UK women who suffer miscarriage should get two weeks’ paid leave, MPs say
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Government urged to introduce universal right of bereavement leave as ‘time to grieve’ early pregnancy loss. Women who suffer a miscarriage should get two weeks of paid leave from work so they can mourn the loss of their baby, an influential group of MPs has said today.
The government is under mounting pressure to introduce a new right of bereavement leave for women across the UK who lose their baby before 24 weeks’ gestation. That happens 250,000 times every year. Although a growing number of employers already offer the leave as a discretionary extra benefit, the Commons women and equalities committee said it needs to become a universal right – and also for women’s partners – given the far-reaching physical and emotional impacts of baby loss.
It would be a compassionate move and give those who have had a miscarriage “time to grieve”, they say. More than one in five of all pregnancies ends in a miscarriage. Most occur in the first 12 weeks, and are classed as early miscarriages, with far fewer happening between 13 and 24 weeks. About one in five women will experience a miscarriage at some point.
If ministers accept amendments to the employment rights bill bringing forward the change, women who undergo a miscarriage would no longer have to take sick leave afterwards. “I was not prepared for the shock of miscarrying at work during my first pregnancy. Like many women, I legally had to take sick leave,” said Sarah Owen, the Labour MP who chairs the committee.
“But I was grief-stricken, not sick, harbouring a deep sense of loss. Miscarriage and pregnancy losses can be devastating for women and their families, with both emotional and physical consequences. Such experiences are sadly not uncommon and yet current legislation has not caught up with this stark reality.”.
