Parliamentary briefing

Pregnancy and Maternity (Redundancy Protections) Bill (2020)

Published: 9 April 2019

Last updated: 9 April 2019

What countries does this apply to?

  • England
  • Scotland
  • Wales

What the Bill covers

The Pregnancy and Maternity (Redundancy Protections) Bill was a Private Members Bill that aimed to:

  • improve protections for pregnant women and women on maternity leave
  • eliminate unfair dismissal of pregnant women, new mothers and those who have experienced a stillbirth or miscarriage

Why we are briefing on this subject

The Equality Act 2010 makes it clear that discriminating against women because of their pregnancy or maternity leave is unlawful, but is still happening.

Our main recommendations

Governments should:

  • extend pregnancy and maternity redundancy protections by a further six months
  • introduce more measures to reduce gender inequality in workplaces

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