Why UK employers need to provide support for early pregnancy endings as the norm

Early endings to pregnancy, including terminations and miscarriage, can be a traumatic experience for employees. While they are a relatively common occurrence, the UK has yet to introduce particular legal entitlements for staff around pregnancy endings.

Jo Brewis, Professor of People and Organisations, the Faculty of Business and Law, believes now is the right time for gathering more evidence on what’s really happening in workplaces, and an awareness-raising campaign to ensure there are the same levels of support and empathy for people dealing with pregnancy endings, no matter what the cause has been.

Recognition of the impact on employees from early endings to pregnancy is growing. Countries like New Zealand now provide paid bereavement leave for people dealing with a miscarriage or stillbirth; and the Republic of Ireland offers 30 days of miscarriage leave. In the UK, employers like Channel 4, Monzo, the Co-op and ASOS have also begun to offer leave for both miscarriage and termination. But these are the exceptions. Two bills have been proposed around miscarriage leave in the UK, but the first fell when Parliament was prorogued in 2022 and the second failed to achieve a second reading in March 2023.

“Early pregnancy endings are a common experience for so many people: there is one termination and one miscarriage for every three live births in England and Wales,” said Professor Jo Brewis.

“When an employee is pregnant and has a baby, there is an immediate pathway of support. But if that pregnancy ends, particularly if there is a need for a termination, the employee can be cut off from support. In policy terms, they are expected to be back at work as if nothing has happened — and it’s an obvious example of inequality in attitudes and treatment. We’ve reached an important moment in time when more UK employers are becoming aware of issues around women’s reproductive health and well-being, and there is momentum for legislation around more inclusive affordances.”

Open Societal Challenges funding is allowing the project team from The Open University, Aston University, University of Essex, University College London and Plymouth University to build a campaign for change. The work builds on survey research on the experiences of UK employees who have had a miscarriage, ectopic or molar pregnancy, or a termination up to 24 weeks of pregnancy. The findings are being used to develop practical guidelines for practitioners in workplaces: HR professionals, trade unions and professional bodies like the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Devlopment), TUC (Trades Union Congress) Education, ACAS (Advisory, Conciliatory, and Artbitration Service) and Business in the Community. Work on the guidelines will involve collaboration with project partners the British Pregnancy Advisory Service and Abortion Rights.

An important part of the early pregnancy endings project will be awareness-raising through collaboration with partners, knowledge exchange, and the use of media of all kinds to spark conversations and thinking about the impact of pregnancy endings among employers and employees across the UK — creating a swell of interest and support for change that will be a platform for influencing policy-makers and Parliament.