Meet with your MP to call for Neonatal Leave Now
The government have repeatedly committed to introducing Neonatal Leave and Pay, including in the March 2020 budget following campaigning by The Smallest Things. In November 2021, the Prime Minister stated that legislation would be brought forward.
However the Employment Bill was not included in the Queen’s Speech given on 10th May 2022.
Arrange to meet your MP and ask them to write to the Prime Minister and Paul Scully MP (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) requesting information on when the promised Neonatal Leave and pay legislation will be implemented.
Most MPs hold regular surgeries in their constituencies and it is best to arrange a time to meet them, which you can do by contacting their office by phone or email (contact details can be found here).
Once you've met your MP, please email us to tell us how it went and send a photo of you together if possible. We'll then share your experience with our supporters, inspiring them to do the same. Together our voices are stronger and by speaking out we can make change happen.
Neonatal leave and pay, the story so far
Following years of campaigning for extended, paid neonatal leave by The Smallest Things, the government finally recognised the unique needs of parents of premature babies in 2020’s Budget and made a promise to help them through Neonatal Leave & Pay. Which begs the question: why now, when those same parents are still facing yet more layers of difficulty and distress due to Covid-19, are they failing to support them?
Stolen time
"Covid-19 stole from my family even the most basic comforts that provide solace during a NICU experience - being there for your baby and for each other. “My time with my baby was limited to two hours. For the rest of the day, my born-too-soon-baby (who, as every piece of research said, would benefit from contact with his parents) lay in an incubator alone. My husband was not permitted access at all for 8 of the 13 weeks our baby remained in NICU. Our baby was resuscitated in that time. Because of Covid-19 I had to go into the NICU alone to see him back on a ventilator. When I cried by his incubator, my husband couldn’t be there to put his arm around me. It was months before we were afforded the opportunity to sit together in the NICU with my eldest son as a family of four – something we could have done so much more easily had our baby not been born on the cusp of a global pandemic. Instead it only happened once in 95 days.”
Salma Ishaque, mum to Eesa born at 27 weeks’ gestation on 11 March 2020
Meet your MP
Help us to bring in urgent support and additional paid leave for neonatal parents, many of whom have been separated from their babies in NICU, losing precious time they can not get back.
Meeting your MP in person (or online) to share your experience of premature birth is a powerful way of helping them understand why this change must happen. Ask them to use their influence to bring in Neonatal Leave and Pay now.
Ask your MP to email the Prime Minister and Paul Scully MP to find out when the promised Neonatal Leave and Pay legislation will be brought in
Share your own experiences and explain why this matters so much for neonatal families right now
Tell them you are supporting The Smallest Things #NeonatalLeaveNow campaign
You can find your MP and how to contact them at Write To Them.
Join the campaign on social media
Share your stories and urge the government to take action using #NeonatalLeaveNow @_smallestthings