Pregnancy and family leave can give employees important extra rights during redundancy, but they do not create a blanket ban on redundancy. A genuine redundancy can still be lawful if the employer follows a fair, non-discriminatory process and meets any duty to offer suitable alternative employment.
This guide covers England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland has a separate employment and discrimination framework; seek guidance from the Labour Relations Agency or nidirect. The priority-vacancy right discussed here applies to people with employee status. Protection against discrimination is broader and is a separate right.
For a pregnant employee, the redundancy protected period starts when you tell your employer you are pregnant. You do not have to give that notification in writing to trigger this protection. However, an email or letter is useful evidence of what you told your employer and when.
For pregnancy and maternity leave, the protected period normally ends 18 months from the baby's actual date of birth, if you have told your employer that date. If you have not, the end is calculated from the expected week of childbirth. This is not 18 months after returning to work.
If a pregnancy ends before 24 weeks, the redundancy protected period normally ends two weeks after the pregnancy ends. After a stillbirth at or after 24 weeks, maternity rights and the longer redundancy protected period apply. Check individual dates and circumstances with Acas or an adviser.
Do not confuse this period with the separate protected period for pregnancy and maternity discrimination. That protection is not dependent on sending a written notification; the employer's actual or reasonably expected knowledge of the pregnancy matters.
Priority for suitable alternative vacancies also applies to qualifying employees taking adoption, shared parental, neonatal care or bereaved partner's paternity leave. The periods are not identical:
Someone who has already taken maternity or adoption leave may already have protection arising from that leave. Ordinary paternity leave does not itself give this additional redundancy priority. Check the Acas guidance on protected periods for your combination of leave and dates.
If your role is selected for redundancy during the relevant protected period, your employer must offer you a suitable alternative vacancy, if one is available, in priority to employees who do not have that protection. The maternity protection is commonly known as the Regulation 10 right; corresponding rules apply to other qualifying leave.
You should not simply be told to apply and compete against colleagues who do not have this protection. However, if there are more protected employees than suitable vacancies, the employer can assess which protected employee is most suitable. Acas says the employer should explain the selection criteria in writing and discuss a decision not to offer a vacancy. An interview or assessment between protected employees is not automatically unlawful.
The duty can include vacancies with an associated employer, not just your immediate team. Ask the employer to check the relevant vacancies across the business and associated employers.
An alternative role must be suitable and appropriate for you. Its terms and conditions, including capacity, place of work and other terms, must not be substantially less favourable. Pay, status, hours, location and your circumstances all matter. Seek advice before refusing an offer, because an unreasonable refusal of suitable alternative employment can affect statutory redundancy pay. A statutory four-week trial period normally applies when you accept alternative employment on different terms.
Employers do not have to create a vacancy. Also, if an employer reduces the number of existing identical roles, the remaining occupied jobs are not automatically alternative vacancies. Protected employees can still go through a fair selection process for those existing roles.
An employer must not select you because you are pregnant or taking maternity leave. Pregnancy-related sickness absence and time off for antenatal appointments must not be used to disadvantage you in redundancy scoring. You should not be penalised for missing work or targets because you were on maternity leave; the employer must assess performance fairly.
Unfavourable treatment because of pregnancy, pregnancy-related illness or maternity leave can be pregnancy and maternity discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. Describing this as 'indirect pregnancy discrimination' is incorrect: pregnancy and maternity discrimination does not include indirect discrimination. Depending on the facts, other conduct may instead involve sex discrimination. You do not need to prove deliberate targeting for unlawful discrimination to occur.
Failing to offer an available suitable alternative vacancy when the statutory duty applies can make a redundancy dismissal automatically unfair. Dismissal because of pregnancy or maternity leave can also be automatically unfair and discriminatory. Pregnancy discrimination claims do not require a minimum period of service; pregnancy-related automatically unfair dismissal protections also have no ordinary qualifying-service requirement, although employee status and the relevant legal grounds still matter.
But dismissing a protected employee is not automatically unlawful in every case. If there is a genuine redundancy, fair selection and consultation, and no suitable alternative vacancy, a lawful dismissal may be possible. A breach of the vacancy-priority duty does not, by itself, prove every element of a separate discrimination claim.
These are important protections, not a guarantee of keeping your existing job or winning a claim. Get individual advice if your role is at risk or you believe your pregnancy or leave has affected the decision.
Written guidance checked on 30 September 2026. This is general information, not individual legal advice or a solicitor's review. The linked video is separate content; this written review does not verify its narration.