The next step

Redundancy

[Policy]

Some employees to gain extended redundancy protection

Current law

Under current law, an employee on maternity, adoption or shared parental leave who is placed at risk of redundancy has a right to be offered a suitable alternative vacancy, if one is available, in priority to other “at risk” employees. This priority status is an absolute right, so it’s irrelevant that another “at risk” employee may be a better candidate for the alternative vacancy. Any failure to offer an available suitable alternative vacancy to an employee with priority status will make their dismissal for redundancy automatically unfair.

Legislative changes

The Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023 and associated regulations will amend the law from 6 April 2024 to extend the redundancy protected period beyond maternity, adoption or shared parental leave as follows:

• pregnancy and maternity leave - the protected period will start from when an employee informs you they’re pregnant and end 18 months after the expected week of childbirth (but if they notify you of the child’s date of birth before the end of their maternity leave, it will end 18 months after that date)
• adoption leave - the protected period will start from the beginning of adoption leave and end 18 months after the child’s placement for adoption
• shared parental leave (SPL) - the protected period will start from the beginning of SPL and, for those taking at least six consecutive weeks of SPL who haven’t taken maternity or adoption leave, end 18 months after the date of the child’s birth or placement. However, for those taking less than six weeks of SPL, it will still end at the end of SPL.

Implications

The changes may significantly increase the number of employees with priority status, which may cause you problems in a redundancy process. The law doesn’t say what you must do where there are more priority status employees than there are suitable alternative vacancies.

Tip. In this situation, conduct selection interviews to fairly decide which employee with priority status will be offered the vacancy, and be careful not to discriminate against those who are pregnant or on maternity leave.

Tip. If you’re facing a redundancy process, ensure you have detailed records regarding pregnancy notification and other relevant dates so that you can calculate protected periods accurately. Also, have systems in place to identify job vacancies across the business and with any associated employers, particularly as many roles can be worked on a remote basis so this could widen the scope of potentially suitable roles.

These rules may feel unfair to other “at risk” employees, particularly if they’re higher performers than those with priority status. So, you’ll need to carefully manage this as part of your redundancy consultation procedure. Explain to them what priority status involves and that it’s a legal right. Ensure managers are fully aware of the rules (see The next step ).

For a redundancy policy, visit https://www.tips-and-advice.co.uk , Download Zone, year 26, issue 4.