Baby Loss Certificates Extension

Karin Smyth Excerpts

Thursday 10th October 2024 Written Statements

[The Minister for Secondary Care (Karin Smyth)]

My hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Patient Safety, Women’s Health and Mental Health (Baroness Merron) has made the following statement:

I wish to inform the House that an extension to the baby loss certificate service has been launched.

The baby loss certificate service is a voluntary scheme to enable parents who have experienced a pre-24 weeks baby or pregnancy loss to record and receive a certificate to provide recognition of their loss if they wish to do so.

Until this extension, this service was only open to parents who experienced a loss since 1 September 2018. We are removing this eligibility restriction so that the service is now available for all historic losses, with no backdate, as well as future losses.

The baby loss certificate service is not a compulsory certificate; it will remain the choice of all parents how they wish to manage the difficult time around a loss. Its introduction was a recommendation from the independent pregnancy loss review published in July 2023, which examined the impact on families of not being able to formally register a baby or pregnancy loss before 24 weeks gestation. So far, over 50,000 certificates have been issued.

Following this announcement, eligibility will now be:

Either parent (i.e., mothers, fathers, surrogates) who have experienced a pregnancy loss through miscarriage, ectopic/molar pregnancy or termination for medical reasons at less than 24 weeks gestation (i.e. up to 23 weeks plus six days gestation), or pre-28 week baby loss (i.e. up to 27 weeks plus six days gestation) for losses prior to October 1992.

Parents resident in England.

Parents who have experienced a historic pregnancy loss or experience a future pregnancy loss.

Parents aged 16 years and over.

Ensuring this important service is available for all losses, regardless of how long ago the loss was or when it may occur in the future, demonstrates this Government’s commitment to delivering personalised and compassionate care for women, and support for parents who have suffered a baby loss.

[HCWS123]