Redundancy during pregnancy and maternity leave
You can be made redundant, but not because of the leave
Maternity leave does not make you immune from a genuine redundancy. What it does is bar your employer from selecting you because of your pregnancy, maternity leave or a related reason. If leave-related factors taint the selection, the dismissal is both automatically unfair and pregnancy or maternity discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. A redundancy that would have happened anyway, on objective selection criteria you were scored on fairly, can still stand.
The priority right to a suitable alternative vacancy
This is the protection that goes further than for anyone else at risk. If a suitable alternative vacancy exists anywhere in the business (or an associated employer), your employer must offer it to you before your existing contract ends, and ahead of other at-risk colleagues, even if they are equally suitable. You do not compete for it; you have first refusal. The right is set out in MAPLE Regs 1999 reg 10.
A vacancy is "suitable" if the work is appropriate for you to do and the terms, capacity and location are not substantially less favourable than your old role. If a suitable vacancy exists and you are not offered it, any redundancy dismissal is automatically unfair, with no qualifying-service requirement for that claim.
The 18-month protected period (from 6 April 2024)
The priority right used to apply only while you were actually on maternity, adoption or shared parental leave. From 6 April 2024 it was extended by the Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave and Shared Parental Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024 (SI 2024/264), made under the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023. The window is now:
- Pregnancy: protection starts the day you tell your employer you are pregnant.
- Maternity leave: continues until 18 months from the exact date the child is born.
- Adoption leave: 18 months from placement (or the child entering the UK for an overseas adoption).
- Shared parental leave: 18 months from the birth or placement date, if you took 6 or more continuous weeks; a shorter block is protected only during the leave itself.
ACAS sets out the same windows in plain English: redundancy protection for pregnancy and new parents.
Your redundancy pay is on normal pay, not maternity pay
A common worry is that a redundancy landing mid-leave will be calculated on the reduced statutory maternity pay you are receiving at the time. It is not. Statutory redundancy pay uses your normal weekly pay before maternity leave began, not statutory or contractual maternity pay. The usual formula is unchanged: 1.5 weeks per year at age 41+, 1 week at 22 to 40, half a week under 22, up to 20 years, with each week capped at £751 from 6 April 2026 (ERA 1996 s.162). You still need 2 years' continuous service to qualify, and time on maternity leave counts toward continuity. The charity Maternity Action confirms the normal-pay basis in its redundancy guidance.