Work Life Balance/Part time working

A question about : Work Life Balance/Part time working

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this so feel free to move.
I'm hoping someone on here can help me. I work for government and recently transferred departments. To facilitate the move i had to increse my hours from part time to full time. This was not a problem at the time but now my personal circumstances have changed dramatically, in that i am now a single parent. My childminder has also given up work so i am in a predicament there too!
Anyhow, i have asked my employer if i can change to part time and i have been refused. I understand that he feels the job is a full time one (i disagree but this is not the point here) but I was under the impression that there was something called work life balance that meant if you had children under a certain age you had to be accommodated, albeit in a different location if your current one could not accommodate you? I have tried to find something about this on the internet but with no success, however i definately remember reading something about it in work.
Does anyone know anything about this or am i barking up the wrong tree?? Any advice greatly appreciated. :confused:

Best answers:

• The ACAS website has the information you need
  See here https://www.acas.org.uk/rights/parents.html#4
  You can download the guides for more detailed info.
• You can ask them to look into the possibility of a job share. As far as I know they can't say no just because it is a full time job, they can get someone else to do the 'other half' of the week. Don't give up on this, you are entitled to apply for flexible working - they may just not know about it.
• I have gone from full time to part time - I was Head of Department in a school but was told this was not a part time job and I could go part time but on main scale teaching - huge pay cut! Don't know how legal all of this was, because there are two other part time Heads of big departments already. My part time suits me, however, and I like not having any responsibility as such. I do make sure I leave dead on time, get in dead on time etc - refuse (in a very nice way) to do any management type work because they wouln't let me do this post part time! This site has really helped me live on my much reduced income.
  I believe you have to have kids under five for your boss to have to consider part time work, but as mine did, he can consider it and say no!