Racing Home – RWK Goodman contribution

Racing Home is an online portal which launched last year to provide information for those within the racing industry in a “one-stop shop” place where employers and employees can look to find out their rights, entitlements and obligations when racing and stud staff want to start a family.

This initiative was started by Women in Racing, and phase 1 of the project, the portal itself, was launched last year. Funding for the project was provided by the Racing Foundation alongside the Kindred Group, and they have kindly agreed to fund the second phase of the project, which is now underway.

Our employment partner, Gemma Ospedale, was privileged to be approached by Women in Racing to provide the text for the information on family friendly leave and pay, flexible working and self-employment. With Gemma’s background in the racing industry prior to switching horses to the legal profession, she was perfectly placed to provide detailed and informative text for the portal, phrased in such a way that those accessing it in the racing industry would be able to easily understand a complex statutory framework.

Women in Racing, in conjunction with Oxford Brookes University and Simply Racing, led by Dena Merson, identified a massive gap in information in the racing industry where staff who want to start a family largely had no idea how to go about approaching their employer or what they were entitled to. Likewise for trainers, stud owners and employers within racing who were, through no fault of their own, often unaware of their obligations as employers and the entitlements of their staff. Central to this is the mantra that working with their young staff to facilitate them having a family life alongside a career in racing builds long lasting and loyal relationships from which racing employers greatly benefit because they do not lose the skills and experience of those people to start their families. Racing Home enables all those in racing to access information and support to enable them to have a family life concurrently with a career in racing and not be mutually exclusive.

Gemma was delighted to have been able to take part in this inspirational project and remains a key part of the team developing phase 2 of the portal, where her role is to ensure that all the information on it remains up to date and relevant.