The UK legal position is governed by a mixture of contractual rights and legislation. Many employers voluntarily offer contractual rights including maternity, paternity, adoption and parental leave policies, which enhance the statutory minimum leave and pay entitlements.
Most relevant UK legislation is in the Employment Rights Act 1996, the Employment Relations Act 1999, the Employment Act 2002, the Work and Families Act 2006, the Children and Families Act 2014 and the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023.
Any unfavourable treatment of a woman because of her pregnancy, childbirth or maternity is likely to constitute pregnancy and maternity-related discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. CIPD members can consider more detail on these family rights in our Maternity, paternity, shared parental and adoption leave and pay Q&As and Requesting flexible working Q&As.
Flexible working
The statutory right to request flexible working allows eligible employees to apply for changes to their working arrangements such as requesting part-time or remote working. Employers can refuse requests based on specific legal grounds, such as increased costs or impact on customer demand.
Since 6 April 2024, the right to request flexible working became a day-one right, removing the previous qualifying period. Employers must respond to flexible working requests within two months and employees can make two flexible working requests in any 12-month period.
Employers must not reject flexible working requests without having discussed it with employees and explored other options. Importantly, employees no longer have to explain the potential impact on employers or suggest ways these effects could be mitigated.
The Employment Rights Bill (not yet in force) will make flexible working a default right. Employers can still refuse by relying on one of the specific business grounds but must provide a written explanation and show that the refusal is reasonable.
Neonatal leave
The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023 provides employed parents whose babies need neonatal hospital care in their first 28 days of life for seven days or more, the right to take neonatal leave and pay for up to twelve weeks. For parents to qualify for this new right the baby must be born on or after 6 April 2025. Please see the law page for more details. You can also download the infographic to understand what you need to know about this new right. CIPD members can download a flowchart to assess if neonatal leave applies.
Redundancy protection
Since 6 April 2024, the Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave and Shared Parental Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024 extend redundancy protection to cover the entire pregnancy, and 18 months after the birth or placement of a child. This applies to those on maternity, adoption or shared parental leave (for six continuous weeks or more).
Paternity leave
The Paternity Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024 enable employees to take statutory paternity leave in one-week blocks at any point during the first year after the birth or adoption of babies born after 6 April 2024 and children expected to be placed for adoption on or after that date.
Carer’s leave
Since 6 April 2024 the Carer's Leave Act 2023 has given unpaid carers of dependants the statutory right to take up to one week (five working days) of unpaid leave per year. This is a day-one right and applies to employees with dependants who have a long-term care need such as physical or mental difficulties, disabilities, or issues related to old age.