A solicitor who has been campaigning on behalf of families affected by miscarriage and baby loss has urged prime minister Andy Burnham to follow Northern Ireland’s lead and grant women and their partners two weeks’ paid bereavement leave.

Andy Burnham announced on X that from April, women and their partners will be entitled to two weeks' leave after pregnancy loss. However, a press release from the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade stated that the leave will be unpaid.

Keeley Lengthorn, the Law Society’s Council representative for public law, told the Gazette that Northern Ireland has introduced two weeks’ paid leave for parents who experience miscarriage and Westminster must follow suit.

Lengthorn has been campaigning for statutory paid leave after she lost her son George in 2022. While Burnham's announcement was 'massive step', Lengthorn said: 'Why should [paid leave] depend on which side of the Irish sea you live on?’

With the changes to bereavement leave still six months away, Lengthorn will push the government to go further. In the meantime, with Baby Loss Awareness Week beginning on 9 October, Lengthorn is urging law firms and chambers to review their bereavement leave policies.

Lengthorn won a Law Society legal hero award this month for her campaign work. She said: ‘I’ve achieved so much in the last four years since George died but I’ve still got this last bit to do. I’m not going to rest until it’s done. Like I said last week at the awards, as a solicitor we have the ability to not just interpret the law but the ability to change it and be the voice box for so many people. It’s my job to do that, to be the voice or platform to make sure people who cannot be heard are heard.’