Can you be made redundant while on maternity leave?

Yes, you can be made redundant while on maternity leave if there is a genuine redundancy situation, meaning the business genuinely needs to reduce its workforce. However, you cannot be selected for redundancy because of your pregnancy or maternity leave. If your role is genuinely redundant, your employer must offer you any suitable alternative vacancy in priority over other employees. Being made redundant solely or partly because you are pregnant or on maternity leave is automatically unfair dismissal and pregnancy discrimination.

What is the protected period for redundancy during maternity?

Since 6 April 2024, the protected period has been significantly extended under the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023 and its regulations. The protected period now runs from the point you inform your employer of your pregnancy until 18 months after the date your child is born. During this entire period, you have a priority right to be offered suitable alternative employment if your role is made redundant.

Do you get full redundancy pay on maternity leave?

Yes. If you are made redundant while on maternity leave, your statutory redundancy pay is calculated based on your normal weekly pay before maternity leave, not on Statutory Maternity Pay or any reduced maternity pay rate. Your full contractual salary is used for the calculation, subject to the statutory weekly pay cap. Your continuous service includes all time spent on maternity leave, so maternity leave does not reduce your years of service for redundancy purposes.

Can redundancy during maternity leave be pregnancy discrimination?

Yes. If your employer selects you for redundancy because of your pregnancy, maternity leave, or any reason connected to your maternity, this is both automatically unfair dismissal and unlawful pregnancy and maternity discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. You do not need two years of service to claim pregnancy discrimination — the right applies from day one of employment. If you believe your redundancy is connected to your pregnancy or maternity leave, you should seek specialist legal advice promptly.

Redundancy Pay During Maternity Leave

Q: What is the priority right to alternative employment during maternity?

If your role is made redundant while you are within the protected period (pregnancy through to 18 months after birth), your employer must offer you any suitable alternative vacancy that exists within the organisation or any associated employer. This is not merely a right to be considered or to apply — you must be offered the role in priority ahead of other employees whose roles are also redundant but who are not in a protected period. The alternative role must be suitable and appropriate, with terms no less favourable than your current role.

Being told your job is at risk while you are pregnant or on maternity leave is an incredibly stressful experience. The good news is that UK employment law provides significant protections for employees in this situation. These protections were strengthened substantially in April 2024 with new regulations that extend the period during which special rights apply.

This guide explains the legal framework in full, covering the circumstances in which redundancy during maternity leave is lawful, the priority rights you are entitled to, how your redundancy pay is calculated, and what to do if you believe your employer has acted unfairly.

Can You Be Made Redundant on Maternity Leave?

The straightforward answer is yes, but only if the redundancy is genuine. An employer can make someone redundant while they are on maternity leave if there is a real business reason for the redundancy, such as a workplace closure, a reduction in the need for the type of work you do, or a reorganisation that eliminates your specific role.

What an employer absolutely cannot do is select you for redundancy because you are pregnant or on maternity leave. If your pregnancy or maternity is a factor in the decision, or if your role is not genuinely redundant, the dismissal is likely to be:

Automatically unfair dismissal under the Employment Rights Act 1996
Pregnancy and maternity discrimination under the Equality Act 2010

These are serious legal violations. Importantly, you do not need any minimum length of service to bring a claim for pregnancy discrimination or for automatically unfair dismissal related to pregnancy or maternity. These protections apply from your first day of employment.

The Protected Period (April 2024 Regulations)

The Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023, which came into force on 6 April 2024, significantly extended the period during which pregnant and new mothers have enhanced redundancy protections. Previously, the priority right to alternative employment only applied during maternity leave itself. The new rules extend this protection much further.

When Does the Protected Period Start?

The protected period begins on the date you inform your employer that you are pregnant. This means the protection starts before your maternity leave begins, covering the entire pregnancy period from notification onwards. This is why it is important to notify your employer of your pregnancy in writing and to keep a record of when you did so.

When Does the Protected Period End?

The protected period ends 18 months after the date your child is born. This is a significant extension from the previous rules, which only protected you during the maternity leave period itself. Under the current regulations:

If your child is born on 1 June 2024, your protected period runs until 1 December 2025
The protection continues even after you have returned to work from maternity leave
The 18-month period applies regardless of how much maternity leave you actually take

What Does the Protection Mean?

During the protected period, if your role is made redundant, your employer must offer you any suitable alternative vacancy that exists within the organisation or any associated employer. This is not merely a right to be considered for other roles. It is a priority right: you must be offered the vacancy ahead of other employees whose roles are also redundant but who are not in a protected period.

This priority right also extends to employees on adoption leave and shared parental leave, with equivalent protected periods applying.

The Priority Right to Suitable Alternative Employment

The priority right is one of the most important protections available. Understanding how it works in practice is essential.

What Counts as a Suitable Alternative?

A suitable alternative vacancy must be:

Suitable and appropriate for the employee - considering your skills, qualifications, experience and the nature of your previous role
On terms no less favourable than your current role - this includes pay, location, seniority, hours and other conditions
Available within the organisation or any associated employer (such as a parent company, subsidiary or group company)

The role does not need to be identical to your previous position, but it must be broadly comparable. A significant reduction in pay, status, or responsibilities would not normally constitute a suitable alternative.

What If No Suitable Alternative Exists?

If there genuinely is no suitable alternative vacancy available anywhere in the organisation or associated employers, the employer can proceed with the redundancy. The priority right only applies where a suitable vacancy exists. If no such vacancy exists, the redundancy can lawfully go ahead, provided the overall process has been fair and the selection was not influenced by the employee's pregnancy or maternity.

What If You Refuse a Suitable Alternative?

If your employer offers you a suitable alternative role and you unreasonably refuse it, you may lose your right to statutory redundancy pay. However, if the offered role is genuinely not suitable, for example because it involves a significant pay cut, a much longer commute, or duties that are substantially different from your current role, your refusal would be reasonable and your redundancy pay entitlement would be preserved.

Redundancy Pay Calculation During Maternity Leave

If you are made redundant while on maternity leave, your statutory redundancy pay is calculated using your normal weekly pay, not the reduced rate of Statutory Maternity Pay or any contractual maternity pay you may be receiving at the time of the redundancy.

Weekly Pay

Your weekly pay for redundancy purposes is your normal weekly earnings before maternity leave began, subject to the statutory cap of £719 per week (£749 in Northern Ireland). If you were receiving contractual maternity pay at a reduced rate, or Statutory Maternity Pay at the flat rate, this does not affect the calculation. The full weekly pay figure is used.

Years of Service

Time spent on maternity leave counts as continuous employment. Your maternity leave period is included in your years of service for redundancy calculation purposes. For example, if you have worked for your employer for four years including one year of maternity leave, your calculation is based on four years of service, not three.

The Standard Formula

The statutory formula then applies as normal, using your age at the date of redundancy and your length of service:

Half a week's pay for each complete year of service while under 22
One week's pay for each complete year of service while aged 22 to 40
One and a half weeks' pay for each complete year of service while aged 41 or over

The maximum service that counts is 20 years, and the maximum statutory redundancy payment is 21570.

Discrimination Considerations

Redundancy during pregnancy or maternity leave raises serious discrimination risks for employers. The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful to treat someone unfavourably because of pregnancy or maternity. Several scenarios may indicate that a redundancy is discriminatory rather than genuine:

Timing - if the redundancy is announced shortly after you informed your employer of your pregnancy, this may suggest a connection
Selection criteria - if the criteria used to select employees for redundancy disadvantage you because of your maternity leave (for example, performance scores from a period when you were absent on maternity leave)
Failure to offer alternatives - if suitable alternative roles exist but were not offered to you, or were given to other employees instead
Role replacement - if your employer recruits someone to do substantially the same job after you have been made redundant
Pattern of behaviour - if there is a wider pattern of pregnant employees or new mothers being selected for redundancy or treated less favourably

If any of these factors are present, the redundancy may be unlawful. In an employment tribunal, the burden of proof shifts to the employer once you have shown facts from which discrimination could be inferred. The employer must then prove that the redundancy was for genuine, non-discriminatory reasons.

Other Entitlements During Redundancy on Maternity Leave

In addition to redundancy pay and the priority right to alternative employment, you may be entitled to:

Remaining Statutory Maternity Pay - if your employment ends during your maternity pay period, your employer must continue paying any remaining SMP. SMP is not dependent on you remaining employed for the full 39-week period.
Notice pay - you are entitled to your statutory or contractual notice period, whichever is longer. If your employer pays this as PILON, it should be based on your normal pay, not maternity pay.
Accrued holiday pay - you continue to accrue annual leave during maternity leave. Any untaken holiday must be paid out on termination.

What to Do If You Face Redundancy During Maternity

If your employer has put you at risk of redundancy while you are pregnant or on maternity leave, here are the steps you should take:

Keep records - save all correspondence, including the date you notified your employer of your pregnancy and any communications about the redundancy
Check the process - ensure your employer is following a fair consultation process and has applied objective selection criteria
Ask about alternatives - request written confirmation of what alternative vacancies have been considered and whether you have been offered any suitable roles in priority
Check your pay - verify that your redundancy pay calculation uses your normal weekly pay (before maternity leave) and includes your maternity leave period in your years of service
Seek advice early - contact ACAS (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) on 0300 123 1100, your trade union if you have one, or a specialist employment solicitor. Many solicitors offer free initial advice for maternity-related redundancy issues
Act within time limits - if you need to bring an employment tribunal claim, you generally have three months less one day from the date of dismissal. You must contact ACAS for early conciliation before starting a claim, and the clock is tight

Shared Parental Leave, Adoption Leave and Paternity

The enhanced protections described above are not limited to maternity leave. Similar priority rights apply to employees on:

Adoption leave - the protected period runs from the point of notification of matching until 18 months after the child's placement
Shared parental leave - the protected period extends to 18 months after birth (or placement for adoption), provided the employee has taken at least six consecutive weeks of shared parental leave

These extended protections mean that both parents may benefit from the priority right to alternative employment during a redundancy exercise.

Calculate Your Redundancy Entitlement

If you are facing redundancy during pregnancy or maternity leave, knowing your statutory entitlement is the first step. Use our free UK Redundancy Pay Calculator to get an instant calculation based on your normal pre-maternity pay, your age and your length of service. Remember that your maternity leave period counts towards your service, so include it when entering your employment dates.