Luton MP who campaigned for change welcomes new pregnancy loss bereavement leave rights
People experiencing pregnancy loss will be given a new legal right to take time off work to grieve under changes announced by the government.
The new rules, due to come into effect in April 2027, will give people who experience pregnancy loss before 24 weeks up to two weeks of unpaid bereavement leave.
This will also apply to partners, other biological parents and intended parents in a surrogacy arrangement.
Luton North MP Sarah Owen has campaigned for the change and previously spoke in Parliament about her own experience of miscarriage. Before becoming a Government minister, Ms Owen was chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, which published a report calling for pregnancy loss to be recognised through bereavement leave.
She also tabled an amendment to the Employment Rights Bill seeking to extend the two-week bereavement leave period to people affected by pregnancy loss.
She said: “From my personal experience of miscarriage, to the powerful testimony the Women & Equalities Select Committee heard when I was chair, I know the difference that bereavement leave will make.
“It is a bold and necessary move from this government to see the UK become one of only a handful of countries in the world to recognise pregnancy loss as a bereavement and give workers the right to take time off to grieve.”
She added: “Nothing will ever take away the pain of losing a pregnancy, but this law change will provide workers with the security of time to grieve and help end the stigma of miscarriage for good.”
The government says the leave can be taken flexibly within 56 weeks of the loss and as individual days rather than only as a block.
Workers taking leave during the first eight weeks following a bereavement will only need to notify their employer as soon as reasonably practicable.
They will not be required to provide evidence of their loss, and will have protection from dismissal or detriment.
Minister for the Future of Work, Kate Dearden, said: “No one should have to fight for time to grieve. These changes back people going through some of the hardest moments of life, whoever they are and wherever they work.
“Whilst the vast majority of workers have understanding employers, who already go much further than these new rights including by offering paid leave, there needs to be a safety net beyond this discretion."
Miscarriage UK welcomed the announcement but said it would continue campaigning for bereavement leave to be paid.
Chief executive Vicki Robinson said: “This is an important step in recognising pregnancy loss as a bereavement and the profound impact it can have, and we hope will provide a baseline for employers to go further.”
The changes build on existing parental bereavement rights, which currently provide eligible employees with up to two weeks' leave following the death of a child or a stillbirth after 24 weeks.