AN SNP MP’s bill to provide additional paid leave to parents whose babies require neonatal care has passed it's second reading with cross-party support.
Stuart C McDonald, Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East, led the debate on the legislation’s second reading in the House of Commons on Thursday, where fellow MPs told harrowing stories of their own experience of parenting premature babies.
The reforms will allow parents to spend more time with their babies while they are in hospital receiving crucial care - instead of having to worry about returning to work or taking unpaid leave.
It would guarantee up to 12 weeks paid leave for each parent, allowing fathers and partners to extend beyond two weeks paternity leave, and will sit alongside shared parental leave.
McDonald told the House that the legislation would “give parents the emotional and financial support needed at a time of great stress and trauma”.
Fellow SNP MP David Linden, Glasgow East, told the Commons that both of his children were born premature, and that he will remember his daughter turning blue in an incubator until his “dying day”.
Tory MP Luke Hall, Thornbury and Yate, also highlighted his family’s experience and the “huge mental toll” having a child in neonatal care has on parents.
A hugely important day for parents of premature & sick babies! We’ll be in Parliament supporting the second reading of @Stuart_McDonald MPs Neonatal Care (Leave & Pay) Bill. Additional Leave & Pay is vital for parents of babies in NICU, giving back stolen time to bond & recover. pic.twitter.com/EtRYAPYDQo
— The Smallest Things (@_SmallestThings) July 15, 2022
Putting forward his Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill after coming top of the private members’ bill ballot for backbenchers to propose their own laws, McDonald said it would lead to “better postnatal health, a more positive return to work, and better outcomes for children born prematurely”.
He said: “We will never be able to get rid of the stress, the anxiety, the doubts, the questions and indeed the trauma that so many families experience when their baby is in neonatal care.
“But we can, and what we must do is help to relieve some of the practical and financial challenges that accompany that experience.”
McDonald cited estimates that 100,000 babies are admitted to neonatal care every year across the UK, and said making the change would make “a big difference to tens of thousands of families every year”.
He asked: “How can any parent be expected to focus at work while their sick baby is undergoing lifesaving, life-changing neonatal care?”
Fellow SNP MP Linden told the Commons that when both of his children were in neonatal care his parental leave had finished, and welcomed Hall’s comments on the mental toll of parents.
He added: “I still remember very vividly and well until my dying day, watching my daughter turn blue in an incubator, with noises, alarms, lights all going off and neonatal nurses rushing to resuscitate her.
“The idea that we as legislators would expect our constituents to be at work when that happens or, worse, they will go and do a shift after that, it really is I think something that we are putting right today because that is a historic wrong.”
Business Minister Jane Hunt said: “Having a new-born in neonatal care is an incredibly worrying time for parents. No family should also have to agonise about their return to work, or whether they have enough leave in place.
“By putting our full weight behind this Bill, I hope we can take one concern off the minds of new parents and give them the additional paid time off they need to care for their poorly baby.”
Caroline Lee-Davey, chief executive of neonatal charity Bliss, welcomed the passing of the second reading and that the UK Government had committed to supporting the legislation.
She said: “This is a huge milestone after years of campaigning and is a significant step towards tens of thousands of parents having paid leave while their baby is critically ill in hospital every year.
‘’We know how much this entitlement will mean to families, and the difference it will make to babies. Currently, thousands of parents every year have no choice but to return to work while their baby is in hospital or spend months of their maternity leave next to an incubator.
“After the progress made today, we are one step closer to giving many parents the much-needed time to be where they need to be - by their baby’s side in hospital.”
Speaking after the second reading McDonald said: "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.
"I'm delighted to bring forward this bill with the backing of Bliss and families across Scotland and the UK.”
