UK women who suffer miscarriage should get two weeks’ paid leave, MPs say

Paid leave after the loss of a pregnancy before 24 weeks should be added to the employment rights bill, the Commons women and equalities committee says. Photograph: Kinga Krzeminska/Getty Images

Women who suffer a miscarriage should get two weeks of paid leave from work so they can mourn the loss of their baby, an influential group of MPs has said today.

The government is under mounting pressure to introduce a new right of bereavement leave for women across the UK who lose their baby before 24 weeks’ gestation. That happens 250,000 times every year.