Will your MP pledge for neonatal leave?

We need your support for the parents of over 90,000 babies born premature or sick every year.

For parents, the experience can be life changing and traumatic. Instead of taking their baby or babies home shortly after birth, they spend days, weeks or even months in hospital.

The lack of extra maternity and paternity leave means that many parents return to work while their babies are in hospital or before they are ready. Others get into debt to take time off work without pay.

Please help by writing to your MP and asking them to pledge support to introduce neonatal leave and pay.

We need your support for the parents of over 90,000 babies born premature or sick every year.

For parents, the experience can be life changing and traumatic. Instead of taking their baby or babies home shortly after birth, they spend days, weeks or even months in hospital.

The lack of extra maternity and paternity leave means that many parents return to work while their babies are in hospital or before they are ready. Others get into debt to take time off work without pay.

Please help by writing to your MP and asking them to pledge support to introduce neonatal leave and pay.

Email your MP

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The government has repeatedly promised to give parents extra paid time off work if their baby or babies needs neonatal care. The government has once again failed to include neonatal leave in their plans for 2022/23 which were announced on Tuesday 10th May 2022.

Type your address in the box below to write to your MP and ask them to pledge their support for Neonatal Leave and Pay.

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Subject:

There are over 90,000 admissions of premature and sick babies to neonatal units in the UK every year. For their parents the experience can be traumatic and life changing when instead of taking their baby home shortly after birth, their baby is admitted to a specialist hospital unit to receive care that ensures they have the best possible chance of survival and quality of life.

How long a baby will stay in neonatal care can vary, from days to weeks or months. As there is no flexibility in current parental leave policies, many parents must return to work while their baby is still in hospital.  Many mothers also spend a significant amount of their maternity leave on the neonatal unit, not at home bonding with their baby. Some parents get into debt to take time off work without pay, are signed off sick or make the decision to leave work altogether. New research from Bliss (the charity for premature and sick babies) shows that:

•	In around 7 in 10 families with a significant neonatal stay, at least one parent returned to work while their baby was still in hospital
•	In 1 in 5 families with a significant stay, at least one parent took unpaid leave from work to be with their baby in hospital
•	More than half of families said their finances affected their ability to spend time with their baby 
•	1 in 4 families had to borrow money or increase their debt because of their baby’s neonatal stay

The government has committed repeatedly to introduce support for employed parents forced to choose between work and being with their sick baby in hospital, including in the Conservative manifesto and the March 2020 budget. The policy has cross-party support and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has developed policy proposals, working with parents, the charity sector, trade unions and employers which the government committed to implement. But the government has not yet acted on these commitments.

Now is the time to bring forward legislation. In November 2021 the Prime Minister said that legislation would be bought forward “one way or another”. However, the government’s preferred legislative vehicle, the Employment Bill, has not been included in the Queen’s Speech given on 10th May 2022.

As my MP, please pledge your support for the campaign for neonatal leave for families with a baby born premature or sick in our constituency. You can sign the pledge at www.bliss.org.uk/research-campaigns/our-campaigns/pledge-your-support/pledge-your-support

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