Local support group backs calls for miscarriage bereavement leave
MP’s are calling for pre-24 week miscarriages to be acknowledged in the employment rights bill.
A Gloucestershire miscarriage support group says mothers and their partners should be entitled to bereavement leave for baby loss and miscarriages.
Forget Me Not operates in Gloucester and Cheltenham providing support to those who have experienced baby loss and miscarriages.
The group was set up by parents who have lost babies themselves and wanted to create a place to support other bereaved parents.
Claire Watson is a lead facilitator at the support group and said “we believe at Forget Me Nots that it would make a huge difference, people probably don’t necessarily appreciate just how many go through this experience.”
She also told Greatest Hits Radio about her own experience with baby loss.
“I went back to work too early and the post traumatic stress came out physically in me in hair loss 6 months later”.
She emphasised that it is important to give people the time to deal with their grief and new changes to the law could make the subject less taboo and make people feel more comfortable in speaking to their employers about taking time off.
The group have set up a garden for bereaved parents where there is a metal sculpture of a tree with inscriptions of the names of babies that have been lost.
They encourage anyone who has experienced a miscarriage or the loss of a baby to reach out for support.
What are MP's doing?
A committee of MPs has recommended that the changes should be made for both partners who are experiencing the loss.
Sick leave is an “inappropriate and inadequate form of employer support” for woman and their partners after such a pregnancy loss, the Women and Equalities Committee said.
Is there a bereavement leave policy in place for miscarriage?
Since April 2020 employees can be eligible for statutory parental bereavement leave and pay if there is a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy, but there is no specific leave for a pre-24 week loss in the form of miscarriage.
The committee said the two-week leave period should be also made available to those bereaved as a result of pre-24 week pregnancy loss.
The committee said an estimated more than one in five pregnancies end before 24 weeks, with between 10% and 20% of pregnancies ending in the first 12 weeks, known as early miscarriage.
While MPs acknowledged that a “growing number of employers have specific pregnancy loss leave and pay policies”, such as NHS Trusts and the Co-op, they said there remain “very substantial gaps in provision”.
They welcomed recent progress involving the introduction of baby loss certificates but said this “does not go far enough and it should be backed up by statutory support”.
The committee said: “There is no statutory acknowledgement of the grief many women and their partners will feel after a pre-24-week pregnancy loss and the effects this may have on their working lives.”
Taking evidence, the committee heard that sick pay is too little for many women and their partners to be able to afford to take the time off they need, while it also does not offer the confidentiality many women want, with employees often required to report the reason for their absence directly to their line manager.
Committee chairwoman Sarah Owen has previously spoken of her own loss, saying she was “not prepared for the grief of miscarrying”.
The committee said it intends to put forward amendments to the Employment Rights Bill.
It said: “They seek to extend the same entitlements to statutory parental bereavement leave and pay as are currently available to parents bereaved by the loss of children and stillbirths to employees who experience pre-24-week pregnancy losses.
“This would include those who experience miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, molar pregnancy, in vitro fertilisation embryo transfer loss, and terminations for medical reasons.”
Labour MP Ms Owen said: “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. But I was grief-stricken, not sick, harbouring a deep sense of loss.
“The committee’s report found many private sector employers, plus the NHS, the largest public sector employer of women, are successfully offering paid bereavement leave for those who miscarry, but provision is not universal.
“The case for a minimum standard in law is overwhelming. A period of paid leave should be available to all women and partners who experience a pre-24-week pregnancy loss. It’s time to include bereavement leave for workers who miscarry in new employment rights laws.”
The committee has urged the Government to support the amendments or bring forward its own “to ensure that all those who experience the physical and emotional pain and grief of pregnancy and baby loss are able to access the support they need”.
The Government has been contacted for comment.