Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Bill

Justin Madders Excerpts

3rd reading
Friday 26th April 2024 Commons Chamber

[Justin Madders (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to speak on Third Reading of this important Bill, which has cross-party support, as we have heard. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Ogmore (Chris Elmore) on his success in steering the Bill to this point. I am aware of how much work he has done with the Government to get their support and to ensure that the legislation can go through the other place and gain Royal Assent. I also recognise that the hon. Member for Broxtowe (Darren Henry) has worked constructively on behalf of his constituent, Aaron, and with my hon. Friend, to ensure that the legislation will be in place. He spoke movingly about how the tragic circumstances of his constituent, who lost his wife, Bernadette, moved him to take action.

A number of Members have noted the importance of this work. The hon. Member for Hyndburn (Sara Britcliffe) spoke about the work that she has done in light of the very tragic circumstances of one of her constituents. She showed how Members can work constructively—with the NHS in her case—to makes changes so that no one else has to go through the experiences that we have heard about. The hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Jack Brereton) spoke with great sincerity about why this legislation is so important.

As we have heard, the Bill as amended will disapply the employment conditions to which an employee’s right to paternity leave is subject in the event of their partner dying. In effect, it will make paternity leave a day one right for the partner of a mother who has died, with no continuity of employment test. The right is also extended to the tragic circumstances in which both mother and child die, despite the fact that paternity leave is usually taken only for the purposes of caring for a child. As we know, partners of mothers who die in or just after childbirth are not currently entitled to paternity leave if they have not met the continuity of employment requirements. That means that some people find themselves in the unfortunate position of not being entitled by right to paternity leave. If their employer chooses not to show compassion by voluntarily providing leave, an individual could be left grieving for their partner, as well as undertaking the mammoth responsibility of being a single parent to their child, without workplace support. Like other Members, I find it very hard to imagine how anyone could face such a devastating situation with the added pressures of job insecurity on top.

It is right to acknowledge that most responsible and caring employers would react to such a devastating scenario with compassion and do the right thing by their employee, regardless of whether any law required them to do so. However, making it a legal requirement will mean that the vanishingly small number of employers who do not act in that way will now have to and the employee has one less thing to worry about.

My hon. Friend the Member for Ogmore said that he wants the Bill to help as few people as possible. That is an unusual statement to make in this place, but it is an important point. Thankfully, the legislation will apply to few people because death during or just after childbirth is very uncommon. The excellent work that our midwives and doctors perform means that the number of mothers who sadly pass away within 42 days of birth stands at roughly 12 for every 100,000 births. Of course, each death is a tragedy and a profound loss, but we should recognise that those tragic circumstances occur in only a small number of instances. The fact that it has taken Aaron’s situation for the matter to come before us means that it is important that we act to prevent people falling through cracks because of legislative oversight.

As we know, at present the only right to statutory bereavement leave is for parents who have lost children up to the age of 18. Leave is a day one right, but the entitlement to pay is conditional on their having been in employment and earning a certain amount over eight weeks. Shared parental leave provisions also may not always help people in facing the situation that this Bill was originally drafted to help. Not only is there a time restriction on access, but income requirements can differ for the mother and partner. The system is rather complicated, and we know that families have been discouraged from taking up shared parental leave; figures show that only 2.8% of partners decide to take it up. As we have heard, by virtue of the amendments agreed in Committee, by using paternity leave rather than parental leave as the vehicle for entitlement, hopefully more people will be protected. It would also mean that the surviving parents of adopted children or children born through surrogacy arrangements will be included, and we welcome those changes.

I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Ogmore for working constructively with the Department and the Minister to achieve the desired outcome. I also note with interest the new powers in clause 1(4), which provide for the ability to introduce regulations to enhance redundancy protection for bereaved employees when they return from extended paternity leave, and to allow bereaved parents to have keeping-in-touch days during their extended paternity leave. It would be useful when the Minister responds to hear whether it is his intention to use those powers to introduce regulations. In particular, as my assumption would be, will the regulations be analogous to current paternity leave provisions?

In conclusion, we are pleased to see the Bill reach this stage, and we now wish it safe passage through to the other place. Again, I commend my hon. Friend for his work on it, and I congratulate him on getting the Bill to this stage.