Parents in England, Scotland and Wales who suffer a loss before 24 weeks’ gestation will soon be entitled to statutory miscarriage bereavement leave.
As part of Labour’s workers’ rights reforms, British parents will gain the right to statutory bereavement leave after suffering an earlier miscarriage.
As reported by the Guardian, this change to the law will give mothers and their partners the right to two weeks of paid bereavement leave if they suffer a pregnancy loss before 24 weeks’ gestation. Parents currently have this right for any loss or stillbirth after 24 weeks.
Some employers may offer this leave as a discretionary benefit already, but the extension of this right to couples who suffer a miscarriage before 24 weeks should soon become a universal right. This change to the employment rights bill is expected to pass in the Commons next week.
An estimated 250,000 expectant mothers in the UK suffer a miscarriage every year, and having to go straight back to work after experiencing such a loss seems unfathomable. Back in January of this year, the women and equalities committee released a report called Time to Grieve, which found the case for statutory miscarriage bereavement leave to be ‘overwhelming’.
