Enhanced dismissal protections for pregnant women and new mothers – Law Society response

16 Jan 2026

2 minute read

We responded to the Department for Business and Trade consultation on enhanced dismissal protections for pregnant women and new mothers.

We support the government’s objective to tackling pregnancy-related discrimination and improving workplace outcomes for women.

However, we consider it essential that any reforms maintain legal certainty, proportionality, and fairness across the employment law framework.

We also want any reforms to avoid unintended consequences for employers, employees and the wider labour market.

The proposals

The government is introducing legislation which will make it unlawful to:

dismiss pregnant women
dismiss mothers on maternity leave
dismiss new mothers within a 6-month period after they return

There are some specific circumstances in which the proposed legislation will not apply.

The consultation sought views on enhancing dismissal protections for pregnant women and new mothers.

This included the specific circumstances in which the dismissal of pregnant women and new mothers should still be allowed, which is the focus of our response.

Our view

We agree that existing protections have not fully prevented unfair treatment of pregnant women and new mothers. However, it is important that:

employers retain the ability to dismiss women in the protected period where one of the fair reasons applies and a fair process is followed
clearly understood legal principles are not unnecessarily altered

We therefore strongly oppose proposals to:

replace the long-established ‘range of reasonable responses’ test with a stricter standard
limit permissible dismissal reasons during pregnancy and maternity leave

These changes risk undermining coherence in employment law, creating legal uncertainty for employers and employees.

They also create operational challenges, increase litigation in an already overburdened system, and have unintended consequences that could potentially reduce women’s employability.

Our recommendations

We propose more effective protection could be achieved through:

reversing the burden of proof during the protected period. This means employers will need to demonstrate the dismissal was for one or more of the existing fair reasons and was unconnected with pregnancy or maternity leave
guidance for line managers aimed at improving understanding around the issues and challenges that women may face in the workplace

These steps would more effectively safeguard pregnant women and new mothers. They would also foster inclusive workplaces without losing talent, while allowing organisations to make legitimate business choices.

What this means for solicitors

Under the proposed reforms, solicitors will need to:

advise employers on complying with stricter dismissal rules for pregnant women and new mothers
update policies and processes, and
support employees in enforcing their rights

Next steps

The consultation closed on 15 January 2026.

We will continue to work with the Department for Business and Trade and put forward recommendations to improve protections for employees and employers under these reforms.