"For one second imagine the horror" Stoke-on-Trent Baroness tells House of Lords

The Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Bill grants leave for the partner of a mother who has died, with no continuity of employment test required, in England, Wales and Scotland.

Aaron Hornsey, who found himself without the right to paternity leave after his wife Bernadette died giving birth to their son Tim, looked on as peers debated the Bill.

The private members' Bill, which has already cleared the Commons and has support from both Government and Opposition benches, has now passed its second reading in the House of Lords.

Labour peer Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent, who has sponsored the Bill in the Lords, said: "Just for one second imagine the horror - a mother dies in childbirth, her partner is left alone with a new-born…

"The grief, pain and fear is unimaginable. You know that your only responsibility is now to the baby that you are holding as you try to keep going, just for them.

"But there are funerals to arrange, grief to try and manage, if that is even possible, paperwork to tackle and some form of plan to build about how you're going to raise your new child without the love and support of your partner.

"Everything takes time and work is the last thing on your mind - until you realise that, because you started a new job in the last four months, you have no rights to enhanced paternity leave.

"So rather than up to a year to try and get yourself straight, you have a matter of days, and those are at the discretion of your boss.

"This is not a time when someone needs their employer's discretion, it is not a time when you want to think about anything other than getting through the day.

"This is a time when you need to fall back on a legal safety net, to know that you can take the time to focus on rebuilding your shattered life."

She told peers: "This is an essential piece of legislation that will help support some parents and their families in one of the darkest periods of their lives."

The Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Bill also enables regulations to ensure that parents who are adopting a child or using a surrogate are also eligible for this entitlement.

Therefore, it will give "day one" leave tights to employees who lose their partner in the time surrounding childbirth or adoption.

They will have access to up to 52 weeks leave during the first year of the child's life from the day after the mother or primary adopter of the child died.

The Bill also enables this leave to be made available for those in the "utterly heart-breaking situation" where the child also dies.

Lady Anderson said that, although the parent will not be using the leave for the purpose of caring for their child or supporting the mother, they will be "trying to cope with and find a way to deal with the overwhelming grief they will be experiencing".

Enhanced redundancy protection will be extended to employees when they return from this extended form of paternity leave.

Labour frontbencher Lord McNicol of West Kilbride backed the Bill, saying: "It is cruel that fathers who have the absolute horror of losing a partner are then are the discretion of their employers."

He added: "This is important, not only for the grieving fathers, but also for the new-born babies, who require the close care they would otherwise have received from their mothers on maternity leave."

Labour's business spokesperson also noted that maternal mortality is at 3.4 per 100,000, the highest level for 20 years, and that ethnic minority women are four times more likely to die in childbirth.

Business minister Lord Johnson of Lainston branded the current situation an "extraordinary anomaly".

He said: "It is without question a personal pleasure to be here to confirm the Government's ongoing support for the Bill.

"Extending a right to statutory leave for employed parents in these dreadful and sudden circumstances is clearly the right thing to do."

He said the Bill will ensure that grieving parents are "supported and are not burdened with additional stress over whether they can take time off work during the crucial first year with their child".

He promised his "full commitment" to ensuring the implementation "as speedily as possible", with a target of before the next financial year.

The minister also said he is working with officials in Northern Ireland to try and ensure similar provisions are made there.

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