Written by Laura Arrowsmith, Health Justice Partnerships Manager - Maternity Action (August 2023)

If you’re managing staff who are expectant or new parents, you might have questions about the support you should be providing as a manager. Or, you could be wondering how you find out more about the pay and leave entitlements available for employees who are expanding their family. You might be thinking about cost implications for your business, or be concerned about how much time it’s going to take to find out what you need to know.

Maternity Action’s new toolkit on managing pregnancy, maternity and parental leave in the workplace makes it easier for employers to find the answers to common questions, and understand their legal requirements when supporting new and expectant parents. Developed with the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter and launched with Acas North West during Greater Manchester Good Employment Week, the toolkit was developed specifically for employers in the region.

Free expert guidance for employers

Our toolkit provides clear, accessible and free guidance on managing pregnancy, maternity and other parental leave provisions in the workplace. Aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises, the toolkit consists of checklists, model policies and concise information on key questions.

Our aim is to give employers the information they need at the time they need it, reducing their time demands and reassuring them that they are meeting all their legal obligations.

The toolkit has been developed by Maternity Action’s in-house legal team with expert knowledge of maternity rights at work, so employers can be sure they are getting the most up-to-date information to help them meet their legal requirements. In developing the toolkit, we drew on our experience of preparing resources for small and medium-sized employers.

Advice for women and families

This resource has been developed as part of our Greater Manchester Maternity Rights at Work project. As well as the employer toolkit, the project is delivering information and specialist advice to women and families through our Greater Manchester and East Cheshire (GMEC) Maternity Rights Advice Service.

Our Maternity Rights Advice Service delivers telephone and email advice on a range of maternity rights issues. This includes employment rights during pregnancy and maternity leave,  maternity pay, and benefits.  Our Advisers provide practical support to encourage and enable employees to work constructively with their employers to resolve any issues at work - and to access the maternity pay and benefits they are entitled to.

Employers are encouraged to signpost women who have worries about work or money to the advice service.

Improving health and employment outcomes

Our Greater Manchester Maternity Rights at Work project aims to support better health and employment outcomes. The project will improve access to information for both parents and employers and strengthen understanding of legal rights and requirements.

We know that many women experience challenges at work during pregnancy, maternity leave or on return to work and don’t know where to turn. We also know that employers can find it difficult to navigate the complexities of what their legal duties are during this time.

By supporting both employees and employers, we’re aiming to ensure that employers are well-equipped with the knowledge they need to support their staff and to make it easier for expectant and new parents to understand their maternity rights and get specialist advice. This will hopefully help to avoid situations becoming bigger workplace challenges that are harder to resolve.

We’d love to hear feedback from employers on using the toolkit resource. If you’re currently working with staff who are expectant or new parents and would like to tell us what you think of the resource, we’d love to hear your thoughts. Please get in touch at feedback@maternityaction.org.uk. We’ll use employer feedback to further develop the toolkit.

Our Greater Manchester Maternity Rights at Work project is being funded through the VCSE Health and Wellbeing Fund, part of a partnership programme between Department of Health & Social Care, NHS England and UK Health Security Agency.