Luton North MP Sarah Owen has welcomed a new legal right to bereavement leave for women and their partners who experience pregnancy loss before 24 weeks, following years of campaigning on the issue.
The government has announced that the new entitlement will come into force from April 2027, giving those affected by pre-24-week pregnancy loss up to two weeks of unpaid bereavement leave.
The change will cover miscarriages, terminations and unsuccessful IVF embryo transfers, and will also apply to partners, the other biological parent and intended parents in a surrogacy arrangement.
Ms Owen, who has previously spoken publicly about her own experiences of miscarriage, said the announcement would help recognise pregnancy loss as a bereavement rather than something that should be treated as an illness.
“Today, the government has announced it is bringing in statutory bereavement leave for pre-24 week pregnancy loss from next April,” she said.
“This will make a huge difference to women and their partners who experience the pain of losing a pregnancy – and finally recognise it as the bereavement that it is.
“A huge thank you to all who have joined me in campaigning for this crucial change. This is the difference a Labour government makes.”
Minister for the Future of Work, Kate Dearden, said: “No one should have to fight for time to grieve. These changes back people going through some of the hardest moments of life, whoever they are and wherever they work. I want to thank the campaigners, whose courage and testimonies, have made this change happen.”
The announcement follows a campaign led by Ms Owen, who has been calling for a change in employment law since before she became an MP.
In October 2021, she introduced a private member’s bill seeking to extend parental bereavement leave and pay to parents who experienced miscarriage or early pregnancy loss.
Speaking in the Commons at the time, she described how she had been forced to take sick leave following her own miscarriage despite feeling that what she was experiencing was grief rather than illness.
“I was not prepared for the grief of miscarrying. I was even more shocked that I was not entitled to bereavement leave but legally had to take sick leave instead,” she told MPs.
“But what I was feeling was not a sickness. It was physically painful, yes, but my overriding feeling was grief: a deep sense of loss of hopes, dreams and mourning a lost future with babies I never got to hold.”
Ms Owen later became chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, which published a report in January 2025 calling for statutory bereavement leave following pre-24-week pregnancy loss.
The committee said paid leave should be available to women and partners experiencing pregnancy loss and described the case for a minimum legal standard as “overwhelming”. It also recommended amendments to the government’s Employment Rights Bill.
In October 2024, Ms Owen raised the issue in the Commons during Baby Loss Awareness Week, asking the government to ensure workers could benefit from bereavement leave following baby loss.
She told MPs that she had campaigned on the issue for many years and highlighted how some employers, including the NHS, had already introduced paid bereavement leave for people who miscarry.
The government subsequently announced in July 2025 that it would amend the Employment Rights Bill to introduce protected bereavement leave for pregnancy loss before 24 weeks, crediting Ms Owen’s campaign with helping to bring about the change.
The latest announcement confirms that the entitlement will become law from April 2027. The leave will be unpaid and can be taken by those experiencing pregnancy loss and their partners, with the government saying the measure will provide a legal safety net for people who currently have no statutory right to time away from work to grieve.
Vicki Robinson, Miscarriage UK Chief Executive, said: “We welcome today’s announcement that bereavement leave for pre-24-week pregnancy loss will become law in April 2027, with an increased minimum of two weeks’ leave and an entitlement that recognises partners, too.
“This is an important step in recognising pregnancy loss as a bereavement and the profound impact it can have, and we hope will provide a baseline for employers to go further. We still strongly believe bereavement leave should be paid, and we will continue to press for this through our Leave for Every Loss campaign.
“We will continue work with government to ensure the detail and guidance provide meaningful and compassionate support for everyone affected by pregnancy loss.”
The government estimates that one in five women in the UK experience a miscarriage during their lifetime.
The new entitlement will sit alongside existing Parental Bereavement Leave, which currently applies to parents who experience a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy or the death of a child under 18.
The government said the new provisions will be introduced through secondary legislation next year, with the changes coming into effect in April 2027.
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