Moray Council announces support for staff impacted by pregnancy loss

MORAY Council has amended its employment policy to include pregnancy loss in special leave arrangements.

The move comes ahead of the Miscarriage Leave Bill potentially becoming law in 2024, which will create a statutory right to three days of paid leave for parents who have suffered a loss before 24 weeks of pregnancy, including ectopic and molar pregnancies.

The local authority has taken the decision to include the right to enhance the special leave provision already in place for employees.

These enhanced rights will include full paid leave from day one of employment for the employee, their partner or surrogate; no limit on the number of times this leave can be taken, if someone is impacted by more than one loss; include miscarriage and abortion; evidence of pregnancy will not be required given many miscarriages occur in the early period of gestation and often before disclosure to family and friends.

Chairwoman of Moray Council’s corporate committee, Councillor Bridget Mustard, said: “Pregnancy loss is an extremely personal and challenging experience to go through, so I hope it gives some comfort to any parent employed by Moray Council, and experiencing such tragedy, that they will be supported in this enhanced way.”

Councillor Theresa Coull, who seconded a notice of motion at a previous committee meeting, added: “I’m grateful to everyone for bringing this policy update back to committee so quickly and I’m pleased to see Moray Council doing the right thing by parents who are faced with such immeasurable difficulty in a sensitive way.”