New work regulations to extend redundancy protection for parents

New regulations are set to come into force in April which will extend the protection to those giving birth from redundancy.

The Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave and Shared Parental Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024 will come into force on 6 April 2024.

It means those giving birth – as well as those having a child placed for adoption or utilising shared parental leave – will be protected from redundancy for an extended period of time.

Specifically, this means:

• For those on maternity leave, the protected period will be the whole of the pregnancy, plus 18 months from the date of the expected week of the child’s birth or the actual date of birth if this is provided by the employee to the employer.
• In cases of adoption, the date is 18 months from the date the child is placed for adoption with the parent.
• For shared parental leave, the period will be 18 months from the date of birth of the child, provided at least six consecutive weeks of shared parental leave have been taken. If an employee is already covered by the maternity or adoption provisions, the shared parental leave provisions will not apply.

The new law will apply to pregnancy where the employer is told about the pregnancy on, or after, 6 April 2024.

In the case of maternity, adoption or shared parental leave, the extension will apply where the leave has ended on, or after, 6 April 2024.

Although we have an implementation date, the Regulations remain in draft, so further tweaks may be forthcoming.