh-Poole and that any discrimination was "unintentional."

Mrs Leigh-Poole, a member of the Royal College of Midwives, said: "I am delighted that the RCM was able to support me in this way and to get this result.

"This victory is not about the money, it is about the principle and it is about fairness.

"I don't want other women to have to face this situation. I hope this will help to raise awareness about this and perhaps stop other employers from doing the same."

Lesley Wood, regional officer for the RCM, said: "It is important employers know they cannot treat women on maternity leave in this way. Naomi put her faith in her employer and they let her down.

"I am delighted we were able to represent her through this employment tribunal to obtain our members maternity and employment rights."

Jamie Humphries, employment rights lawyer at Thompsons Solicitors, who represented Mrs Leigh-Poole, said: "An organisation that delivers midwifery services should know better than any the importance of treating pregnant workers fairly.

"For their poor treatment to amount to indirect sex discrimination is an indictment of Naomi's employer."

A spokeswoman for the company told the Globe: "One to One Midwives value all employees within our organisation and have a unique flexible working policy that supports all our employees, including midwives, to mange their own time and be autonomous in their decision making to meet the needs of the women under their care and of their own personal circumstances.

"With regards to this particular case, it is important to note Mrs Leigh-Poole was awarded the compensation for indirect discrimination, which One to One wish to highlight was unintentional.

"Mrs Leigh-Poole was not personally being made redundant, her role within the organisation was being made redundant due to an organisational restructure.

"However even with the restructure, her job within the organisation remained open.

"Taking into account the return to work options available to Mrs Leigh-Poole, One to One Midwives offered full-time and part-time opportunities to promote flexible working opportunities and also offered alternative posts that became available within the organisation during her employment that would have met her needs at that time.

"Mrs Leigh-Poole did not wish to return to her role as a case loading midwife but also did not respond to any of the return to work opportunities and failed to attend interview for positions which arose."