My Lords, in a few weeks, I will join families and children celebrating 20 years of the work of the charity Little Hearts Matter. The team provides advice, information and emotional support where a child has been born with half a heart, but the fact that we have surviving young people with us is significant. A little over 20 years ago, they all died. The survival of these young people is cause for celebration and recognition of the research, surgery and care developed over the years.
However, children continue to die because of the complexity of the condition, as they do with many other conditions. Many of our members who have lost their children due to complex congenital heart disease after a long struggle through treatment struggle thereafter because of the present regulations. There is little more devastating than the loss of your child. It creates emotional, mental and physical effects which overwhelm parents. To be told that you are entitled to only three days’ bereavement leave from your employer is neither caring nor supportive. There is much to organise and it cannot be good for the employer, as a bereaved parent is unlikely to be functioning at a normal level.
Let me briefly give two examples. The first concerns the father of a three year-old boy who died following complex surgery. The father had saved up his annual leave to be with his son through the surgery. After the operation, he stayed by his son’s bedside for two weeks as he slowly died. This used up all his leave. When his son died, the father rang his employer to explain and was told that he had to be back in three days. The funeral had not been organised at that point. The father lost his job because he could not return to work. He needed to be with his family.
In a second case, a father had known that his baby would be born with a complex heart condition. He had organised leave for the delivery and immediate surgical period, but his son died some weeks after the surgery. His employer told him that he had had enough leave and, as he had known his son was going to die, he would expect him back in three days having organised everything. His GP issued him a sick note to allow him more time to be with his wife, which his employer contested. The stress of fighting his employer, grieving for his son and supporting his wife created long-term illness.
Of course, this is not the whole story. There are many employers who support and help their employees through this difficult time but it is a lottery not a right. Relying on employers to be caring and supportive of their employees is clearly not enough. The law does not support the bereaved. With the increased recognition
that parents have a right to be with their children after birth, it seems extraordinary that we do not extend the same thoughtfulness to parents who have lost a child. I realise that there might be nervousness that this could be a burden on business. Thankfully, the numbers affected are relatively small and we emphasise again that many employers act with compassion and sympathy and give time to their employees. However, where this is not the case, the impact on parents is huge.
This amendment would give the Government powers to regulate for statutory leave for bereaved parents. We hope this is reasonable—it allows the Government an opportunity to consult on the detail and to ensure the implementation is not burdensome but compassionate. It would make a huge difference to that small minority of parents who find themselves treated without compassion at some of the most difficult times of their lives. I beg to move.