By way of recap, the Government is planning to make sure there is more security for working families, with three main proposals:

1: Maternity rights

• Currently there is a six-month qualifying service period needed for expecting mums to qualify for statutory maternity pay. The Bill will remove this qualifying period and make statutory maternity pay a day one right.
• The Bill is also taking steps to strengthen protections for pregnant employees and those on or returning from maternity and/or statutory family leave. Under existing legislation, pregnant employees and those on maternity leave (and other statutory family leave) have a degree of protection from dismissal on the grounds of redundancy. The government plans to expand this protection and proposes to make it unlawful, except in specific limited circumstances (yet to be determined), to dismiss pregnant employees or those employees returning from maternity or other statutory family leave within six months of their return.

2: Paternity rights

• Under existing law expecting fathers must have 26 weeks’ continuous service before they are eligible for statutory paternity leave. The Bill is going to remove this service requirement and make paternity leave a day one right.
• Furthermore, expecting fathers will be able to take paternity leave both before and after shared parental leave (currently, paternity leave may only be taken before shared parental leave), giving expecting fathers greater flexibility.

3: Parental leave

• Employees with one year’s continuous service with a child under the age of 18 are currently entitled to take a period of 18 weeks’ unpaid leave for each child for the purpose of caring for that child.
• The Bill will be making parental leave a day one right, removing the qualifying period in its entirety.

The upcoming changes will require employers to update their relevant family leave policies. However, they will also force employers to look at their family leave processes generally. This is because the removal of the service requirements for the various family leaves will mean that a larger cohort of employees will now have periods of long-term absences in the workforce.

Managing employees on Family Leave

When managing employees on family leave, HR representatives and Managers will have a number of “legal concerns” such as:

• what job and responsibilities should employees return to once their leave ends;
• can I ask or force employees to undertake KIT days;
• can I ask or force employees to use their holiday days during their leave;
• what happens if a redundancy scenario arises whilst employees are on leave;
• what happens if employees are sick during their leave period; and
• what do I do if an employee brings a grievance during their leave period.

However, there are also several practical concerns (which can quickly turn into legal issues/claims) which HR and Managers will come across when employees are on family leave. In this regard, many employers struggle with how much (or little) contact they should have with, predominantly, mums on maternity leave, particularly when the new mother chooses to take advantage of her right to one year’s maternity leave. In this regard, managers face questions such as:

• do I need to invite them to social events;
• do I need to send them job opportunities whilst they were away;
• should I notify them of new starters in the team;
• do I need to update them on changes in the business;
• how do I manage someone else covering their work whilst they are away, and who continues with this work when the employee returns;
• how do I contact employees when they are away; and
• how do I ensure that employees come back after their leave (and don’t move to another business).

Most of the issues which arise stem from employees feeling excluded from their team (and the business) due to lack of Manager communication. It is often the case that Managers are unaware of any obligations they may have to keep in contact with the employee and leave the management of that employee to the HR representative. In many cases, a HR representative may have never spoken to the employee before the start of their leave and is unaware of the type of information the employee may be interested in and/or wishes to be kept up to date with. This lack of knowledge, coupled with a poor line of communication between the employee’s manager and the HR representative, can lead to employees on family leave feeling excluded and removed from their team.

Practically, HR representatives and Managers need to have an open communication channel and concrete plan in order to avoid complaints and/or claims from employees. Accurate record keeping of meetings and correspondence can also aid in avoiding future conflicts.

With the upcoming changes, the above concerns will be even more prominent when a more diverse workforce (i.e. fathers) become entitled to longer periods of continuous leave.

In preparation for the upcoming changes, and to minimise future conflicts and claims, employers should consider reviewing their processes (specifically how they engage with employees on family leave) and identifying the main areas where issues arise. In this regard, there are various things which employers can do to reduce the number of complaints, ensure employees feel included and “part of the team”, whilst not overstepping their boundaries.

Lucy Gordon (Partner) and Giulia Patti (Senior Associate) are hosting a webinar on 26 February 2025, where they’ll discussing some of the practical and helpful ways in which employers can manage employees on family leave and keep them engaged and connected during their absence. They will be joined by guest speaker Kay Simpson (HR Director at Menzies Distribution Limited) to explore further some of the difficulties employers face – an area in which Kay has vast first-hand experience.

If you are unable to join the Webinar or have questions surrounding the above and/or require support with updating your policies so they are in-line with the upcoming changes,  we can assist you in these areas.