Petition · past parliament · Department of Health and Social Care

Give parents a right to paid leave when a child has a terminal illness

Closed 942 signatures

What the petition asks

Parents who have children with terminal illnesses should be able to take time off work to care for their child at the end of life without the worries of the financial impact of not working and potentially losing their job. Parents have rights to paid leave at the start of life but not at the end.
Currently there is discrepancy between parental leave and pay when a child is brought into the world, and the lack of such entitlements when a child is diagnosed with a terminal disease. We want the Government to introduce new entitlements to paid leave for parents whose children have a terminal illness, along the lines of parental leave entitlements at the start of life.

Timeline

25 Aug 2022 Petition opened for signatures
11 Mar 2023 Closed to new signatures

Key facts

Signatures 942
Status Closed
Department Department of Health and Social Care
Opened 25 Aug 2022
Closed 11 Mar 2023

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.