Protections from dismissal for new mothers
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Protection after taking family-related leave
Currently, an employee can claim unfair dismissal if an employer dismisses them because they took, or requested to take, a type of statutory family leave.
The government will have a new power to make future regulations about situations where an employee is dismissed after taking a period of the following types of leave:
- Maternity leave
- Adoption leave
- Shared parental leave
- Neonatal care leave
- Bereaved partner's paternity leave (this type of leave is available from April 2026)
The government has stated that it intends to use this power to make it automatically unfair to dismiss a pregnant employee or new mother until she has been back at work for at least 6 months after giving birth (excepted in specific circumstances).
The detail of how this new law will operate will be set in new regulations. A consultation about it (and other ways of protecting pregnant and new mothers from dismissal) closed in January 2026.
No further information has been given about what the government intends to use this power for.
Protection from dismissal during or after pregnancy
Currently, pregnant employees who are at risk of redundancy, must be offered any suitable alternative vacancy before it's offered to other employees. This helps protect them from redundancy during a period called 'the protected period of pregnancy'.
The period starts from the day the employee informs their employer about their pregnancy, to the day their statutory maternity leave starts (if they're entitled to it) or 2 weeks after the day their pregnancy ends (if they're not entitled to it).
This is set to be extended to include all other reasons for dismissal (other than redundancy) occurring during or after the protected period of pregnancy.
New regulations will be needed giving more details and they're expected to include:
- Required notices, evidence and other procedures to be followed by employees and employers.
- The consequences of failing to comply with any such procedural requirements.