Women and their partners should be entitled to paid bereavement leave if they experience a miscarriage as part of new employment laws being brought in by the Labour government, MPs have urged.
MPs and campaign groups are calling on ministers to ensure that a period of paid leave is available to all women and partners who experience pre-24 week pregnancy loss – to match the existing provision for those who experience baby loss after 24 weeks.
Anna Malnutt, 34, went through three miscarriages in 2018 and told The Independent that having bereavement leave would have helped her and her partner take the time they needed to grieve.
She said with her first miscarriage her boss was really supportive but “none of us really knew how to handle it”.
“We didn’t know how long was the right amount of time,” she said. “I felt like I should go back to work and my husband didn’t take any time off work. We both feel really strongly that if there had been a policy in place, it would have helped us take the time that we really needed to grieve”.
Her first two miscarriages happened at six weeks and five weeks, but her third happened after what should have been an eight-week scan.
She explained: “I went in for a scan at what I thought would be eight weeks, following some pain. They said I had a six-week healthy baby with a heart beat and I said I can’t have a six-week baby as I’m eight-weeks along. They assured me that the dates can be off and I could come back in a week’s time if I was worried.
“I had a week of waiting when I knew it was a miscarriage. Then at the next scan they said that the heartbeat was gone.”
She ended up opting for surgery and went back to work the following Monday. “I actually then left my job a few months later due to the anxiety and stress I was feeling, and not feeling myself, which I think was a result of not being able to grieve properly,” she explained. “I was quite clearly not in a good place mentally and that job became so entangled with everything that had happened over that year.”
Ms Malnutt explained that her husband John also struggled to know how to cope with it and how to ask for time off from work. “There was no way for him to say that this is happening to my wife and I need to be there,” she said. “He felt that he wasn’t able to support me and he was also dealing with the impact of losing his child.”
She added that, while people have gotten better at talking about miscarriage, having a policy in place would remove the stigma and give people permission to ask for time off.
MPs intend to table amendments to the government’s flagship Employment Rights Bill to bring in the law change.
In a report published on Wednesday, the Women and Equalities Committee concluded that sick leave is an “inappropriate and inadequate form of employer support” for couples after pregnancy loss.
Since April 2020 employees can be eligible for statutory parental bereavement leave and pay if there is a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy, but there is no specific leave for a pre-24 week loss in the form of miscarriage. MPs are lobbying government for two weeks of leave to be available to couples.
Labour MP Sarah Owen, who is chair of the committee and has spoken about her own loss, said that she was “not prepared for the grief of miscarrying”.
She said: “I was not prepared for the shock of miscarrying at work during my first pregnancy. Like many women, I legally had to take sick leave. But I was grief-stricken, not sick, harbouring a deep sense of loss.”
Vicki Robinson, CEO of the Miscarriage Association, said the post-24 week cut-off was a “real cliff edge”, adding: “There is no league table to grief. It can be felt really keenly and it can be just as devastating [pre 24 weeks].
“Currently you are entitled to sick leave but that doesn’t mean you will be paid. It often means people are worried that their sick record would be impacted. Having this validation in employment law would mean people hopefully feel more able to reach out for this suppport.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Business and Trade said: “Our Employment Rights Bill will establish a new right to bereavement leave, make paternity and parental leave a day one right, and strengthen protections for pregnant women and new mothers returning to work.”
The Sands national helpline provides support for anyone affected by the death of a baby. You can call 0808 164 3332 free of charge, or email [email protected]