Employees on maternity leave have had some special protections in redundancy situations for a while. However, in 2024, there were some changes to this protection. This post summarises those changes and sets out what you need to know if you’re managing a redundancy situation and have impacted employees who are on maternity leave.
If you need a reminder of all of the other employment law changes from 2024 (there were a lot!) then our handy guide is still live.
1. Previous rules regarding redundancy and family leave
The key change that came into effect in 2024 regarding redundancy and family leave, relates to the period for which an employee is protected. This is quite a complex area of legislation so let us explain.
Employers are often a little confused around whether or not an employee who is on family leave can be made redundant. The short answer is that, yes they can be. However, you do always need to approach with caution and there are some key things that you need to consider.
The most important thing to remember in relation to redundancy and family leave overall, is that people on family leave take priority for any suitable vacancies that you have in your business. The easiest way to explain this is to give you an example.
Scenario
Employee X is a Project Manager and she is on maternity leave. You have 5 other Project Managers in the department – so a total of 6 Project Managers. The department has lost a key project and you now only need 4 Project Managers. A key point to note is that, the individual who is on maternity leave is not given priority for one of the 4 Project Manager roles. She is treated like everyone else and will go through the same selection process.
So, the process is as follows:
- You follow the normal redundancy consultation process, including consulting with the individual who is on maternity leave.
- You apply your selection criteria objectively and fairly.
- This identifies which individual(s) are being selected for redundancy.
During this process, the employee on maternity leave is treated in exactly the same way as everyone else. She is not entitled to special treatment
Suitable Alternative Vacancies
However, part of your redundancy process will be identifying whether there are any suitable alternative vacancies for those individuals who are selected for redundancy. This is where people on family leave are prioritised. In our scenario above, let’s say that you a vacancy for a Project Manager in another area of the business. If the employee on maternity leave scores lowest in the selection process, she would be entitled to be automatically appointed into the Project Manager vacancy that you have in the other area of the business.
If you identify any suitable alternative vacancies then these roles must be offered to individuals who are on family leave before they are offered to others. Individuals on family leave do not have to go through a selection process for suitable alternative roles in your business. They should automatically be appointed to the vacancy.
Prior to the changes, this right only applied to people who were on family leave at the time at which you conducted the process and made a decision regarding who was being selected for redundancy.
2. What has changed?
As of 6th April 2024, the right to be prioritised for suitable alternatives vacancies was extended. The extension now covers a period that starts when someone informs you of their intention to take family leave and runs until 6 months after the leave has ended.
The table below summarises the position:
| Family Leave Scenario | When Protection Starts | When Protection Ends |
| Pregnant employee | Protection starts when the employee notifies the company of the pregnancy. | 18 months after the child’s date of birth. In many instances this will be approximately 6 months after the employee returns from maternity leave. |
| Employee suffers a miscarriage | Protection starts when the employee notifies the company of the pregnancy. | Two weeks after the end of the pregnancy where the pregnancy ends before 24 weeks. Note: Where the pregnancy ends at 24 weeks or after, standard maternity leave applies (refer to “pregnant employee” scenario above) |
| Employee taking adoption leave | Protection starts at the beginning of adoption leave. | 18 months after the date of placement. |
| Employee taking shared parental leave | Beginning of shared parental leave. Note: If an employee has also taken maternity leave or adoption leave then the rules relating to those leave types apply. | If less than 6 weeks of shared parental leave is taken then protection ends when the period of leave ends. If more than 6 continuous weeks of leave is taken, protection ends 18 months after the birth of the child. |
The new protection applies to any leave requests of which a company is notified after 6th April 2024.
3. Actions an employer should take to comply with redundancy and family leave legislation
For most companies, there is nothing to be done relating to this particular legislation change. If you have a redundancy policy then you should take a look at that and make sure that it does reflect the correct position regarding redundancy and family leave.
Otherwise, it’s something that needs to be considered if you undertake a redundancy programme.