Employment Rights Bill

A consultation has been published on 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 Employment Rights Bill gives 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.