Potential redundancy whilst pregnant

I don’t know much about this but surely they can’t do that while you are on maternity?

If there is a genuine reason for redundancy they can do it whilst pregnant or on mat leave unfortunately, as there are a few of you on mat leave/pregnant i would watch to see who gets made redundant, if they only keep those who are not and get rid of those who are, you could have a case for unfair dismissal.

Legally you do not have to tell anyone whist your looking for/interviewing for a new job but will have to tell them once you start if your 26 weeks plus (I think this is right) how long have you worked for your current employer? If its more than 2 years your entitled to 1 weeks pay for every year you have been with them.

Personally as your only 18 weeks I would start the job search ASAP, start interviewing and with any look you will be in a new job well in advance of when your due and ve able to establish your self. X

How many posts are they making redundant?
It would be difficult for them to make absolutely concrete your redundancy- they would have to really prove prove prove why it's your post that's going and not because you are pregnant/going on Mat Leave.

I'd highly recommend calling pregnant when screwed and/or ACAS for advice.

If there is a legitimate reason for redundancy then they can go through with this. Is there reduced posts in which you will likely go through a selection process for any posts you are eligible to remain in, usually if a role represents at least 50% of your job and is the same Band or a Band lower (with temporary pay protection).
Redundancy in the NHS is a month's salary for every year's service (if you have 24 months continuous service) but they will make every effort to redeploy you in to another vacant post in your organisation if possible

I think if you are made redundant you have to stay out the nhs for a period of time or you have to pay redundancy back.
They might be able to redeploy you too.
Starting a new job would be risky for a mortgage too, especially until probation is over

I would say to enrol to UNION. They will protect your job , and it is illegal to put u out just because u are pregnant. I mean.. it's unhuman. And also. If so.. u can get universal credit, and that's it.

I started an interview process for my new job just after I found out I was pregnant. I didn’t tell them until after I got the job as I didn’t want it to interfere with the process (I know legally it shouldn’t but people have subconscious bias), but once I had the contract all sorted I told them immediately so they could begin making arrangements.

I started my new job when I was at about 16 weeks. It’s certainly not ideal starting a new job when pregnant, but there are laws that are there to protect you and if you need to work you need to work.

I’d say it won’t hurt to start looking now which should give you some options if you are made redundant. You don’t need to tell potential employers during the recruitment process legally so don’t worry about that for now!

Acas is good for info on employment law and citizens advice too.

And lastly and most importantly try not to get too stressed (I know it’s easier said than done), keep you and baby healthy ❤️

it is not illegal, and unions will not tend to support people for a period of time on joining, a month for example and particularly for already open cases.

🫣🥺 that is really messed up.. sorry for not giving the proper info. Also if you join them untill they decide it is 30 days. So if in case they say u need to get another job, then the union can step in at that point? 🤔 trying to help. Maybe I'm just making it worse

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and suggestions! Because the whole team (not just those on maternity or pregnant) are under review it is allowed. You can’t be singled out for redundancy because you’re pregnant but on a team level it is allowed.

I am a member of a union so hopefully we will have representation at the meeting.

I had heard that you can’t get another job within a month of being made redundant on the nhs, which makes it harder!

Ohh.. hopefully, everything sorts out 🥺

The consultation meetings are there for you to ask lots of questions, propose ideas, etc. I would very strongly push the fact that if redundancies go ahead you would expect to be prioritised for redeployment within the NHS, as you are currently working with a protected characteristic or pregnancy.
The other thing that might help, is to figure out the timelines, and (likely) financial outcomes. Do they know how long the redundancies may take to happen, if the outcome of the consultation is that they go ahead? This may be helpful for mortgages...
And would you get enhanced redundancy payments, and would you get pay in lieu of notice (sometimes called PILON, this basically means you don't have to work your notice period, but get the pay you would have received for working it as a lump sum. For example, if you have a 2 month notice period, you'd get an extra 2 months pay as part of your redundancy package)
Hope that helps a little. My main advice, use the consultation meetings, they're for you to get clarity!

Sorry, that was loonng

thank you! This is so helpful. I will write a list of questions. It is 2 hours long. HR will be there so I hope they will be able to answer these. I asked some of these questions last week and was told that we would not be given this information at the first meeting… and that we would not know whether we’d be looking at redundancy or not until the end of the consultation. That doesn’t seem right because surely we’d need to know what is being proposed so that we can properly consult on it

I think them saying "we don't know if there'll be redundancies until consultation finishes" is more legal speak (as someone who works in HR 😬), than practical. They are required to do a "meaningful consultation" which means considering alternatives to the proposal, so they can't confirm redundancies until the consultation has concluded.
If the proposal mentions potential redundancies, I would respond saying, "yes, I get you can't confirm until after consultation, but I'm trying to understand my options so please can we talk through my questions with the mindset of *if* redundancies happen?"

thank you! That’s so helpful. I will do