The government has proposed an amendment to the Employment Rights Bill extending the new bereavement leave to include pregnancy loss before 24 weeks of pregnancy.
Miscarriage leave has been the focus of various proposals and legislative attempts in the past. Despite a clear gap in protection and recommendations from the Independent Pregnancy Loss Review, recent private member bills have failed to progress.
In January, the Women and Equality Committee proposed amendments to the Employment Rights Bill that would extend entitlement to statutory parental bereavement leave and pay to those suffering pregnancy loss before 24 weeks. Whilst this amendment received cross party support during the Bill’s passage through the House of Commons, the government announced it would be discussed once the Bill had progressed to the House of Lords.
The government has now confirmed that the Employment Rights Bill will be amended to include pregnancy loss pre-24 weeks as a qualifying criterion for the new statutory bereavement leave. As the Bill currently stands, this will entitle an employee and their partner to one week of unpaid leave. This newly proposed right is not the same as statutory parental bereavement leave which is what the Women and Equality Committee (and the proposed amendment to the Bill with cross party support) had wanted.
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