Bereavement leave to be extended to miscarriages before 24 weeks

Parents who experience a miscarriage before 24 weeks of pregnancy will be entitled to bereavement leave under a planned law change.

The government is set to amend the Employment Rights Bill to give parents the legal right to take time off work to grieve if they experience pregnancy loss at any stage.

As it stands, bereavement leave is only available to parents who lose an unborn child after 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said the change will give "people time away from work to grieve". "No one who is going through the heartbreak of pregnancy loss should have to go back to work before they are ready," Rayner said.

Parents are currently entitled, external to a fortnight's leave if they suffer pregnancy loss after 24 weeks, or if a child younger than 18 dies.

They can also be eligible for two weeks' statutory parental bereavement pay - either £187.18 a week or 90% of average weekly earnings, whichever is the lower - if they have been working for their employer for at least 26 weeks.

The proposed extended right to leave would be unpaid and last for at least one week, though the exact length is still being consulted on.

Further details - including who will be eligible and whether a doctor's note would be required - will also be decided following a consultation.

The Employment Rights Bill, which includes further measures to protect in law the right of employees to have time off to grieve the loss of a loved one, is already making its way through Parliament.