29th October 2025
Change In Pregnancy Rights: What New Protections Mean For Working Parents
On October 23rd, four new consultations were launched concerning the Employment Rights Bill. One of the consultations will be on enhanced dismissal protections for pregnant women and new mothers. The introduction of the consultation highlights how, despite it being unlawful to discriminate against women because they are pregnant, this discrimination remains prevalent in workplaces. The consultation looks to either narrow or remove the current potential reasons an employer may give for dismissing individuals within this protected group.
The consultation is open until 15 January 2025 and is due to be implemented in 2027. This blog will explore what the current law is on maternity discrimination, what the consultation aims to understand about maternity discrimination in the workplace and finally, how employers can prepare for any potential changes that may come as a result of the consultation.
Current pregnancy and maternity protections in the workplace
Dismissal is automatically unfair in the event of pregnancy and maternity discrimination
Pregnancy and maternity are currently identified as one of 9 protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. Therefore, employers have a legal obligation to not discriminate against a person because they are pregnant- this is a right employees have from their first day of employment. Discrimination is defined as someone being treated “less favourably” under the Equality Act, and therefore, if someone is treated less favourably or dismissed because of this characteristic, the dismissal will automatically be unfair under the Employment Rights Act 1996.
Enhanced redundancy protections
The Maternity and Parental Leave Regulations 1999 ensure that in redundancy situations, pregnant employees or those on paternity leave are offered any suitable employment ahead of other employees.
The “protected period”
The protected period is a term used during which an employee is protected from discrimination related to their pregnancy or maternity leave. In the UK, as of April 2024, the protected period for a pregnant employee begins as soon as they inform their employer that they are pregnant. This period then ends when the individual returns to work – ACAS notes that in the event someone takes annual leave straight after their maternity leave, the protected period ends on the last day of maternity leave before the annual leave starts. However, it should be noted that any situation where a woman is treated less favourably for reasons to do with pregnancy or maternity which does not fall within the scope of protection will be covered by the protected characteristic ‘sex’.
It should also be noted that the Employment Rights Bill aims to increase this protected period for a further six months after mothers return to work from maternity leave – except in specific circumstances.
What does the consultation aim to achieve?
The consultation aims to gain further insight as to the way people may currently be experiencing discrimination in the workplace, when people think it should be acceptable to dismiss someone who is pregnant, and to what extent people are aware of their rights when pregnant. Currently, the law states that an individual can be lawfully dismissed for one of 5 reasons:
- Conduct – where the employees’ behaviour is unacceptable
- Capability – where the employee is unable to perform their job duties satisfactorily
- Redundancy – where the role is no longer needed
- Statutory prohibition – where continuing the employment would break the law
- Some other Substantial Reason – such as an irreparable breakdown in the working relationships or a conflict of interest
The consultation looks to potentially narrow these criteria if the employee is pregnant or on maternity leave to ensure that the criteria are appropriately considered in the relevant context. This would give individuals who fall under the protected characteristic of pregnancy or maternity a new, higher level of protection from dismissal in regard to the above criteria. The consultation also suggests removing the criteria entirely and creating a new general test of fairness for employers to rely upon when dismissing a pregnant individual.
Further to this, the consultation aims to make it easier for individuals to understand and be able to assert their rights within the workplace. The consultation asks questions such as “How do we ensure people are aware of their rights” potentially indicating that going forward, there will be a higher level of legal obligation upon employers to ensure that pregnant employees are aware of their rights.
What should employers do going forward?
Employers going forward should look to review their maternity leave policy to ensure that it is up to date with current legislation and they are affording those who fall under the protected characteristic of pregnancy or maternity the correct protections.
Employers should also look to ensure they are promoting an environment within their workplace in which discrimination on any level is not accepted. This can be done by ensuring all policies are up to date, providing regular training on inclusion and equality within the workplace and encouraging open dialogue and feedback from employees by ensuring people are aware of their rights and how they can enforce them.
Finally, employees should encourage their employees to engage in the consultation and ensure that they are staying up to date with all the developments to employment rights over the coming months and update employees as to any changes in their workplace rights.
