MP welcomes discrimination call for action

Urgent action is needed to give pregnant women and new mothers more protection at work, after research revealed a '˜shocking' increase in discrimination over the past 10 years, a parliamentary report has said.
Paul MaynardPaul Maynard
Paul Maynard

MPs have called for changes to ban employers from making women redundant during and after pregnancy except in specific exceptional circumstances.

Blackpool North and Cleveleys MP Paul Maynard welcomed the move, and said: “As more and more women seek to combine work and motherhood, it’s important we identify if there any common problems women still face and try to tackle them.

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“In this day and age, it should be seen as nothing out of the ordinary at all, and discrimination should not be occurring.”

The committee also called for a ‘substantial’ cut in the £1,200 fee for women taking a pregnancy-related discrimination case to a tribunal, and said rights to paid time off for antenatal appointments should be extended to casual, agency and zero-hours workers.

The number of new mothers forced to quit doubled over the past decade.