Sands is supporting a Bill to allow full paid time off work for parents who experience pregnancy loss.

The Labour MP Sarah Owen, who is leading on the Bill, says her new law will give both parents who suffer such trauma the automatic right to paid leave from work for at least a week, regardless of what time during a pregnancy a woman miscarries.

Since April 2020 all employed parents whose child dies (under the age of 18), or suffer a stillbirth from 24 weeks of pregnancy, have been entitled to a minimum of two weeks’ paid leave under the Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay Act.

However, if a loss happens in the first 24 weeks of a pregnancy, there's no legal right to maternity or parental bereavement leave.

Owen, who serves as Vice Chair to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Baby Loss, has spoken in Parliament about her own experience of miscarriage at work before she was elected as an MP.

Sands Chief Executive Clea Harmer has welcomed the proposal.

Emotional and physical recovery from pregnancy loss does not have a time limit and employees should not feel judged or discriminated against when requesting time off to recover.

At Sands we believe leave following pregnancy loss should be statutory, and that all employees who have been affected should be entitled to a minimum two weeks leave on full pay.

Pregnancy loss and the death of a baby is an incredibly painful event that has a lasting physical and emotional impact. We welcome the support that this Ten-Minute Bill will give to those who experience it.

- Clea Harmer, Chief Executive of Sands

The Bereavement Leave and Pay (Stillborn and Miscarried Babies) Bill was introduced to Parliament by a Ten Minute Rule Motion on Tuesday 19th October. Its second reading is scheduled for 25th February 2022.