My Lords, I thank Kevin Hollinrake MP for steering the Bill through its various stages in the other place. It is a good Bill, which addresses the significant hole in our legislation that means there is currently no specific legal entitlement to time off in the event that a person loses a child.
When I was no more than 12 years old, I was sat down on the sofa at home by my mum and dad. My mum held my hand and told me that Louise, a friend younger than me, had died. She and her brother Martin were away on a trip and the three girls had
slept in a separate room at the end of the dorm. They had shared a room with a faulty boiler and all three died overnight of carbon monoxide poisoning. I spent part of the following summer on holiday with Martin and his mum and dad, Anne and Mike, on a caravan holiday. We had fun but I also witnessed first-hand the acute effects of the tragic loss of a child on parents. I also saw the burden they bore in supporting Martin through his grief. Through this Bill we have an opportunity to put a measure in place that will ease that suffering in the event a parent suffers the loss of a child in the future.
It is evident that most employers already go beyond what the Bill seeks to achieve—why would they not? How effective will a member of staff be when going through the turmoil of such a loss? Most friends and colleagues I have spoken to about today are shocked that a legal entitlement does not already exist to underpin what those good employers already do.
I have been campaigning on this issue for the past seven years. One Friday afternoon I was on set for the “as live” recording of the regional segment of the “Sunday Politics” programme. I was in the BBC Southampton studio and discussing the political stories of the week with a local MP. As always, there was a non-political guest; in this case her name was Lucy Herd. She sat on the sofa under the bright, hot lights and told her story. She was nervous and vulnerable but spoke clearly and strongly. She had just moved down south from living in the north-west. The previous August she had been at home in Cumbria, distracted and busy with her household chores; her two-year old, Jack, was playing around her feet, and the back door was open to let in some air. Moments later she looked up from the washing up through the kitchen window and saw Jack face down in the garden pond. She dropped everything and ran out but, despite all her efforts and those of the emergency services, Jack died. Lucy’s husband was away working in Australia and she had to cope for the first day or so without him and with the support of her parents. Her husband hurried back but his employer gave him only three days’ bereavement leave, including time for his son’s funeral. Lucy’s story demonstrated the lack of any entitlement to bereavement leave for parents in these unimaginable circumstances.
Like the majority of parents in such circumstances, by the time I met Lucy she was no longer with her husband. I kept in touch with her and her campaign, Jack’s Rainbow. She petitioned Parliament and worked with my friend Tom Harris, then the MP for Glasgow Cathcart, on a 10-minute rule Bill. She captured many stories of parents being even more harshly treated by employers. I was particularly shocked that many were NHS workers. I could assume only that some managers were under such pressure to hit targets that they had lost touch with their own humanity.
It was clear that something had to be done, so when the Children and Families Bill went through Parliament in 2014, Lucy and I spotted an opportunity. I was able to tell then of examples of company policies specifying only two days’ leave; of another with a similar policy that ended in the father committing suicide; and of the high number of marriages that end following a child bereavement. On that occasion we were not able to
persuade the coalition Government to allow a legal entitlement. However, we did manage to persuade the noble Viscount, Lord Younger of Leckie, to agree that ACAS would issue guidance to employers on the issue. I knew that this was progress, but I also knew that ultimately we would have to return to the issue. I was therefore delighted when Will Quince took up the issue in the last Session through a Private Member’s Bill. This raised its profile in the Commons and resulted in a Conservative Party manifesto commitment, with Kevin Hollinrake MP now taking the Bill through Parliament with government support.
The Bill will introduce a baseline minimum for all employees who are parents and lose a child below the age of 18. The provision will allow for two weeks’ leave for all employees who lose a child below the age of 18 or have a stillborn child. The latter provision is thanks to Will Quince’s amendment in the other place, which improved the Bill significantly. This leave will be a day one entitlement, available to all employees irrespective of their length of service with their current employer. Those exercising the right to leave will have a legal protection against being subjected to any detriment for doing so, consistent with other family-related leave entitlements, such as paternity, maternity and adoption leave. It is worth your Lordships noting that the Bill is constructed to be in harmony with these other related entitlements, which is why it may appear overly complex in its construction at times.
Time off, however, is not enough if lack of money forces you back to work. Under the Bill, bereaved parents will be entitled to two weeks’ parental bereavement pay provided that they meet the normal eligibility criteria, such as having 26 weeks of continuous service with the same employer the week before the date of the child’s death and meeting an average earnings test. The Bill allows the rate of pay to be set in regulations so that it can be uprated regularly in the normal way. I understand it is the Government’s intention that parental bereavement pay be paid at the statutory flat rate, which is currently £145.18 per week, or at 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings where that is lower. Again, this is consistent with other family-related statutory pay entitlements, such as paternity pay, shared parental pay and adoption and maternity pay after the first six weeks. Consistency with similar entitlements is important from the perspective of familiarity and understanding for both parents and employers—which I know Kevin Hollinrake MP was keen to achieve—and lowers the risk of having to make a claim for these rights in a tribunal.
Obviously, this is just a high-level overview of the Bill, which is to some extent an enabling framework. Some of the details of how the provision will work will be set out in secondary legislation. Your Lordships will no doubt have noticed that there are a number of delegated powers in the Bill. Noble Lords are often rightly concerned that we should be clear about the need for delegated powers and how they will be used. I am therefore delighted that the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee’s report simply said:
“There is nothing in this Bill which we would wish to draw to the attention of the House”.
I take great comfort from this and hope that noble Lords do also.
As to how the powers will be used, I welcome the Government’s recent consultation on several of the key questions that the Bill leaves to be settled in regulations: the definition of “the bereaved parent”; how to take the leave; the window within which to take the leave; and any notice and evidence requirements. I hope the Government may be able to respond to the consultation before the next stage of the Bill, setting out the policy direction they intend to take on these key points.
I am taking the limited attendance here on a Friday as a sign of consent with this Bill and its drafting. Plenty of your Lordships have come to me to express support from across the House, and I am grateful to the Minister and his officials for their help as it has been put together. I do not believe in perfection as a normal possibility, but I believe that the Bill is in a good place thanks to the work of those in the other place. I want the Bill to succeed, not least because I am sponsoring it in this place, but more so because we have an opportunity here today to make a real difference to the lives of those who will seek to rely on this entitlement in the future. Ever since hearing Lucy’s story, I have been determined to show her that constructive engagement with politicians and the parliamentary process, although slow, can deliver. I hope that, with the support of your Lordships, we can deliver a piece of legislation that she, and other parents who have been through similar torment, can celebrate. I beg to move.
12.34 pm