A bill to ensure bereaved parents have the legal right to paid time off has moved a step closer to becoming law.

The Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Bill would mean parents who lose a child would be entitled to at least two weeks' paid leave.

MP Kevin Hollinrake, who tabled the bill, said he hoped employers would always offer more than two weeks.

A number of MPs who had lost children spoke about their experiences during the four hour debate.
Grieving parents currently have no automatic right to time off work, although employers are expected to grant "reasonable" leave in emergencies.

From 2020, it is hoped parents who lose a child will be able to request paid absence in England, Wales and Scotland - the matter is devolved in Northern Ireland.

The SNP's Patricia Gibson, whose baby was stillborn at full term, said two weeks was "not very long, but given that currently there is no entitlement at all - it offers a start".

"To have to face the death of your son or daughter with no entitlement to paid leave under the law is a terrible injustice that generations of people before us have suffered," she told MPs.

"Many of us today in the chamber have had the tragic and life changing experience of having had to bury our own child."


Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-politics-44082004?