These amendments form part of the biggest uplift to workers’ rights in a generation. Hundreds of thousands of employees are impacted by pregnancy loss per year - one estimate, for example, suggests that there are around 250,000 pregnancy losses caused by miscarriages alone in the UK each year, with a further 12,000 impacted by loss due to ectopic pregnancies.
This announcement comes as a result of a hard-fought campaign in Parliament by Sarah Owen MP as Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee. Until now, statutory Parental Bereavement Leave has only been available to parents who lose a child under 18 or experience stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy. This compassionate change acknowledges that the grief following pregnancy loss can be just as profound regardless of when it happens.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said: “No one who is going through the heartbreak of pregnancy loss should have to go back to work before they are ready. I am proud that this Government is introducing a day-one right to protected time off work after experiencing pregnancy loss, giving people time away from work to grieve and spend time with their families.”
Paddy Lillis – Usdaw general secretary says: “Losing a baby is very distressing and the Government is right to extend bereavement leave to all grieving parents. Something Usdaw has long campaigned for and have achieved by negotiation with some retail businesses, it is good that the Government is now making the right available to all workers regardless of who they work for.
“Bereavement is an issue likely to affect everyone at some point in their lives. The right to leave is important, but we think the Government can and should go further by making this a right to paid leave. That would help ensure everyone has the time, space and support that they need to begin to grieve and process their loss. We are raising this with the Government and employers at every opportunity.”
Notes for editors:
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is one of the fastest growing unions in the TUC and the UK's fifth biggest trade union with around 360,000 members. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemical industry and other trades www.usdaw.org.uk
For Usdaw press releases visit: www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Bluesky @usdawunion.bsky.social and Twitter/X @UsdawUnion