Extending Miscarriage Leave?
The possibility of extending Paid Parental Leave after a post 24 week miscarriage is to be discussed shortly in parliament. This may well directly affect the many domestic and care workers who are women.
Employers are already duty bound under the Paid Parental Leave Act to grant paid leave if the miscarriage occurs after 24 weeks and this has been the case since April 2020. However this may well change.
Scottish Nationalist Party MP Angela Crawley wants the government to give women and their partners the legal right to take three days paid leave, if a pregnancy ends before 24 weeks.
She introduced a private members’ bill to Parliament in June, and it is due to have its first full debate in December.
The existing Act entitles a parent to two weeks’ leave paid at £151.97 a week, or 90% of their average weekly earnings, whichever is lower.
Some employers, however, have already decided independently to introduce paid leave in line with proposed legislation before such changes are introduced in law. For instance, retailer John Lewis will offer two weeks’ paid leave from November to staff who experience a miscarriage at any stage of pregnancy.
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