Bereavement leave for miscarriage requested by MPs

Parents experiencing a miscarriage – the loss of pregnancy in the first 23 weeks – should have a legal right to paid bereavement leave, according to a report by MPs.

Currently, only those who lose a child or baby after 24 weeks are entitled to two weeks of paid leave. However, a group of MPs are calling for the forthcoming Labor Rights Bill to extend this to all pregnancy losses.

A Department for Business spokesman said the loss of a baby was “incredibly difficult and we know that many employers will show compassion and understanding in these circumstances”.

But Anna Malnutt said she went back to work three days after the miscarriage: “I just didn’t really know how long it was OK for and I felt like I had to go back.”

Anna suffered three pregnancy losses in 2018.

Although her boss was very supportive, she decided to go back to work three days after her first miscarriage, which was recorded as a sick leave.

After two more pregnancy losses, Anna said she “became a shadow of herself” and struggled with stress and anxiety at work – which ultimately led to her quitting her job.

“I am sure that if I had taken the time to properly recover and would have handled my return to work better, I would have stayed in this job,” she said.

Anna and her husband now have two children and she volunteers for the Miscarriage Association. She believes being entitled to paid bereavement leave would have been “life-changing”.

Her husband attended meetings and business trips as the couple experienced the pregnancy losses.

“They were his babies too. And he never really had the time or space to grieve about it himself,” she said.

Anna says that also meant he couldn’t support her the way he would have wanted.

“If there had been a policy, it would have been a lot easier for him to say, ‘I’m going to have a few weeks off.'”

It is estimated that more than one in five pregnancies ends before 24 weeks and around 20% of women experience infant loss during their lifetime, according to data in the cross-party Women and Equalities Committee report.

She proposes extending bereavement leave to those who have experienced an ectopic pregnancy – when a fertilized egg develops outside the uterus, a molar pregnancy – when an egg was not fertilized properly, an IVF embryo transfer loss and abortions for medical reasons.

The committee acknowledged that several employers, including NHS trusts and the Co-op, already had policies in place for employees who had suffered baby loss.

However, it said this was not universal.

The chair of the committee, Labor MP Sarah Owen, shared her own experience of losing a baby.

“I was unprepared for the shock of a miscarriage at work during my first pregnancy,” she said.

“Like many women, I had to take statutory sick leave. But I was sad, not sick, and had a deep sense of loss.”

The report describes sick leave as an “inappropriate and inadequate” way to support staff through the loss of a baby, and points out that the low rate of statutory sick pay means some people cannot afford to take the time off they need gain weight.

Kath Abrahams, chief executive of Tommy’s, the pregnancy and babies charity, said she hoped the government would act quickly and change the law.

“For too many women, the psychological and physical impact of a miscarriage is compounded by the pressure to go back to work immediately and a lack of time to grieve,” she said.

“It is unacceptable that sickness absence often remains the only option, potentially putting women and their partners at financial risk,” she added.

The Labor rights bill is currently working its way through Parliament. The government called it the “biggest improvement in labor rights in a generation.”

A Department of Economy and Trade spokesperson said: “Our Employment Rights Act will introduce a new right to bereavement leave, make paternity and parental leave a day one and strengthen protections for pregnant women and new mothers returning to work.”