THE SNP’s Stuart McDonald has called on the UK Government to back his bill to introduce paid leave for the parents of premature and sick babies.
The MP’s Neonatal Leave and Pay Bill, supported by baby charity Bliss, was tabled in the Commons today, but, like most Private Members Bills, will struggle to make it onto the statute books without the support of ministers.
The UK Government has previously expressed some sympathy for the measures in the Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East MP’s bill.
They had promised to include entitlements for parents as part of an Employment Bill.
However, this was not included in last month's Queen's Speech, meaning it almost certainly will not be part of the Government’s legislative programme in the coming year.
Research by Bliss found that one in four families had to borrow money or went into debt because they were unable to work while their baby was in hospital.
Mr McDonald said the need for help was even more pressing during the cost of living crisis.
He said: “No parent should have to choose between being with their premature or sick baby in neonatal care and having to go back to work to earn a living.
“With the cost of living soaring, it is more important than ever that we secure an urgent change in the law so that parents of babies in neonatal care get the paid leave and support they need at an incredibly challenging time.”
His bill would introduce a new entitlement over and above maternity, paternity and adoption leave and pay if a baby has had to spend seven or more consecutive days in hospital in their first four weeks of life.
This leave and pay would be available for up to 12 weeks and would be available to families across the UK.
Bliss Chief Executive, Caroline Lee-Davey said: “We are thrilled that Stuart is introducing the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill as his Private Member’s Bill.
"The current law doesn’t work for families, but it also doesn’t work for employers who find it hard to support their staff when their worlds are turned upside down by neonatal care.
“Parents being involved in caregiving is vital - babies have the best outcomes when their parents can deliver hands-on care, and no parent should have to choose between work or being by their sick baby’s side.
"We look forward to working with Stuart and colleagues across parliament to ensure that this Bill becomes law.”
The charity shared the story of Tom, whose son Joseph was born in August 2018, 101 days early. He spent just over 15 weeks in hospital receiving neonatal care.
Tom said: “I felt as though I missed out on being a part of any key decisions that had to be made immediately as part of Joseph’s care.
“I also missed the two weeks of actual paternity leave at home where you bond with your baby - mine had been spent on the NICU. Financially, even if my employer had offered it, I wouldn’t have been able to afford to take time off work unpaid.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here