Am I Entitled to Ante-Natal Care and/or Health & Safety Protection Ante Natal Care?

All women employees, irrespective of service or hours worked are entitled to paid time off during normal working hours for ante natal care. You should be paid at your normal rate of pay and for any travelling and waiting time in attending your appointment. Antenatal care can include parentcraft and relaxation classes, provided they are taken on the advice of your midwife or doctor. After your first appointment, your employer has the right to ask for evidence of further appointments.

Health and Safety Protection
All women, irrespective of service or hours worked, are entitled to health and safety protection. Employers must assess the risks to health and safety of any new or expectant mother or her baby or where he employs women of childbearing age. If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, you should request a health and safety risk assessment in writing. Your employer must:

1. Carry out a risk assessment of any processes or working conditions, physical, chemical and biological agents which could jeopardise your health and/or that of your baby while you are pregnant, breastfeeding or if you have given birth within the previous six months.
2. If a significant risk is established, your employer must do all that is reasonable to remove it or prevent your exposure to it.
3. Tell you about the risk and what steps are being taken to deal with it. Your employer should take account of any reasonable fears that you have. You may find it useful to discuss your concerns with your midwife or doctor first.
4. If the risk cannot be avoided, your employer should, if it is reasonable to do so temporarily alter your working conditions or hours of work; or if this is not possible or does not remove the risk
5. Offer you suitable alternative work if available (on terms and conditions not substantially less favourable); or this is not available
6. Suspend you on full pay for as long as is necessary to avoid the risk.

If you work nights and your doctor or midwife provides a medical certificate stating that you should not be working at night for health and safety grounds, you employer should offer you day work. If this is not available, you should be suspended on full pay.

Breastfeeding
Although there is no right to breastfeed at work, as a breastfeeding mother, you have special health and safety protection at work under the same rules that protect pregnant women. Breastfeeding includes expressing milk. If you are still breastfeeding when you return to work, notify your employer in writing and ask for a health and safety risk assessment.

Your employer is obliged to provide "suitable facilities" for you to rest. These are not stated except that in the Code of Practice it is advised that they should be "conveniently situated in relation to sanitary facilities and, where necessary, include the facility to lie down". If your working conditions prevent you from continuing to breastfeed successfully, your employer should follow the same steps as outlined above under Health & Safety Protection.

Complaints about a failure to allow you to take time off for ante-natal care, to carry out a risk assessment or to force you to work night work can be made to an Employment Tribunal, generally within three months of the action