Redundancy protection period after birth (months)

How long a new mother keeps first refusal on any suitable vacancy if redundancy strikes, counted from the birth and lasting past the return to work.

18months

Corroborated Statutory Instrument Great Britain in force since 2024-04-06

Checked against its sources: statute verified 2026-09-21·guidance verified 2026-09-08

Scope: 18 months, and it is a period of PRIORITY for suitable alternative employment, not immunity from redundancy: regulation 10 applies only where it is not practicable by reason of redundancy to continue to employ the employee under the existing contract. Two neighbours are separate figures: the protected period of PREGNANCY in regulation 10(1)(a) and (1A), which runs from the employer being told of the pregnancy, and the parallel 18 months for adoption in regulation 10 of the Paternity and Adoption Leave Regulations 2002 and for shared parental leave in the 2014 Regulations — the same instrument inserted all of them, in provisions this record does not cover.

Current sources

Source A · Legislationhttps://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2024/264/made (SI 2024/264 reg 4(b): "for paragraph (1) substitute-" new paragraphs (1) to (1E) of regulation 10 of the 1999 Regulations, whose paragraph (1C) reads "For the purposes of paragraph (1B)(c) the relevant day- (a) where paragraph (1D) does not apply, is the day after a period of 18 months beginning with the first day of the expected week of childbirth; (b) where paragraph (1D) applies, is the day after a period of 18 months beginning with the day that childbirth occurred"; in force 6 April 2026 — read reg 1(2): 6 April 2024 — and having effect where the statutory maternity leave period ends on or after 6 April 2024, reg 3(1))

retrieved 2026-09-11

Source B · Official guidancehttps://www.gov.uk/employee-rights-when-on-leave ("The right begins when the employee starts their leave and lasts up until 18 months from the date the child is born or adopted. It continues when the employee returns to work")

retrieved 2026-09-08

History

Value	From	To	Status	Sources
18	2024-04-06	—	Corroborated	Legislation: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2024/264/made (SI 2024/264 reg 4(b): "for paragraph (1) substitute-" new paragraphs (1) to (1E) of regulation 10 of the 1999 Regulations, whose paragraph (1C) reads "For the purposes of paragraph (1B)(c) the relevant day- (a) where paragraph (1D) does not apply, is the day after a period of 18 months beginning with the first day of the expected week of childbirth; (b) where paragraph (1D) applies, is the day after a period of 18 months beginning with the day that childbirth occurred"; in force 6 April 2026 — read reg 1(2): 6 April 2024 — and having effect where the statutory maternity leave period ends on or after 6 April 2024, reg 3(1)) retrieved 2026-09-11 Official guidance: https://www.gov.uk/employee-rights-when-on-leave ("The right begins when the employee starts their leave and lasts up until 18 months from the date the child is born or adopted. It continues when the employee returns to work") retrieved 2026-09-08

Receipt

Everything above is reproducible and independently checkable — no trust in this site required (how verification works).

Figure ID: employment.leave.redundancy_protection_months
Name in the API: Redundancy protection: protected period (months from birth)
Record fields (source type · unit · jurisdiction · status): si·months·GB·corroborated
Record hash (canonical JSON, SHA-256): sha256:a19227b5875a424c70d4a4de713754ca5dd34dc25195c62971ed8c534045b106
Source snapshots (SHA-256): Legislation: sha256:6aca0048fb812165e24ce41f45058a6324ac04178dcea646c0e6dcb244382550; Official guidance: sha256:db6395449f163dff2faa0d757cf3952402f7e3b033009e3d6e96c0bb77728280
Listed in the signed manifest: release 3.0.0 manifest · record_hashes["employment.leave.redundancy_protection_months"]
Machine-readable record: /v1/figures/employment.leave.redundancy_protection_months · current only: /v1/figures/employment.leave.redundancy_protection_months/current

Compiler's notes

An SI carry (ADR-0014): SI 2024/264 reg 4(b) substituted regulation 10(1) with a BLOCK of new paragraphs, so there is no value-level substitution for NF-1 to re-derive and the new paragraphs carry no provision ids in the amender's own document. The evidence is the pair: the 1999 Regulations' current view and SI 2024/264 as made, both hashed and recomputed at Gate 2. BOTH limbs of paragraph (1C) are locator groups, because each states the 18 months for a different starting event and losing one would be value loss. One value only: before 6 April 2024 regulation 10 gave the priority only during maternity leave itself, with no month count at all.