Pregnancy and maternity discrimination: Government Response to the Committee's First Report of Session 2016-17

This is the government's response, published 26 January 2017.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government states that it is "committed to addressing this form of discrimination" and responds to all 21 recommendations, agreeing with some aims but, in several areas, such as risk assessments, relying on existing law and guidance.

• On risk assessments, it does not believe the recommendations "would bring about the improvement required, as the law is already sufficient in this area", and will keep the situation under review.
• On redundancy protection, it does not adopt the German-style system proposed. It says it "will consider further and bring forward proposals" to ensure existing protections are "sufficient".
• On tribunal time limits, it says the research did not suggest the three-month limit was a barrier. It will consider what further guidance can be provided on existing flexibilities and keep this under review.
• On monitoring, it says it will "seek to undertake representative research" into pregnancy and maternity-related discrimination using similar methodology to 2014-15. The response gives no date for this.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error