Why I launched the campaign for ‘George’s Law’

After suffering several miscarriages, solicitor Keeley Lengthorn began a campaign for parents who lose pregnancies to be entitled to bereavement leave. She details the lack of support for those suffering baby loss and explains why she wants employers, policy makers and the legal community to get behind her campaign

Baby loss charity Tommy’s and the Office for National Statistics estimate that there are approximately 250,000 miscarriages a year in the UK and around 11,000 hospitalisations for ectopic pregnancies. One in four pregnancies in the UK end in loss during pregnancy or birth.

There is still a stigma surrounding pregnancy loss and many people go through this with little or no support from their employer.

When I suffered three miscarriages in the space of three years, I discovered that, under current UK law, parents who lose pregnancies before 24 weeks are not legally entitled to any bereavement leave. This takes a considerable toll on parents at what is already a very painful time.

The Fertility Matters Network found that only 1.7% of those who had lost pregnancies felt their workplace had fertility policies in place which met their needs. Just over one third of organisations have a policy concerning pregnancy loss/miscarriage and one in five people said they hadn’t received any support from their employer.

The Miscarriage Leave Bill 

After my own experience and on reading the shocking statistics, as well as hearing the heartbreaking experiences of other parents who have suffered pregnancy loss, I decided it was necessary to try and prevent other parents from being unable to take the time out from work they needed.

The law in New Zealand offers both parents three days’ statutory leave in the event of a loss occurring under 24 weeks. I decided to begin a campaign for the Miscarriage Leave Bill, mirroring this approach to bereavement leave. The bill is now known as ‘George’s Law’ after my son George, who I lost in March last year.

In June 2022, I met with SNP MP Angela Crawley and the Miscarriage Leave Bill was presented to Parliament for its first reading a month later. The second reading was originally scheduled for 5 September 2022 and then rescheduled to 27 March this year. This didn’t happen and, despite my campaigning, I found to my frustration that the bill had stalled.

Stepping up

After my efforts to get the bill through Parliament hadn’t achieved the changes I was campaigning for, I decided to take another approach and step up my campaigning, aimed not just at policy makers but also employers themselves.

George’s Law has made noise nationwide, leading to companies looking at their baby loss policies. In the last six months alone, Channel 4, Monzo, Barking and Dagenham Council and online grocer Abel & Cole have all introduced baby loss polices.

I am now seeking an amendment to the Parental & Bereavement Act 2018. This Act came into force in April 2020 and paragraph 1 is ‘Jack’s Law’, which gives employed parents two weeks’ paid time off after the death of a child after 24 weeks gestation.

I am looking to amend this Act so paragraph 2 will embed George’s Law and give employed parents three days’ paid leave if they lose a child from 12 weeks up until 23 weeks and six days.

Giving support

While the fight for George’s Law continues, there is still a lot that employers and colleagues of those experiencing baby loss can do to support them.

I would like to see businesses develop a standalone baby loss policy framework which is easy for employees to locate. It can help to appoint a fertility officer, responsible for handling the issue, and to train staff in how to handle baby loss. I recently launched a free training programme with Briefed aimed at businesses of all sizes, to upskill employees on how to best support colleagues who suffer pregnancy loss.

Most importantly, I would urge businesses and line managers not to ignore the employee or what has happened to them and talk to them about their wellbeing and any support they might need. That means diarising one-to-ones and setting realistic performance expectations.

“I would urge businesses and line managers not to ignore the employee or what has happened to them and talk to them about their wellbeing and any support they might need”

It can be hard to know what to say to someone who has lost a pregnancy but follow their pace and talk about the baby. Avoid asking questions about their future plans and saying things such as ‘everything happens for a reason’, ‘you’ll have another baby’, referring to the baby as ‘it’ or making religious references, all of which can be painful for someone suffering the loss of a baby.

Miscarriage will happen to many of us over the course of our lives and employment law and policy needs to recognise that.

Many firms are now voluntarily adopting their own policies for statutory leave in the case of baby loss and there is progress being made with further efforts to drive George’s Law up the legislative agenda.

I plan to push even harder in the coming weeks and months to make the law a reality. It would be a dream come true to see George’s Law in place and I would like the legal community, including CILEX members, to come together to support this much needed change.

Keeley Lengthorn is a partner at Taylor Rose MW and specialises in family and children’s law.

To find out more about her campaign visit: https://www.linkedin.com/company/georges-law/