PAID bereavement leave should be extended to pregnancy losses before 24 weeks, MPs said today.

The women and equalities committee said it will put forward the proposal as an amendment to the government’s Employment Rights Bill.

GMB has long been campaigning for the change in the law.

Employees are currently only eligible for statutory parental bereavement leave and pay if there is a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy.

There is no specific leave for a pre-24 week loss in the form of miscarriage.

MPs said the two-week leave period should also be made available to those bereaved as a result of pre-24 week pregnancy loss as sick leave is an “inappropriate and inadequate form of employer support” for couples experiencing this.

Committee chairwoman and Labour MP Sarah Owen, who has previously spoken of her own loss, said: “I was not prepared for the shock of miscarrying at work during my first pregnancy.

“Like many women, I legally had to take sick leave. But I was grief-stricken, not sick, harbouring a deep sense of loss.

“The committee’s report found many private-sector employers, plus the NHS, the largest public-sector employer of women, are successfully offering paid bereavement leave for those who miscarry, but provision is not universal.

“The case for a minimum standard in law is overwhelming. A period of paid leave should be available to all women and partners who experience a pre-24-week pregnancy loss.

“It’s time to include bereavement leave for workers who miscarry in new employment rights laws.”

The proposals would would include those who experience miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, molar pregnancy, in vitro fertilisation embryo transfer loss, and terminations for medical reasons.

GMB head of industrial relations Rhea Wolfson said: “These changes to employment law are desperately needed and long overdue.

“Early pregnancy loss is devastating and the people involved cannot be expected to immediately go back to work as normal.

“The new law, alongside GMB’s ground-breaking charter, would help workplaces be more compassionate, supportive places for those who go through the trauma of early pregnancy loss.”

The Department for Business and Trade said the Bill “will establish a new right to bereavement leave, make paternity and parental leave a day-one right, and strengthen protections for pregnant women and new mothers returning to work.”