ERA 2025: Pregnancy and Redundancy — Stronger Protections

The Employment Rights Act 2025 extends protection against redundancy during and after pregnancy. Previously, the protected period during pregnancy and maternity leave had gaps that left some employees exposed to unfair selection. Under ERA 2025, that window is significantly widened.

The protected period now runs from the point a pregnancy is notified to the employer through to 18 months after the expected week of childbirth. During this period, if a redundancy situation arises, the employee must be offered any suitable alternative vacancy — not just given priority consideration for it. If no alternative exists and redundancy goes ahead, the process faces closer scrutiny.

Mellow flags protected status in employee records automatically once pregnancy notification is logged. Redundancy selection reports include a protection warning where applicable. This matters: a tribunal claim for automatically unfair dismissal during a protected period carries uncapped compensation. The cost of getting the process wrong is not small.