Give workers the right to paid leave for miscarriage before 24 weeks, MPs urged

Current legislation leaves thousands suffering ‘without adequate time to grieve’, says MP Angela Crawley

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An MP’s push for the government to give people the legal right to take three days paid leave if they experience a miscarriage before a pregnancy reaches 24 weeks has received widespread support.

SNP MP Angela Crawley’s private members’ bill, which she introduced to Parliament in June, is set to have its first full debate in December.

The MP for Lanark and Hamilton East said in a cross-party letter to prime minister Boris Johnson that one in eight pregnancies will end in miscarriage, leading to thousands of people “suffering profound loss without adequate time to grieve”.

Since her introduction of the bill, she told the BBC she has received “tonnes and tonnes of correspondence on this issue from fathers, from mothers and from families who have experienced miscarriage”.

Under current legislation, which came into effect last April, parents are entitled to two weeks’ paid leave for the loss of a baby after 24 weeks.

However, most miscarriages take place in the first trimester of pregnancy. According to pregnancy charity Tommys, data suggests 85 per cent of miscarriages happen within the first 12 weeks.

“Late” miscarriages, which refer to the loss of a baby between 13 to 24 weeks of pregnancy, are much less common and happen in one to two per cent of pregnancies.

Crawley said that people who got in touch with her “outlined that, in most cases, there was a degree of stigma or shame to experiencing a miscarriage”.

She added that many mothers and fathers took unpaid time off because they didn’t feel they would be able to ask for paid leave.

Some companies have implemented paid leave of their own volition, including John Lewis, who will offer two weeks’ paid leave from November to any member of staff who has a miscarriage at any stage or their pregnancy.

Meanwhile, the Co-op has signed a pledge introduced by the Miscarriage Association that encourages businesses and organisations to ensure staff get the support and time off they need.

Crawley’s initiative was praised on social media, with many calling it a “necessary” change.

“This would have been great a decade ago. It would still be great now,” said one Twitter user. “Being expected to carry on as usual in work was too much.”

Another wrote: “At the moment it’s a lottery if you have an empathetic employer, three days to recoup helps. Workplaces should be sympathetic and kinder to women.”

The prime minister indicated earlier this year that he would not be in favour of extending parental leave to those who suffered a miscarriage before 24 weeks.

He said the current rules entitled those who lost a child after 24 weeks of pregnancy to payment, but added: “But of course, nothing I can say and no payment we could make would be any consolation to those who experience a miscarriage in that way.”

In August, Johnson’s wife Carrie Symonds announced on social media that the couple had experienced a miscarriage before she became pregnant with their second child, due this Christmas.

She wrote: “At the beginning of the year, I had a miscarriage which left me heartbroken… I found it a real comfort to hear from people who had also experienced loss so I hope that in some very small way, sharing this might help others too.”