Can I Be Made Redundant on Maternity Leave?

You can be made redundant while on maternity leave, but only where the redundancy is genuine and your leave played no part in choosing you. Before you are dismissed, your employer must offer you any suitable alternative vacancy that exists. You do not have to compete for it.

Your priority right to a suitable alternative vacancy

Regulation 10 of the Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999 gives you priority over other employees at risk of redundancy. Where a suitable alternative vacancy exists with your employer, its successor or an associated employer, you must be offered it before your employment ends.

GOV.UK states that this right applies even if other colleagues are more suitable for the role. You should not be asked to apply or interview against them.

The new contract must start immediately after your current one ends. The work must be suitable and appropriate for you, and its terms, including place of work and capacity, must not be substantially less favourable than your current terms.

How long the priority lasts

The Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023 extended this right from 6 April 2024. GOV.UK states that the right now starts from the date you tell your employer you are pregnant and lasts until 18 months from the date your child is born.

The right continues after you return to work. If you return 12 months after the birth, it lasts for a further six months. If a pregnancy ends early and you do not have the right to statutory maternity leave, the right lasts for two weeks after the end of the pregnancy. The same extended right applies to adoption leave and to longer periods of shared parental leave.

What happens if no vacancy is offered

Regulation 20 of the Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999, read with section 99 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, makes a redundancy dismissal automatically unfair where a suitable alternative vacancy existed and you were not offered it. No qualifying service is needed for this claim.

Ask your employer, in writing, which vacancies existed across the business and associated employers during the redundancy process. Keep a copy of the vacancy lists you are sent.

Selection must not be because of maternity

Your employer must not select you because you are pregnant or on maternity leave. Regulation 20 makes such a selection automatically unfair. Section 18 of the Equality Act 2010 also makes it unlawful to treat you unfavourably because you are exercising or have exercised your right to maternity leave.

Selection criteria must not count your maternity leave against you. Using attendance records that include maternity leave, or scoring you low because you were absent while on leave, is unfavourable treatment because of maternity. Your employer must also consult you about the redundancy while you are on leave, in the same way as colleagues at work.

Pay, notice and an example

Statutory redundancy pay under section 135 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 needs two years' continuous service. Time on maternity leave counts towards that service. Your notice pay and accrued holiday continue to apply.

A marketing executive with three years' service is seven months into maternity leave when her employer closes her team. An events coordinator role at the same grade, salary and office is open. Her employer invites her to apply and interview against two colleagues at risk. Regulation 10 required her employer to offer her the role without competition. If she is dismissed without that offer, the dismissal is automatically unfair.

Acas states that time limits for employment tribunal claims increased from 3 months to 6 months on 1 October 2026. The 3 month limit may still apply to problems that started before 1 October 2026. Check your deadline early and seek advice.

What to do next

1. Ask in writing for the reason your role is redundant and how the selection pool was chosen.
2. Ask for the selection criteria and your scores, and check whether your leave affected them.
3. Request a list of all current vacancies, including those with associated employers.
4. State in writing that you have priority for any suitable alternative vacancy under regulation 10 of the Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999.
5. Tell your employer your child's date of birth in writing, so the 18 months run from the birth.
6. Keep every letter, email and meeting note about the redundancy.
7. Start ACAS Early Conciliation well before your tribunal deadline.

Keep the vacancy lists and the records showing how you were selected.

Frances N.U