What you owe employees who breastfeed at work

Insight from an HR consultant in Ipswich on the legal duties you have when an employee returns from maternity leave and is still breastfeeding or expressing milk.

The law around supporting breastfeeding employees has been tightening for a while now.

If you've got someone coming back from maternity leave who's still nursing, you've got specific legal obligations to meet.

Most small business owners I speak to have no idea those obligations exist.

Get it wrong and you could face a discrimination or harassment claim, with financial damages that are uncapped at tribunal.

Here's what you need to know and what to do about it.

What you're actually required to do

There are four areas where the law places clear duties on you as an employer. I'll run through each one.

Carry out a risk assessment

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require you to carry out a risk assessment for new and expectant mothers. And that doesn't stop once someone has given birth. If an employee has come back from maternity leave and is still breastfeeding, she falls within scope.

A lot of employers miss this because they assume the obligation ends when maternity leave does. It doesn't.

Provide a private space

You need to offer somewhere suitable for breastfeeding or expressing milk. Suitable means clean, private and appropriate.

A toilet cubicle doesn't count. Both HMRC and HSE guidance are clear on that, and it comes up far more often than you'd expect.

You don't need a dedicated room for this. A spare office, a private area with a lock, somewhere with a chair and a surface. The bar is dignity, not luxury.

Be flexible with working patterns

Under the Employment Rights Act 1996, you should reasonably accommodate requests for adjusted hours, reduced shifts or flexible breaks to allow for breastfeeding or expressing.

ACAS guidance goes further and encourages employers to allow short, unpaid breaks or slight adjustments to working hours. You aren't legally required to pay for those breaks, but you do need to allow them where reasonable.

Create a supportive environment

If an employee feels pressured or embarrassed about breastfeeding at work, that could give rise to a harassment claim. Your job is to make it as straightforward as possible for her to ask for what she needs without feeling awkward about it.

Where the real risk sits

You don't have to be openly hostile for a claim to succeed. That's the part that catches people out.

If an employee feels she has no choice but to resign because you've refused to provide a private space or won't allow breaks, she can bring a constructive dismissal claim. If she's dismissed or penalised in any way connected to breastfeeding, that dismissal could be found to be automatically unfair.

Inconsistent treatment from managers, a dismissive attitude, or simply not putting anything in place can all contribute to a successful claim. The damages at tribunal for discrimination are uncapped, so the financial exposure is real.

What practical support actually looks like

Getting this right doesn't require a big investment of time or money. It does require a bit of thought.

Here's what I'd recommend as a minimum:

• Put a written policy in place so managers know how to handle requests consistently

• Identify a suitable private space (not a bathroom) that can be used when needed

• Build in reasonable flexibility around break times

• Have a conversation with the employee before she returns, so she knows the arrangements and feels supported from day one

That last point matters more than people realise. A returning mother who knows her employer has already thought about this is far more likely to come back feeling settled and committed to staying.

Why this is a retention issue, not just a compliance one

Coming back from maternity leave is already a vulnerable time for employees. If the experience of returning is difficult or feels unsupportive, you're much more likely to lose someone you've spent time developing.

As part of our HR consultancy services in Ipswich, I regularly see businesses invest heavily in recruiting and training someone, only to lose them within months of their return because the basics weren't in place.

There's also a wider context here. Parental rights are being strengthened under the Employment Rights Act, with enhanced maternity protections expected from 2027. The scrutiny on how employers handle these situations is only going to increase.

Sorting your approach out now is significantly easier than dealing with a problem after the fact.

A few questions worth asking yourself

Before you move on, it's worth pausing on a couple of things:

• Do your managers actually know what they're required to provide if someone asks about breastfeeding at work?

• Have you identified a suitable private space that could be used at short notice?

• Is there a written policy in place, or are you relying on people to figure it out case by case?

• When was the last time you reviewed your risk assessments for returning mothers?

If you're unsure on any of those, it's worth getting some support before a situation arises.

How I can help

I can carry out a risk assessment for new and expectant mothers, help you put a clear breastfeeding and expressing policy in place, and make sure your managers know how to respond to requests properly.

With World Breastfeeding Week running from 1-7 August, now is a good time to check whether your current approach covers what the law requires.

As an outsourced HR consultant in Ipswich, I work with small businesses to get things like this sorted before they become a problem.

If you're not sure where you stand, get in touch and we can talk it through.