Almost seven in ten UK businesses (67%) have said they are not clear on what the proposed changes are from the Government to protect workers on maternity leave from redundancy, according to employment law and HR consultancy firm, WorkNest.
The Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill is well on its way through the House of Lords.
Whilst amendments can still be made, if the Bill is passed in its current form, it would give the Secretary of State the power to make provisions to extend the current protection from redundancy to during or after pregnancy or after periods of maternity, adoption or shared parental leave.
It’s expected that this protection would cover from when a woman tells her employer she’s pregnant until 18 months after the birth.
Whilst the majority (67%) of businesses said when asked that they weren’t clear about proposed changes, one quarter (24%) were aware and had started to review what needed to be done.
Only two percent have updated their policies and procedures already in anticipation of the change, according to the survey of more than 700 employers and HR professionals on family-friendly rights matters.
The Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill is just one of a number of ‘family friendly workplace’ Bills currently going through parliament.
Others include the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill, the Carer’s Leave Bill 2022-23 and the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill 2022-23.
With the proposed legal changes around flexible working and carer’s leave meaning businesses may have lower staffing levels at times, the research revealed that reorganising work across existing staff would be the biggest barrier to businesses implementing change.
The barriers to implementation in order of concern for businesses were:
Reorganising work across existing staffUpdating internal processes and policiesLack of guidanceTraining line managers on changesCost prohibitive
Alexandra Farmer, Head of Team and Solicitor at WorkNest, said:
“The movement on these Bills comes at a time when many businesses are short-staffed either as a result of recruitment challenges or staffing cutbacks. So, it’s understandable that allowing more flexibility across the board, and affording some employees additional entitlements, may be difficult to accommodate.
“There has been a lot of inactivity on these Bills since many were included in the Queen’s speech in 2019, however they now seem to suddenly be moving at pace. It’s crucial that workplaces are flexible and family-friendly so employers should get the relevant advice on how to successfully make the required adaptations for staff as they come into force.”
Research by WorkNest, the employment law, HR consultancy and health and safety support firm, questioned 737 employers on changes to family-friendly rights and flexible working in May 2023.
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