Family Friendly Rights

Pregnancy/ maternity related dismissals

In the Background Briefing to the King’s Speech the Government said it will be “strengthening protections for new mothers by making it unlawful to dismiss a woman who has had a baby for six months after her return to work, except in specific circumstances.”

The accompanying explanatory notes explained that the Government will “amend existing powers so that regulations can be made to ban dismissals of women who are pregnant, on maternity leave and during a six-month return-to-work period – except in specific circumstances. It will also expand existing powers in relation to adoption leave, shared parental leave, neonatal care leave and bereaved partners paternity leave to enable regulation of dismissal in the period after a person returns to work after taking one of these forms of leave.”

The ERA 2025 includes those regulatory making powers, which will determine how the protections from dismissal will operate in practice.

On 23 October 2025, the Government launched a consultation setting out various potential options for how the dismissal protections for pregnant woman and new mothers (i.e. those in a protected period from birth/placement) could be enhanced, including:

• Introducing a new test of fairness: Under this option, employers would still be able to rely on any of the existing fair reasons for dismissal but they would also be required to meet a new stricter standard when relying on that reason to dismiss a pregnant woman or new mother. For example employers might also need to show that continuing the employee’s employment would have a significantly detrimental effect on the business, poses a health and safety risk to customers, staff or the public or has a serious negative impact on the wellbeing of others.
• Narrowing the scope of and/or removing some of the fair dismissal reasons: This option would involve limiting the five potentially fair reasons for dismissal when applied to pregnant women and new mothers – potentially removing some altogether. Multiple options are put forward. For example narrowing the ground of conduct to gross misconduct or removing capability as a fair ground of dismissal for pregnant women and new mothers.

The consultation also sought views on:

• Whether there should be a qualifying period (e.g. 3-9 months) to receive these enhanced protections.
• When the protection should start and end (i.e. what the protection period should be and in what circumstances).
• Whether other new parents should be covered (e.g. those on adoption leave, shared parental leave or neonatal care leave or bereaved partners paternity leave).

The policy intent behind the proposal, is to reduce discrimination of women who are pregnant, on maternity leave or because they have been on maternity leave and the consultation states that many expectant and new mothers continue to report experiences that suggest unfair treatment persists.

Currently, the law does not grant special protected status from dismissal to pregnant women and new mothers, and a woman can still be fairly dismissed during pregnancy, provided that the reason for the dismissal is not discriminatory . The only exception is in redundancy situations where an employee must be offered a suitable alternative vacancy if one is available. This position is set to change, although the impact of the changes will depend on which option(s) the Government ultimately chooses following consultation. To read more about this see our article here.

---

Timing and developments:

Included in the ERA 2025.

Further regulations will be required as to the practical detail of the right and a consultation was issued on 23 October 2025 (closed on 15 January 2026), which will shape this detail. The Government’s updated timeline indicates that the measure will take effect in 2027, although a specific date is not provided. 

Day one paternity leave and parental leave and bereaved partner’s paternity leave

The ERA 2025 has removes the requirement for employees to have completed a qualifying period of employment to be entitled to take statutory paternity leave and statutory parental leave, making them available from day one.

This does not amend entitlements to statutory paternity pay, which remain available only after 26 weeks of employment. Statutory parental leave remains an unpaid right. In addition, the ERA 2025 has removed the current restriction on taking paternity leave and receiving statutory paternity pay following a period of shared parental leave and shared parental pay.

The Government has also introduced Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave. Although this is not in the ERA 2025 or the wider Plan to Make Work Pay this is a new right (introduced in the Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Act 2024 and associated regulations). The changes removed the qualifying period for paternity leave in bereavement cases, and introduced a new right to Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave, which enables an eligible employee to take up to 52 weeks of paternity leave where the child’s ‘primary carer’ (their mother or adopter) dies in childbirth or within a year of the birth or adoption.  There is no statutory pay requirement and this is a day one right. Read more here.

---

Timings and developments:

Included in the ERA 2025 (save Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave which is not).

Commencement regulations have been made, with corresponding transitional provisions detailing how this will apply in certain scenarios. In summary:

Paternity leave – Day one paternity leave rights (removal of qualifying period and removal of prohibition on ability to take paternity leave after shared parental leave) came into effect substantially on 6 April 2026 (although provisions came into effect on 18 February 2026 so that employees that were newly eligible for ‘Day 1’ Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave could give notice).

Unpaid parental leave – The rights to day one parental leave substantially came into effect on 6 April 2026.

Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave – The removal of the qualifying period for paternity leave where the mother or adopter of a child dies in childbirth or within a year of the birth or adoption came into force on 29 December 2025.  The entitlement to Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave came into effect from 6 April 2026 and only applies to bereavements that occur on or after that date.

Parental leave system

The Government promised previously to review the parental leave system within the first year of Government. A review of the parental leave system was launched by the Government on 1 July 2025. The scope of the review includes all current and upcoming parental leave and pay entitlements, including: maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental, parental bereavement, parental leave (unpaid), neonatal, maternity allowance and bereaved partners paternity leave (unpaid – which is not yet in force). The initial call for evidence was open from 1 July 2025 to 26 August 2025. It was broad in scope and sought to test whether the existing parental leave and pay entitlements support four core objectives, which include maternal health, economic growth, the best start in life and childcare. 

---

Timing and developments:

Not included in the ERA 2025.

This reform will be part of the Government’s longer-term plan as it recognises that it will take longer to consider how to make changes and implement them. The review is set to run for 18 months and will then set a roadmap for taking potential reforms forward to implementation. Timing for implementation is unknown.

Paid carer’s leave

The Government promised previously to review the recently introduced Carer’s Leave and potentially expand it to a right to paid leave whilst “being mindful of the impact of any changes on small employers.” On 19 November 2025, the Government published terms of reference for this anticipated review to consider whether there is a need to change the current approach to ensure carers and their dependants have the right support in place. A consultation was launched on 9 June 2026 on potential reforms to the employment rights of unpaid carers and parents of seriously ill children.

The options under the consultation include:

• Changes to eligibility for carer’s leave
• Extending the duration of unpaid carer’s leave
• Introducing a right to return after prolonged periods of caring related absence
• Paid carer’s leave

The consultation separately considers the possible introduction of a new right to paid leave for parents of seriously ill children (sometimes referred to as “Hugh’s Law”).

---

Timing and developments:

Not included in the ERA 2025.

This reform will be part of its longer-term plan and the Government has not committed to any particular reforms at this stage.  The review will be carried out in three phases and is expected to conclude by the end of 2026. The consultation was open until 1 September 2026 and so legal changes are not looking likely until 2027.

Bereavement leave

Currently, there is no general right to bereavement leave, although:

• Parents are entitled to two weeks’ parental bereavement leave in relation to a death of a child under the age of 18 or if they have a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy and are eligible for statutory parental bereavement pay where they fulfil eligibility criteria; and
• There is also the right to unpaid reasonable time off for family and dependents in an emergency.

Many employers currently voluntarily offer some form of compassionate leave (which may be paid or unpaid) for staff if they lose a family member.

The ERA 2025 gives the power to introduce a new statutory day one right to unpaid bereavement leave for employees who experience the loss of a loved one, including pregnancy loss. The ERA 2025 sets out the minimum requirements, including a minimum of one week’s leave and a window of at least 56 days for the employee to take leave. However, regulations will set out full details of the entitlement.

A consultation launched on 23 October 2025 sought views on practical details of the new right. The Government published its response on 22 September 2026 confirming the following key elements of the new entitlement:

• The following relationships will be eligible:
  • Immediate family members (whether biological, adopted, step or half-relations), including spouses, civil partners and partners in a committed long-term relationship (whether cohabiting or not), parents, adult children and siblings
  • Equivalent parental relationships for employees raised in kinship and foster care arrangements
  • For bereavement leave for pregnancy loss, the person who was pregnant, a spouse, civil partner, other parent or partner who is in a committed long-term relationship with the person who physically experienced the pregnancy loss, an intended co-parent and intended parents in a surrogacy arrangement
• All types of pregnancy loss before 24 weeks will be included.
• The entitlement will be up to two weeks of unpaid leave, pro-rated to the employee’s usual working pattern. It may be taken discontinuously in units of one day.
• Leave can start from the date of the death or pregnancy loss or the date of the employee’s knowledge of the death or pregnancy loss, and may be taken within 56 weeks of that date.
• Notice can be given to the employer in any form. For bereavement leave within the first 8 weeks of a bereavement, notice should be provided before the employee starts work on the day they intend to take the leave, or as soon as reasonably possible thereafter. For leave taken beyond 8 weeks of the bereavement, one week’s notice will be required.
• There will be no need for employees to provide evidence of a bereavement to their employer to access bereavement leave.

Employees will retain the right to take two weeks of leave in cases of the death of a child, as per the existing right to parental bereavement leave, and the existing entitlements to statutory parental bereavement pay will not be affected by the ERA 2025.

---

Timing and developments:

Included in the ERA 2025.

The Government’s consultation response published on 22 September 2026 sets out the details of the entitlement, although further regulations will be required in order for the measures to take effect. The consultation response indicates that the measures are expected to come into force in April 2027.

Time off for public duties

Currently, employees are entitled to a reasonable amount of time off from work to carry out certain specified public duties.

The Government agreed in the ERA 2025 to review the right to time off for public duties, following opposition proposals during the bill’s passage. The Government has now undertaken an internal review of the list of public duties for which individuals are entitled to time off work to ensure the legislation remains fit for purpose.  Following this, the Government is consulting on proposed changes to the list of public duties that are eligible for time off work, as well as broader insights into how this entitlement operates in practice.

---

Timing and developments:

The ERA 2025 committed the Government to undertaking a review and publishing a report within 12 months of the ERA 2025 passing which it has now done. On 12 June 2026, the Government published a consultation (which closed on 4 September 2026) on its proposals.