Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill

Gareth Bacon Excerpts

3rd reading
Friday 3rd February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Gareth Bacon (Orpington) (Con)]

I rise to support the Bill. I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Barnsley Central (Dan Jarvis) for all his work on this very important matter. As he mentioned, the fact we are here today, in 2023, no less, to debate giving women protections in the workplace is a clear indication that, despite all the progress we have made as a society, there is much more that still needs to be done to ensure fairness for all.

I am aware that legislation alone cannot be the only vehicle for progress. In general terms, we should be very careful when we call for increases in regulation, because those can have unexpected and unintended adverse consequences. That said, I believe the Bill is extremely necessary.

In 2019, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy launched a consultation on pregnancy and maternity discrimination, and the possibility of extending redundancy protection for women and new parents. In response to that consultation, the Government pledged to extend current redundancy protections from the moment the employer was informed of the pregnancy through to six months after maternity leave has finished, as well as extending equivalent protections to those taking adoption leave or shared parental leave.

Those measures were included in an outline of a proposed employment Bill in the December 2019 Queen’s Speech. However, in common with so much else, that Bill was entirely knocked sideways by the arrival of the pandemic a short while afterwards and the Bill did not get to the Floor of the House.

Between 2019 and 2021, my right hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Dame Maria Miller) introduced three private Members’ Bills aiming to prohibit redundancy during pregnancy, maternity leave and up to six months after, other than for a limited set of reasons. Unfortunately, none of those Bills received a Second Reading. The hon. Member for Barnsley Central is to be congratulated on both bringing the Bill and for working with the Government to secure support for it.

This place can be very fractious at times. Regretfully, most of the general public form their view by watching Prime Minister’s Question Time. I wish more people would watch the proceedings of the House on a Friday, because they would see the House working at its best. Very often we come here on a cross-party basis and do things for the common good of our citizens.

I would like to bring attention to the context in which the Bill would have an effect. The current provisions in the Employment Rights Act 1996 allow the Secretary of State to make regulations with regard to redundancy “during” periods of maternity leave, adoption leave or shared parental leave. The Bill amends those respective provisions to allow regulations with regard to redundancy “during or after” such periods of leave.

The Bill aims to provide a safety net for pregnant women so that they are not unfairly dismissed from their jobs during or shortly after pregnancy. That is crucial, given that a woman, as the hon. Member for Barnsley Central has said, can be in a vulnerable position, especially after having her first child. Difficulties can also be experienced by women who adopt children, and it is right that the Bill also includes provisions for those circumstances.

The Bill will give increased job security at an important time in the lives of families. As the hon. Gentleman has said, the Equality and Human Rights Commission claimed its research shows that up to 54,000 new mothers a year may be dismissed from their jobs. That is an outrageous figure. For that to be even remotely true in 2023 is, frankly, scandalous. It is particularly concerning given that we, as a country, are proud of being a model for modern work practices.

In July 2020, the campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed surveyed 19,950 women and found that

“11.2% of women on maternity leave have been made redundant or expect to be made redundant ”,

of whom

“60.7% believe their maternity leave was a factor in the decision’’.

The fact that so many women consider that being on maternity leave was a factor in their employer’s decision to make them redundant is cause for concern.

I believe the Bill is well balanced, because the measures will be beneficial to businesses as well as to employees. The Bill is likely to improve relations with female employees and reduce a source of conflict that can, in some instances, develop into costly and time-consuming legal cases. I am pleased that, alongside the reforms, the Government have committed to working with the Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination Advisory Board to update guidance so that this type of discrimination in the workplace is further eradicated.

I speak as the father of an inspiring young woman. I know that parents across our great country raise their daughters in the hope and expectation that they will get into the workplace, have good careers and contribute to society, if they can develop the skills demanded by our businesses and economy. At the risk of repeating myself, I reiterate that our country is one of best places for women to join the workforce and work; however, where further progress can be made, we should not hesitate to act to get there. It is only right that we remove any barriers that hinder women from achieving their ambitions. The Bill seeks to do that, so I very much support it.

Carer’s Leave Bill

Gareth Bacon Excerpts

Friday 3rd February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Gareth Bacon (Orpington) (Con)]

First, let me pay tribute to the hon. Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain), who has promoted the Bill and spoken eloquently, both today and in previous stages of its consideration, about the need for its provisions. I will be supporting the Bill today. As has been said by my hon. Friend the Member for Devizes (Danny Kruger), who, unfortunately is no longer in his place, the Bill would have a positive impact on the lives of approximately 4.2 million people across Great Britain who currently provide unpaid care for a dependant. I say Great Britain, because of course employment law is devolved in Northern Ireland.

Many important contributions have already been made, both today and on Second Reading. I was unable to attend the Second Reading debate, so I read through Hansard in preparation for today. I was struck by a number of the contributions made then and I wish to draw the House’s attention to the one made by my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich West (Shaun Bailey). He pointed out that at the beginning of the pandemic

“unpaid carers saved the state £135 billion.”—[Official Report, 21 October 2022; Vol. 720, c. 997.]

The term “billions” is bandied about a lot these days and we have become a little numb to it, as though billions of pounds sterling were a mere trifle. The reality is that we are talking about a colossal sum. To put it into context, it is 58 times the amount of money the UK sent in military aid to Ukraine in 2022 and it is equivalent to three times our annual defence spending. So if my hon. Friend is correct, and I have no reason to doubt that he is, that alone makes a very strong case for the potential positive impact of the Bill on our society and economy.

I also wish to pay tribute to colleagues who have spoken about their constituents’ experiences, and indeed about their own personal experiences, as unpaid carers. I was particularly moved to read the comments made on Second Reading by my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman), who spoke about the devastating situation he faced as a young man in his 20s having to provide care for both of his parents, who were at that time suffering from cancer. That was an important contribution to the debate and it helped to illustrate vividly why we need this Bill to be made into law. Many across the country are fortunate enough not to have had to face such experiences, but, as he said,

“dependency on care can be sudden.”—[Official Report, 21 October 2022; Vol. 720, c. 1000.]

It is important that we in this House make sure that the British people can be confident that they will not be penalised for doing the right thing when they take time off to help a loved one if and when the time arises. That is precisely what I believe this Bill seeks to achieve.

As my hon. Friends the Members for Blackpool South (Scott Benton), for Guildford (Angela Richardson) and for North West Norfolk (James Wild) have all pointed out, both the 2017 and 2019 Conservative manifestos included a commitment on entitlement to unpaid leave for carers. This was also included in the Queen’s Speech of 2019, in the employment Bill, which, unfortunately was not able to proceed because of the onset of the pandemic. The hon. Member for North East Fife is to be congratulated on and thanked for bringing this Bill to the House, and I am glad that the Government have agreed to support it.

I turn to aspects of the Bill that it is important we keep under review. I draw attention to the impact assessment published in July last year. The Bill seeks to help employers through a regulatory approach. That, in practical terms, means more rules for businesses and employers to comply with and, whether we like it or not, a small increase in administrative costs. The impact assessment estimates those costs as follows: a one-off cost to large businesses of adapting of about £4.7 million; and an annual cost to business of about £40 million. Of that, £9.3 million would be costs imposed on small businesses for administering leave among other things.

If we consider, as my hon. Friend the Member for North West Norfolk said, that there were 5.5 million small businesses in our country in 2021 and that, of those, about 1.4 million had employees, we must take into account that the employers with the highest number of employees will be paying the lion’s share of those costs. It must be admitted that the costs are slight, but they could affect the decision making of employers weighing up whether to take on new staff. The impact assessment cannot quantify the cost of unintended consequences of the day one right or the fact that employees will not be required to provide evidence to request leave. As my hon. Friend the Member for Devizes said, we need to be on our guard to ensure that the right is not abused.

However, I am anxious not to make perfect the enemy of the good. The potential additional costs are a tiny fraction of what unpaid carers save the state and our economy. The Bill has great potential and, if we strike the right balance, we will get much-needed reassurance to so many people who might be worried about losing their job if they are faced with the agonising prospect of having no one to provide care for a loved one. This is a compassionate and well-intentioned Bill, and one that is clearly needed. I will consequently be supporting it today.