Are you being made redundant?
Firstly, check that you’re being made redundant by communicating with your employer. They can only make someone redundant if the company is either:
- Closing down completely
- Changing/shutting a particular location
- No longer needing a particular role or as many people to do certain work
Your pregnancy should not be a reason for your employer to make you redundant. If it is, your employer might be breaking discrimination law.
What rights do you have?
Pregnant employees and new parents have four main legal rights:
- Paid time off for antenatal care
- Maternity leave
- Maternity pay or maternity allowance
- Protection against unfair treatment, discrimination or dismissal
If you’re pregnant, your employer cannot change your contract terms and conditions without agreement.
Do you have a redundancy protected period?
A redundancy protected period is the length of time an employee has redundancy protection.
From 6th April 2024, the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act came into effect. Thanks to this act, pregnant employees and those taking maternity leave have their protected period extended.
How long is your protected period?
The length of the redundancy protected period depends on either:
- The type of leave you are taking
- When you tell you employer that you are pregnant
If you’re a pregnant employee who takes maternity leave, then your protected period will start when you notify your employer of your pregnancy, and will end 18 months after your baby has been born.
If you’re an employee who has suffered a miscarriage before 24 weeks, then your protected period will start when your employer has been notified of your pregnancy and will end two weeks after the end of your pregnancy.
If you’re an employee taking adoption leave, then your protected period will start at the beginning of the adoption leave and will end 18 months from the date of placement – or date of entry into the UK if it’s an overseas adoption.
If you’re an employee taking shared parental leave (SPL), then your protected period will start at the beginning of your SPL. If you have taken less than six weeks of SPL, then it will end when your SPL ends. If you have taken more than six continuous weeks of SPL, then it will end 18 months from the baby’s date of birth.
So when should you tell your employer about your pregnancy?
You have to tell your employer about your pregnancy at least 15 weeks before the beginning of the week that your baby is due.
If you haven’t been able to, then you should still tell your employer as soon as possible.
You also need to tell your employer when you want to start your Statutory Maternity Leave and your Statutory Maternity Pay.
How much should you be paid?
Legally, Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) is paid for up to 39 weeks. With it, you get:
- 90% of your average weekly earnings (before tax) for the first 6 weeks
- £187.18 or 90% of your average weekly earnings (whichever is lower) for the next 33 weeks
SMP is paid in the same way as your wages (for example monthly or weekly), and any Tax and National Insurance will be deducted.
And remember…
Pregnant employees and new parents have special protection in a redundancy situation.
If there are any suitable alternative vacancies, then your employer has to offer them to you. And with this protection, you have priority over other employees. This applies even if other employees are also suitable.
This special protection applies to anyone who has the legal status of employee and who is either:
- Pregnant
- Taking maternity leave
- Taking adoption leave
- Taking shared parental leave
- Taking neonatal care leave
Please note that this protection does not apply to other types of leave, like paternity leave for example.
Helpful sources
Professional help
Pregnant employees’ rights
https://www.gov.uk/working-when-pregnant-your-rights
Redundancy during pregnancy, maternity and parental leave – MaternityAction.org.uk
https://maternityaction.org.uk/advice/redundancy-during-pregnancy-and-maternity-leave
Maternity and Parental Rights at Work and Benefits for Families – MaternityAction.org.uk
https://maternityaction.org.uk/maternity-parental-rights-at-work-and-benefits
Redundancy while pregnant – WorkingFamilies.org.uk
Your rights around redundancy when pregnant – PregnantThenScrewed.com
https://pregnantthenscrewed.com/redundancy
Check your rights if you’ve been made redundant
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/redundancy/check-your-rights-if-youre-made-redundant
