In early May the Women and Equalities Select Committee (the Committee) has responded to the government consultation on extending redundancy protection for women and new parents. Read our blog about the consultation here, but by way of reminder, the consultation suggested that the current protections for women returning to work should be extended so that they end six months after their return from work after maternity leave, and should be extended to all new parents (including those taking adoption and shared parental leave). The protections allow new parents to be considered in priority to other employees for suitable alternative roles arising during a redundancy consultation process.

The Committee, which has as its aim the safeguarding of equal rights in the workplace and elsewhere, published a response to the consultation which emphatically supported the above proposals. Regarding the extension of the protection to employees on parental leave other than maternity leave, it requested clarification on what types of parental leave the extension should apply to. It agreed that it should apply to adoption leave and shared parental leave, however. The Committee recommended that the redundancy protections be better publicised on a central website independent from employers, to which midwives and other healthcare professionals could direct women.

The Committee also recommended that larger companies should be required to report on retention rates both for women returning after maternity leave and after submitting a flexible working application.

Given the wider work of the Committee and the current pressure on the government to improve equality in the workplace, it will not be surprising if the redundancy protections become law. However, our view is that they are not the most valuable protection, given that their impact always depends on there being suitable alternative employment in a redundancy situation (which is rare). The recommendation to report on retention rates, if adopted, may be more powerful; top employers wanting to recruit talented employees are already starting to compete to offer the best flexible working and family leave packages, and this increased accountability may drive that trend further forward.

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