Rights while pregnant at work

From your first day in a job you have the right to paid time off for antenatal care, protection from unfavourable treatment because you are pregnant, and a workplace risk assessment that takes the pregnancy into account. Dismissal because of pregnancy is automatically unfair, whatever your length of service. You do not have to tell your employer until the 15th week before the week your baby is due, but several of these protections only start once your employer knows.

When to tell your employer

The legal deadline is the end of the 15th week before your expected week of childbirth. By then you must tell your employer that you are pregnant, when the baby is due and when you want maternity leave to start. Your employer can ask for a MATB1 certificate from your midwife or GP as proof.

Plenty of people tell their employer sooner, and in jobs with physical or clinical risks there are good reasons to. Until your employer knows, it cannot carry out a pregnancy risk assessment, and you cannot claim paid antenatal time off. Telling your employer in writing gives you a dated record.

Paid time off for antenatal care

Employees have a day-one right to reasonable paid time off for antenatal appointments. That covers appointments advised by a doctor, midwife or nurse, and can include antenatal and parenting classes. You are paid at your normal rate for the time off, including travel time. After the first appointment, your employer can ask to see your appointment card and a certificate confirming the pregnancy.

Agency workers have the same right once they have completed 12 weeks in the same role with the same hirer.

The baby’s father, or your partner, has a right to unpaid time off to go with you to some antenatal appointments. The gov.uk antenatal care page sets out the limits.

Shift workers should get time off for appointments that fall in shift hours, without being asked to make up the hours or swap shifts.

Risk assessments and health and safety

Your employer has a general duty to assess risks to new and expectant mothers. Once you have told it in writing that you are pregnant, it should look at the risks in your actual job and decide what needs to change. In the public sector the usual problems are:

• lifting and moving patients, pupils or equipment
• exposure to infections, chemicals or radiation in clinical settings
• long shifts, night work and a lack of rest breaks
• violence or aggression from patients or the public
• long periods standing, or travelling between sites

If a risk cannot be removed, your employer must change your working conditions or hours, or offer suitable alternative work on the same terms. If none of that is possible, it must suspend you on full pay. It cannot send you home unpaid.

Night workers with a medical certificate saying night work is a risk must be moved to day work or, failing that, suspended on full pay.

Your employer should also give you somewhere to rest, and to lie down if needed, during the working day.

Protection from unfair treatment

During pregnancy and maternity leave you are protected from unfavourable treatment because of the pregnancy, pregnancy-related illness or maternity leave. Examples include:

• being passed over for promotion or training
• being moved to a worse role or rota
• having pregnancy-related sickness counted in absence triggers
• losing a pay rise or bonus you would otherwise have got
• being chosen for redundancy because you are pregnant

Redundancy protection is stronger during pregnancy and maternity leave, and for a period after you return. If your role is at risk, you must be offered a suitable alternative vacancy, if there is one, before others are considered. The Employment Rights Act 2025 is due to strengthen protection against dismissal for pregnant women and new mothers in 2027, with the date still to be set. See Employment Rights Act 2025.

Pay and leave

Maternity leave is up to 52 weeks and is a day-one right. Statutory Maternity Pay runs for up to 39 weeks if you have 26 weeks’ continuous service by the 15th week before your due week and earn at least the Lower Earnings Limit, which is £129 a week in 2026/27. SMP is 90 per cent of your average weekly earnings for six weeks, then £194.32 or 90 per cent of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower, for the remaining 33 weeks. Our maternity leave guide explains the rules.

Most public sector employers add occupational maternity pay on top, with conditions about length of service and returning to work. See NHS maternity pay and teachers’ maternity pay.

If things go wrong

Raise concerns early, first informally with your manager or HR, then through the grievance procedure if needed. Your union can support you and check whether a risk assessment was done properly.

Pregnancy discrimination claims go to the employment tribunal after ACAS early conciliation, and the time limit for most claims is six months. Maternity Action and ACAS both run advice lines. Our guide to discrimination at work explains the different kinds of claim.