A step forward: UK bereavement leave to include IVF embryo transfer loss
I was encouraged to hear this week that the UK government has confirmed its plans for bereavement leave following pregnancy loss before 24 weeks — including, explicitly, unsuccessful IVF embryo transfers. From April 2027, anyone affected, and their partner, will be entitled to up to two weeks of unpaid leave.
It's a much-needed step forward and one that I’ve been supporting through the Miscarriage UK’s Leave For Every Loss. The leave will be unpaid, and I hope paid leave follows in time - that’s the next campaign. Nevertheless, giving people a protected right to take time away from work recognises that pregnancy loss matters, and that it deserves time and space to grieve.
What particularly struck me was the explicit inclusion of unsuccessful IVF embryo transfers. For someone going through IVF, a negative result can mean the loss of an embryo they had already begun to imagine as their future child. My grief was more than a child, it was the end of treatment and the effort that took and the end of all that hope invested in that cycle. We are expected to return to work and carry on as though nothing has happened. In one job, that time off was one day, and that was generous compared to many stories people have told the Full Stop over the years.
Seeing that loss named and acknowledged in the government's own plans is significant.
I also think about those cycles that end before an embryo transfer can even take place (when no eggs fertilise, or embryos begin to develop but none make it to transfer). Those outcomes can bring profound grief too, and it isn't yet clear whether they'll be covered by the new law, I truly hope it is, otherwise there’s a friction against the common law of “pregnant until proven otherwise”.
Not everyone will experience an unsuccessful cycle in the same way, or want to take leave, and the goal of paid leave means it’s equal for all. But people should be able to say it as a loss without feeling they have to justify why it's affected them so deeply.
Berenice
