From loss to legislation: Advocating for miscarriage bereavement leave

The UK Parliament's Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) has recently highlighted the overwhelming need for statutory miscarriage bereavement leave as part of an employee’s rights in the workplace.

In a report published on 15 January 2025, the Committee emphasized that new employment laws must include bereavement leave for those who miscarry during pregnancy. You can read the report here: Equality at work: Miscarriage and bereavement leave.

Currently, there is no statutory acknowledgment of the grief many women and their partners feel after a pre-24-week pregnancy loss and the effects this may have on their working lives. The report found clear evidence that the impacts of pregnancy loss, both pre and post 24 weeks, are similarly felt as bereavement. Currently, statutory parental bereavement leave is only available to those parents who lose a child under 18 years of age or experience a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy.

The Government’s flagship Employment Rights Bill sets out to introduce a statutory right to unpaid bereavement leave for those who lose someone close (e.g. spouse, partner, child) however, this is unlikely to cover a pre-24 week pregnancy miscarriage.

The central recommendation of the report is to table amendments to the Employment Rights Bill, aiming to provide a period of paid leave for all women and partners who experience a pre-24-week pregnancy loss.

The report also noted that sick leave is an "inappropriate and inadequate" form of employer support in the aftermath of a miscarriage or pregnancy loss, as it does not afford women adequate confidentiality or dignity and puts them at high risk of discrimination in the course of their employment. The low rate of Statutory Sick Pay means that many women and their partners simply cannot afford to take the time off they need, therefore deterring them from taking this much needed leave and putting their wellbeing and future work prospects at risk.

While there has been good progress among employers in recent years in acknowledging miscarriage as a bereavement and incremental improvements, substantial gaps in employer-led provisions remain. The benefits of a generous and flexible approach to miscarriage bereavement leave are clear and far outweigh the minimal costs to employers of establishing such schemes. The Employment Rights Bill, by making this a statutory right, would take it a step further and help transform the current approach taken by some employers.