Employment Rights Bill

Four consultations on the Employment Rights Bill (ERB) have been published covering greater dismissal protections for pregnant women and new mothers, bereavement leave, trade union rights of access, and the duty to inform workers of right to join a union.

Bereavement leave

There is currently no general statutory right to bereavement leave unless an employee’s child dies under the age of 18 or is stillborn after 24 weeks of pregnancy whereby statutory parental bereavement leave and pay may apply. Employees taking parental bereavement leave are also protected from detriment and dismissal. However, there is no legal right to take bereavement leave outside of this, for example when a spouse or sibling dies.

The ERB will amend the parental bereavement leave rules to turn ‘parental bereavement leave’ into ‘bereavement leave’. This will be a Day 1 right to unpaid bereavement leave for employees who experience the loss of a loved one, including pregnancy loss before 24 weeks.

The details of the right are to be set out in regulations, and a consultation has been published looking more closely at what they will contain, specifically:

• eligibility, including which family and personal relationships should qualify
• who should be entitled to leave following pregnancy loss (e.g. the person who experienced the loss, their partner, or intended parents)
• the duration, timing and flexibility of leave
• notice and evidence requirements

The consultation closes on 15 January 2026, and the aim is to introduce the new right in 2027.

Enhanced dismissal protections for pregnant women and new mothers

Legal protections against dismissal related to pregnancy and maternity already exist and were strengthened in 2024 to include enhanced redundancy protections for pregnancy, maternity leave and other family leave and on return.

The ERB will give the government powers to introduce regulations to make it unlawful to dismiss pregnant women, mothers on maternity leave, and mothers who return to work for at least a 6-month period after they return (‘the protected period’) – except in specific circumstances.

A consultation has been published which asks for views on whether:

• each of the existing potentially fair reasons for dismissal (conduct, capability, redundancy, statutory ban and ‘some other substantial reason’) should continue to apply to pregnant women and new mothers in their current form
• the availability of each of these reasons should be narrowed and/or removed entirely, or
• a new, tailored test should be introduced to assess the fairness of dismissal for any of these reasons

For an erudite and interesting discussion of these proposals, see Government consults on Pregnancy Dismissals by Darren Newman.

Also covered in the consultation is when the enhanced protection should begin (e.g. when employee informs employer, when pregnancy begins) and how long after return to work protection should last (six months post-return, or 18 months from birth).

The consultation also seeks views on:

• making sure pregnant women and new mothers are aware of the policy
• how to best support businesses through the change
• how to mitigate against any unintended consequences
• other changes that could be made to tackle pregnancy and maternity discrimination

The consultation ends on 15 January 2026, and the aim is to bring in the relevant regulations in 2027.

Informing workers of their right to join a union

The ERB will create a new requirement for employers to provide workers with a written statement of his or her right to join a trade union.

A consultation has been published looking at the practical details such as:

• what form the statement should take
• what content should be included
• the way in which the statement must be delivered, and
• the frequency with which the statement must be reissued after the beginning of employment

This consultation closes on 18 December 2025 with the relevant changes brought in by October 2026.

Trade union right of access

The ERB gives unions a right of access which will allow them to access to a non-unionised workplace for the purposes of meeting the workers to providing support and representation as well as seeking to recruit them to union membership. This will all be covered by a union access agreement which the union will agree with the employer or which – where no agreement is reached – will be imposed by the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC).

A consultation has been published covering:

• how unions will request access
• how employers respond
• factors the CAC will consider when determining whether access should be granted and on what terms, and
• how the CAC is to come to decisions on the values of fines issued for breaches of access agreements (the consultation suggests that employers should be fined up to £75,000 for an initial breach, with a higher limit of £150,000 for subsequent breaches).

The consultation closes on 18 December 2025, and the relevant regulations will come into force in October 2026.