Family Rights

In this blog, we set out a number of family-related rights that are proposed by The Employment Rights Act (‘ERA 2025’). These are:

1. Paternity and parental leave
2. Pregnant women and new mothers
3. Bereavement leave

Paternity and Parental Leave

At present, before an expecting father has a right to statutory paternity leave, they must have 26 weeks’ continuous service. Paternity leave may be taken before shared parental leave but once shared parental leave is taken, fathers lose the right to any paternity leave they haven’t already used.

Employees who have a child under the age of 18 are entitled to take a period of 18 weeks’ unpaid leave for the purpose of caring for that child so long as they have one year’s continuous service.

Reform

In April 2026: The ERA 2025 will remove the service requirement for paternity leave and unpaid parental leave, making them day one rights.

Additionally, the ERA will permit paternity leave to be taken after shared parental leave.

Future considerations: Following calls for statutory paternity pay to be made a day-one right, the Government has announced a review of parental leave and pay in Great Britain. This is expected to last 18 months before we are likely to see any changes. The Government have said this review will focus on ensuring that parental leave offers the best possible support to working families.

Pregnant Women and New Mothers

It is currently unlawful to dismiss or subject a pregnant woman to detriment because she is pregnant, because she has taken or tried to take maternity leave or any associated benefits, or because of pregnancy related illness.

Pregnant women and new mothers are also entitled to specific protections where they are at risk of redundancy, such as being put in a priority pool for suitable and alternative roles.

The ERA does not remove any of these protections.

Reform

In 2027: The ERA 2025 will implement further enhanced protections against dismissal for pregnant women and new mothers. This is set to include making it unlawful to dismiss a pregnant woman or new mother in the six-month period after the employee has returned to work, except in specified circumstances.

The details of these circumstances and the processes that will need to be followed are not yet specified. The details will be set out in regulations by the Secretary of State and will follow Government consultation on the enhanced dismissal protections.

Bereavement Leave

At present, the only statutory right to bereavement leave exists in respect of parents who lose a child (from 24 weeks of pregnancy to the child reaching 18 years of age).

Reform

In 2027: The ERA 2025 will introduce a day one right to Bereavement Leave for employees.

Details of this right, including the relationship between the employee and the deceased and how the leave can be taken, are currently unclear and will be set out in secondary legislation. However, it is proposed that the leave must be a minimum of two week and the period of time within which it is to be taken must extend to at least 56 days after the person’s death. The consultation paper does not indicate if the Government has any preferred policy choices in relation to the questions asked and the consultation closes on 15 January 2026.

What do these changes mean?

The changes are expected to provide greater flexibility for employees to balance their personal and family lives with their work. A key aim seems to be promoting wellbeing in the workforce which, in turn, should benefit employers.

With new entitlements coming into place as early as April 2026, employers are encouraged to review their existing leave policies to ensure they are compliant with the law as and when it comes into force.

If you would like to discuss anything contained in this blog or help with reviewing your leave policies, please contact a member or the Employment team.

To find out what other aspects of employment law are affected by the Employment Rights Act, read our blog “The Employment Rights Act – When to expect change”.

We publish blogs and social media posts to give a general overview of legal and commercial issues, relevant at the time of publication, which we hope you will find interesting. Please note that legal rules often change depending on the specific facts of a situation. The law also changes over time following changes in legislation or new court cases. We do not actively update our blogs or posts once they are published to reflect changes in the law.