The Government confirms enhanced dismissal protections for new parents

The Government’s plan to “Make Work Pay”¹ included a commitment to strengthen dismissal protections for pregnant women and new mothers. The consultation on that commitment concluded on 15 January 2026 and the Government has now published its response.²

The response confirms a significant change to the legal test for dismissals during a newly defined protected period, and it extends that protection to a wider group of parents. 

The current law

The existing legal framework provides the following protection for new and expectant parents.

• Discrimination: the law protects employees from pregnancy and maternity discrimination during the “protected period”. The protected period starts when an employee becomes pregnant and ends when (i) their Maternity Leave ends; (ii) they return to work; or (iii) they leave their job, whichever is earliest. 
• Automatic unfair dismissal: a dismissal for a reason connected to pregnancy, childbirth or the exercise of Maternity Leave rights is automatically unfair from day one of employment. 
• Enhanced redundancy protection: during pregnancy and for up to 18 months after the birth or placement of a child (in cases of adoption), employees have enhanced redundancy protection, which means an employer must offer the individual a suitable alternative vacancy (in priority to others) where one is available. This enhanced redundancy protection also applies to employees who have taken at least six weeks of continuous Shared Parental Leave, Neonatal Care Leave or Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave.

Pregnant women and new mothers can still be dismissed under the ordinary unfair dismissal framework for reasons unrelated to pregnancy or maternity, where a potentially fair reason is established. In those circumstances, an Employment Tribunal will consider whether the decision to dismiss fell within the range of responses that a reasonable employer might have adopted in the circumstances. 

So, what is changing?

The headline points are set out below.

• From "band of reasonable responses" to “objective justification": for dismissals during the protected period, the Government will replace the "band of reasonable responses" test with the proportionality test already used as a defence to many Equality Act 2010 claims, often called "objective justification". Employers will need to identify the legitimate aim that the dismissal serves and show that dismissal is a proportionate, appropriate and necessary way of achieving it. 
• Day one right: there will be no qualifying period for the enhanced dismissal protections, so protection applies from the first day of employment. By comparison, the qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal will fall to six months from 1 January 2027. 
• Start of protection: protection begins when the employee tells their employer, in writing or verbally, that they are pregnant. 
• End of protection: protection lasts throughout Maternity Leave and for six months after it ends. Where there is no entitlement to Maternity Leave, it lasts for two weeks after the end of the pregnancy. 
• Other parents: protection will extend to Adoption Leave, Shared Parental Leave, Neonatal Care Leave and Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave. It will apply from the first day of leave and for six months after the leave ends. For the last three of these, the six month post-leave protection will apply only where at least six weeks of continuous leave has been taken. 

When do these changes come into force?

The measures will be introduced through regulations, with the Government intending them to come into force in October 2027. For the new objective justification test, the Government has confirmed that it will not set out in regulations how the test should operate; this will instead be addressed in guidance. In practice, we anticipate that the tribunals will have the final say on how demanding the standard proves to be.

Although implementation is still a year away, employers should start considering how best to prepare for these changes. This could include reviewing their family leave policies and providing managers with appropriate training on the upcoming changes.

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