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Statistically, one in four people in the UK suffer pregnancy or baby loss. With such high numbers affected, employers need to be aware of the rights of these employees and how to support them, as your client is finding now.
Between the 9 and 15 October 2023, it’s Baby Loss Awareness Week, which is a time for those affected to come together in remembrance of their lost loved ones and raise awareness of the thousands affected by baby loss each year.
Different types of baby loss
Baby loss can happen at any point from conception to after birth. Eligibility for the different rights available can depend when the loss happened, so your client needs to know the different types of loss so that they can apply the appropriate type of leave.
Neonatal death
• When a baby dies within 28 days of their birth.
Stillbirth
• If a baby dies before 24 weeks, it is known as a miscarriage or late foetal loss.
• Early miscarriage — when a pregnancy is lost in the first three months.
• Late miscarriage — when a pregnancy is lost after 12 weeks.
Ectopic pregnancy
• When a fertilised egg starts to grow somewhere other than in the normal lining of the womb.
• The pregnancy cannot progress and usually has to be stopped with medication or surgery.
Once your client has established which of the above applies, the employee could be eligible for one of the following:
Statutory Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay (PBLP)
Employees who are parents, or partners of parents, either by biology, adoption or surrogacy, to a child under 18 (including stillbirths after 24 weeks of pregnancy) are entitled to PBLP, regardless of length of service.
Employees taking this leave have protected rights, including to pay rises, accrual of holiday and to return to the same job after. PBLP can be taken as either:
• two weeks together
• two separate weeks
• one week alone
The leave can start on or after the death or stillbirth and must finish within 56 weeks of the death or stillbirth.
Maternity Leave
In cases of stillbirth after 24 weeks or where the baby was born living at any point in the pregnancy, the full 52 weeks of Maternity Leave is available, starting from the day after birth.
If they wish to bring forward their return date, they must give 28 days written notice, although your client can use their discretion to waive this, given the circumstances.
Paternity and Shared Parental Leave and Pay (SHPL)
As for Maternity Leave, both will be available to qualifying parents where the baby was stillborn or was lost after birth.
For SHPL, the leave must have been booked before the baby died, and the maternity leave must have been curtailed to “share” the leave.
Sick Leave
Losing a child can be devastating and have a long-lasting impact on the employees physical and/or mental health. This may lead a period of sickness absence. If this is the case, then the usual organisational sickness rules will apply.
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