AN MP who is hoping to bring about additional paid leave for parents with a baby in neonatal care says he wants to ensure a commitment never delivered on by the Tories comes to fruition.
Stuart McDonald’s Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill took another step towards becoming law last week with its second reading in the House of Commons.
If passed, it will mean parents who qualify for statutory maternity, paternity or adoption leave and pay will be entitled to additional paid leave if their baby spends more than seven consecutive days being cared for in a health setting before they reach 28 days of life.
Leave and pay would be available for the duration of their baby’s care, for up to 12 weeks.
The SNP’s McDonald said it will make a huge difference to tens of thousands of families across the UK every year and insists it is high time someone made it happen, given it was a previous commitment of the UK Tory Government that was never brought to bear.
“It was pledged in the SNP manifesto in 2019 and funnily enough it was also a commitment the Tories had made previously but just had not fulfilled,” said McDonald, who represents Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch.
“It was expected to be in an employment Bill but that never came. That’s not acceptable. So I thought let’s make sure they live up to that commitment and see it through.
“Maternity and paternity leave are good things and very welcome but there’s nothing extra there. Families can spend weeks travelling hundreds of miles just to see their newborn everyday [if it’s in neonatal care] so it seemed to me that gap needed to be filled.”
McDonald came first out the annual private members’ bill ballot in May and said he felt like he had “won the lottery”. It meant he got first dibs in securing parliamentary time on a sitting Friday to propose a Bill he wished to become law.
Back then he said he had “hundreds of ideas”, ranging from issues around refugees to measures aimed at tackling the cost-of-living crisis.
But it was a campaign by the premature and sick babies charity Bliss that eventually stole his heart and motivated him to give parents with an ill newborn the extra time off work they need and deserve.
Bliss mobilised more than 30 charities, unions and professional bodies earlier this year to urge MPs to introduce the long-standing government commitment to neonatal leave and pay, with the lack of extra maternity or paternity leave meaning many parents are forced to go back to work while their child is still in hospital.
McDonald said the fact some parents had no choice but to take sick leave to care for their struggling newborn was “not on” and felt it was an issue all parties would want to fix.
He added: “We had spoken to all sorts of campaign groups and charities and this [cause] just seemed a really good fit.
“It will help tens of thousands of families every year and it’s something different parties have made commitments about so I thought it should attract cross-party support.
“Having a newborn baby should be the happiest time of your life but for lots of families it becomes a stressful time if they are born prematurely or they’re not in good health and it just seemed to me current rules around maternity and paternity leave did not properly take that into account.
“You have fathers who use up their full two weeks paternity leave and they’re having to go back to work before their baby is out of the neonatal ward.
“Then you’ve got mothers who maybe use two or three months of their maternity leave up before they get to go home with their baby and that’s not what it’s for.”
So far McDonald’s Bill has received the support of medical professionals, trade unions and, in many cases, employers.
And as families continue to grapple with making ends meet as food and fuel prices rocket and wages drag behind inflation, he hopes it will go some way to easing the financial burden on those who have a worrying start to life as parents.
“There’s hardly a voice of dissent on this,” added the SNP’s home affairs spokesperson.
“It’s in the interests of families who have gone through this and it’s in the interests of the newborn babies because it’s proven their outcomes are better if their parents are with them.
“We’ve got trade unions and medical professionals in support and we’ve got employers themselves in support because if you’ve got dad going back after two weeks paternity leave and sitting at a desk while they’ve got a newborn baby in a neonatal ward, how are they supposed to work? Lots of them end up having to take sick leave and that’s not on.
“It’s not going to transform people’s bank accounts but it will ease the financial pressures of what is often a traumatic time, so it’s important we do this.”
