Lengthorn: Overwhelming
A solicitor campaigning for statutory leave for those suffering baby loss says she has been “crying my eyes out with tears of happiness” after learning the government is to change the law.
Keeley Lengthorn, who had three miscarriages in three years, has been pushing for ‘George’s Law’, named after the third of them, who died when she was 22 weeks pregnant.
The aim was to give workers statutory leave to recover following the loss of a baby in the first 24 weeks of a pregnancy – the right currently exists only if it happens after that time.
It emerged in The Guardian on Monday evening that the government was set to add the right to two weeks’ bereavement leave in these circumstances to the Employment Rights Bill, although the official announcement has not yet been made.
In January, Parliament’s women and equalities committee said the case for a period of paid leave for women and partners who experience a pre-24-week pregnancy loss was “overwhelming”.
It pledged to table amendments to bill in the name of the committee’s chair, Labour MP Sarah Owen, and called on ministers to support or adopt them.
Ms Lengthorn, a public child law specialist and partner at London firm RWK Goodman, told Legal Futures that the reported proposals went further than she had hoped for – the campaign had fought for three days’ leave, while she had expected any law change only to apply to the second trimester.
She said the fact that the news arrived on George’s birthday was “overwhelming and unbelievable”.
“I channeled all my grief into this. I promised George when I left him that his legacy would be a lasting impact and would make a change for others.” The new law would help 250,000 families a year, she said.
The solicitor said the campaign – which has seen her travel the country and give countless media interviews – ended up being “far bigger than I ever expected it to be”.
She praised the family law and wider legal community for acting as “the driving force” behind it; law firms and other legal businesses have adopted the policy voluntarily, while in 2023 she launched an online workplace pregnancy loss course with legal training company Briefed.
It provides guidance for managers and colleagues of those who have suffered pregnancy or baby loss so that can offer appropriate and helpful workplace support.
Ms Lengthorn joked that she was “a little bit worried about what I’m going to do with myself” now she had achieved her goals, but said she would find another cause. She was recently co-opted onto the deprivation of liberty committee of the Association of Child Lawyers and said “I can see that in my sights”.
She said: “I kept my promise to George and that’s what’s written on his plaque [at the crematorium] – ‘Tiny feet can make an everlasting impact’.”
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