UK: Legislative developments - pregnancy and maternity discrimination

The Government has rejected the idea that pregnancy and maternity cases should have more favourable fee treatment, on the basis that the drop off in those claims was much lower than in other types of discrimination. It has also rejected the idea of increasing the limitation period for such claims. However, although it has not adopted the majority of the recommendations made by the Women and Equalities Committee's report of August 2016, the Government has confirmed that it will strengthen the position of women facing redundancy during pregnancy or on return from maternity leave. Meanwhile, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Women and Work has recommended that more needs to be done to help women enter and re-enter the workforce, including equalising statutory pay for maternity and shared parental leave.