Parents who go through baby loss should be offered paid leave, says Labour MP

A Labour MP has called for all employers to offer paid bereavement leave to those who experience baby loss or miscarriage.

Women and Equalities Committee chairwoman Sarah Owen said other workplaces should be following in the footsteps of the NHS, which is already offering parents paid bereavement leave for baby loss.

Ms Owen’s call come during Baby Loss Awareness Week, in which the Government announced that all parents can apply for a baby loss certificate to officially recognise their child’s life.

The certificate scheme has been extended to include all parents, not just those who have experienced loss since September 2018, which was originally the case when it first launched in February this year.

In the Commons, the MP for Luton North said: “Today marks the start of Baby Loss Awareness Week. It’s a difficult and important time for many of our constituents and for those of us who have experienced baby loss or miscarriage.

“Many private sector employers and now the NHS, the largest public sector employer of women, have led the way in offering paid bereavement leave for those who miscarry.

“Does the minister agree that all workers could and should benefit from the right to bereavement leave, following baby loss?”

Equalities minister Anneliese Dodds replied: “(Ms Owen) has campaigned for many, many months and indeed years on this issue of baby loss – as have other Members across the House.

“I’m very pleased to see that progress amongst some major employers. I know she will want to work with us on ensuring that those who experience baby loss are supported and protected, particularly at the most difficult times.”

Ms Owen has previously spoken about her own experience of miscarriage and proposed the Bereavement Leave and Pay (Stillborn and Miscarried Babies) Bill.

The Bill aimed to extend entitlement to parental bereavement leave and pay to parents of babies miscarried or stillborn during early pregnancy.

In October 2021, Ms Owen told the Commons: “Being forced to take sick leave wrongly reinforces a woman’s feeling that her body has failed her or that it is somehow her fault.”

“The law urgently needs to catch up with society to allow everyone who is that one in four the time to grieve and heal. Miscarriage can be physically painful, but it isn’t an illness and it’s time the law stopped treating it like one,” she added.