Am I protected from redundancy while pregnant or on family leave?
From telling your employer you are pregnant until eighteen months after the birth, you must be offered any suitable alternative vacancy ahead of other employees. What that does and does not give you, and where the protection stops.
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Time
- 12 min
- Read
- 4 min
- Safety
- caution
Short answer
Special redundancy protection runs from the day you tell your employer you are pregnant until 18 months after the birth. In that window, if your role is redundant and a suitable alternative vacancy exists, you must be offered it in priority over other employees — even if someone else is better suited. It is not a ban on redundancy, and it does not create a job where none exists. Dismissal in breach of it is automatically unfair.
The protection was widened substantially in April 2024. It used to apply only during maternity, adoption or shared parental leave itself; it now starts when you tell your employer you are pregnant and continues for eighteen months from the birth, which covers the vulnerable period after returning to work. Understanding exactly what it gives you matters, because it is a strong right that is narrower than most people assume.
Safety
Step by step
- Work out when your protected period started.It begins on the day you tell your employer you are pregnant, in any form. That is one reason not to leave telling them until very late.
- Work out when it ends.Eighteen months from the date of birth. Where you did not tell the employer the actual birth date, it runs for 18 months from the first day of the expected week of childbirth. For adoption it is 18 months from placement or entry to the UK.
- Check whether shared parental or neonatal leave extends it.Shared parental leave, neonatal care leave and bereaved partner's paternity leave extend protection to the 18-month point only where at least six continuous weeks were taken. Otherwise protection ends with the leave itself.
- Understand what the right actually is.If your role is redundant and there is a suitable alternative vacancy, you must be offered it before other redundant employees, even if another candidate would score higher in an interview. It is an offer, not a right to apply.
- Understand what it is not.It does not prevent a genuine redundancy, it does not require an employer to invent a role, and where roles are simply reduced in number with no new roles created, the remaining roles are generally not 'suitable alternative vacancies' and normal selection applies.
- Ask for the full list of vacancies in writing.Across the whole organisation and any associated employer, not just your team. A suitable vacancy elsewhere in the business engages the right, and employers frequently look no further than the affected department.
- Watch the selection process itself.Selection criteria that penalise absence on maternity leave, or scores based on a period you were not there, are separately unlawful as pregnancy and maternity discrimination. Ask for the criteria and the scores.
- Note that ordinary paternity leave is not covered.The extended protection does not apply to someone taking only ordinary two-week paternity leave. Other protections against discrimination still apply.
- Act on the time limits.Employment tribunal claims have short deadlines and require Acas early conciliation first. Contact Acas as soon as you are told your role is at risk, not after the appeal.
Tips
- Ask for every vacancy across the whole organisation in writing, including associated companies. That single request is where this right usually bites.
- Keep a dated file of every message about the restructure, including ones you received while on leave.
- Tell your employer about the pregnancy in writing, because the protected period starts from the day they know and you may need to prove the date.
Common mistakes
- Waiting until the process ends before getting advice — Tribunal time limits are short and early conciliation has to happen first. The time to ring Acas is the day you are told your role is at risk.
- Assuming protection covers you automatically after shared parental leave — For shared parental, neonatal and bereaved partner's leave the 18-month extension only applies if at least six continuous weeks were taken.
If it doesn't work
You were scored on a period you were on maternity leave
Cause: Selection criteria that penalise family leave absence — Fix: Ask for the criteria, the scoring and the reference period in writing. Scoring someone down for maternity absence is discriminatory. Contact Acas immediately.
You were told to apply for a vacancy like everyone else
Cause: The employer is treating it as a competitive process — Fix: The right is to be offered a suitable vacancy in priority, not to compete for it. Put that in writing, citing the protected period, and go to Acas if it is not corrected.
You only heard about the consultation after it started
Cause: Employees on leave are frequently left out of consultation — Fix: Ask in writing to be included in every stage and for all documents to be sent to you. Failure to consult someone on family leave is a recognised and serious flaw in a redundancy process.
Questions people ask
Can I still be made redundant?
Yes. The protection is a priority right to a suitable alternative vacancy where one exists. If the business genuinely has no suitable vacancy, redundancy can be fair.
What if they say the vacancy is not suitable?
Suitability is judged on the work, the terms and the location, and it is for the employer to justify. Ask in writing why a specific vacancy was considered unsuitable and keep the answer.
Does this apply in Northern Ireland?
The 18-month extension is a Great Britain measure. Northern Ireland protection is centred on the leave period itself, with a trial period on return. Check nidirect and get NI-specific advice.
Does it cover a fixed-term contract ending?
A fixed-term contract expiring is a dismissal in law and can be a redundancy. The protections and the discrimination law both apply, so take advice rather than assuming nothing can be done.