Family Friendly Rights

Pregnancy/ maternity related dismissals

Policy:

Previously, the Government said in the Background Briefing to the King’s Speech that 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” –  such circumstances were not set out.

The accompanying explanatory notes lay the grounds for the Government’s intention though, which is to “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.”

Although powers in respect of this are included in the Employment Rights Bill, the Bill itself does not provide much more clarity at stage, instead leaving the details to be set out in regulations. Amendments to the Employment Rights Bill empower the Government to make provisions about the procedures to be followed by employers (such as notices to be given and evidence the employer will need to produce) and the consequences of failing to follow those procedures. However, we still await details.

The policy intent behind the proposal, therefore, is to reduce the number of dismissals of pregnant women and mothers who are returning from maternity leave in addition to other types of leave. However, the impact of these proposed changes and how much further they will go further than current law will depend on the detail, including what specific circumstances will be excepted.

Currently, the law does not grant special protected status to employees in these circumstances (i.e. a woman can still be fairly dismissed during pregnancy), provided that the reason for the dismissal is not on discriminatory grounds and save for the particular priority protections afforded in a redundancy situation where an employee must be offered a suitable alternative vacancy if one is available. See how the law has recently expanded on this point here.

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Timing and developments:

Included in the Employment Rights Bill.

Details are subject to further regulations. The related impact assessment states that  consultation with stakeholders will be carried out on options for delivering the enhanced dismissal before finalising the approach, which will be set out in regulations.

The above rights are referred to as ‘immediate’ changes in the Next Steps document – perhaps indicating that this is expected to be earlier in the Government’s implementation timeline than most changes in the Employment Rights Bill anticipated for no earlier than 2026. However, given that consultation will be undertaken prior to regulations, implementation earlier than 2026 may be ambitious. In any event, firm details on timing have not yet been provided.

Parental leave system

Policy:

The Government promised previously to review the parental leave system within the first year of Government. The Next Steps document makes this clear that this is a longer-term reform from Autumn 2024 and onwards, so this may not be within the first year of Government.

See the day one employment rights and unfair dismissal section for proposals in respect of unpaid parental leave and paternity leave in the Employment Rights Bill.

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Timing and developments:

Not included in the Employment Rights Bill.

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.  It has committed to conducting a full review on this topic.

Await developments.

Paid carer’s leave

Policy:

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”. The Next Steps document makes this clear that this is a longer-term reform from Autumn 2024 and onwards, so this may not be within the first year of Government.

See the day one employment rights and unfair dismissal section for proposals in respect of unpaid parental leave and paternity leave in the Employment Rights Bill.

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Timing and developments:

Not included in the Employment Rights Bill.

This reform will be part of its longer-term plan – as the Government recognises it will take longer to consider how to make changes and implement them.  It has committed to conducting a review on this topic.

Await developments.

Bereavement leave

Policy:

Currently, there is no general right to bereavement leave, save that:

• 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 certain eligibility criteria; and
• there is also the right to reasonable time off for family and dependents in an emergency, although this is unpaid.

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

The Employment Rights Bill:

• Introduces a new statutory right to bereavement leave (which encompasses the existing right to parental bereavement leave and parental bereavement pay accordingly).
• Will give the power for regulations to be made allowing employees who satisfy certain conditions as to the relationship with a person who has died, the right to take at least one week’s bereavement leave. This is a right from day one of employment. 
• Does not currently create a corresponding right to bereavement pay in these circumstances, leaving it for employers to decide what, if any, pay to offer during such bereavement leave.

The Government has confirmed that 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 Employment Rights Bill.

A non-Government amendment to the Employment Rights Bill proposed by Sarah Owen MP (Labour) proposed to extend the existing right to parental bereavement leave (and pay where the conditions are met) to situations where there is a pregnancy loss (such as miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy etc) during the first 24 weeks’ of pregnancy. Although this amendment has not been taken forward in its form into the version of the bill presented to the House of Lords, Justin Madders during the Report Stage debates confirmed that the Government “fully accept[s] the principle of bereavement leave for pregnancy loss, as addressed by the amendments. We look forward to further discussions with my hon. Friend and noble Lords as the Bill moves on to its stages in the other place. Bereavement is not an illness or a holiday, and it needs its own special category.” It seems then, that although the wording has not been agreed that the Government is committing to extending parental bereavement leave to cover pregnancy loss.

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Timing and developments:

Included in the Employment Rights Bill.

Further regulations will be required as to the detail of the right, in particular what relationship to the person would be required in respect of the bereavement – although one would assume that the Government would use the existing definition of ‘dependant’ for these purposes. It is unclear whether this is one of the targeted areas on which the Government plans to consult in 2025.

Bereavement leave was referred to as an ‘immediate’ change in the Next Steps document, perhaps indicating that this is expected to be earlier in the Government’s implementation timeline than most changes in the Employment Rights Bill, which are anticipated for 2026. However, given that regulations are required, implementation earlier than 2026 may be ambitious. In any event, firm details on timing have not yet been provided.