Employment Rights Act 2025: Pregnancy, Family Leave and Dismissal Protection
Posted on in Employment Law
The government has published its response to the consultation on enhanced protections against dismissal for pregnant employees and those on or having recently returned from family leave, confirming significant changes to the existing legal framework.
From October 2027, enhanced protections against dismissal will apply to pregnant employees, employees taking certain types of family-related leave and those who have recently returned from such leave. Employers will be subject to stricter requirements when seeking to dismiss employees during these protected periods, including a requirement to justify the dismissal under a more stringent test.
The Existing Framework
There is existing dismissal protection for pregnant employees, new mothers and some parents taking other family-related leave. These include protection against pregnancy and maternity discrimination, automatic unfair dismissal in certain circumstances, and enhanced protection against redundancy for employees taking specified types of family-related leave.
The current framework does not provide enhanced protection against dismissal in all circumstances.
What Are the Key Changes?
The reforms will strengthen protections against dismissal for pregnant employees and parents taking, or recently returning from, qualifying family-related leave.
Key Takeaways
This includes requiring employers to consider all reasonable alternatives to dismissal before pursuing it.
- A More Stringent Test for Dismissal: During the protected period, the government intends to replace the existing “band of reasonable responses test” with an objective justification test. Employers will be required to demonstrate that a dismissal is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.
In practice, this will require employers to explore less discriminatory alternatives to dismissal, which may include changes to duties, additional support or training, redeployment opportunities, or other measures to help employees remain in work. This places an additional burden on employers before dismissing an employee covered by these protections.
The existing “band of reasonable responses test” will remain in place for other dismissal cases outside the scope of these enhanced protections.
- A Day-One Right: The enhanced dismissal protections will be a “day one” right.
Who is Protected and What is the Protected Period?
The enhanced protections will apply during specified periods linked to pregnancy and qualifying family-related leave.
Protected Period
- Pregnancy and Maternity Leave: The protected period will begin when the employee informs their employer that they are pregnant (verbally or in writing). It will continue throughout maternity leave and for six months following the end of the leave. Where the full 52 weeks of maternity leave are taken, protection will generally extend until 18 months after the birth.
- Pregnancy Ending Before 24 Weeks: Where a pregnancy ends before 24 weeks, protections will continue for two weeks following the end of the pregnancy.
- Adoption Leave: The protected period will begin on the first day of adoption leave and continue for six months after the leave ends.
- Shared Parental Leave, Neonatal Care Leave and Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave: The protected period will begin on the first day of the relevant leave and continue for six months after it ends, provided that at least six continuous weeks of leave have been taken.
What Happens Next?
The changes will be implemented through regulations, with the government intending for the measures to come into force in October 2027.
The government will support implementation through ACAS guidance.
Employers should begin reviewing their existing dismissal procedures and policies in preparation for the changes, particularly those relating to employees who are pregnant, taking family-related leave or returning to work following such leave.
How to stay in the know
As changes come in, we are monitoring developments closely and will share relevant insights here. You can view a full overview of the expected changes and an indication of when they will take effect here. If you are subscribed to our newsletter, you will also receive notification via email. To make sure that you are receiving this information straight to your inbox, click here to subscribe to our newsletter.