Bereaved parents to lay children’s shoes outside Parliament in call for support

Rhiannon James, Press Association Parliamentary Editor

Hundreds of children’s shoes will be laid in Parliament Square in a bid to pressure ministers to do more for bereaved parents.

Campaigner Ceri Menai-Davis criticised the lack of mental health support for families who experience “unimaginable loss” and called for a bereaved parent support package.

Charity It’s Never You was set up in memory of his six-year-old son Hugh Menai-Davis, who died in 2021 after suffering from cancer.

Mr Menai-Davis and his wife Frances are also behind the campaign for Hugh’s Law, which proposes paid leave for parents of seriously or terminally ill children.

The Government is currently consulting on both paid leave for parents in such circumstances and for unpaid carers – who are currently only entitled to unpaid time off work.

Mr Menai-Davies is now pressing ministers to support parents “after the worst has happened”.

He will join other bereaved parents in Westminster on Friday to mark National Bereaved Parents Day.

Speaking ahead of the event, he said: “Each pair of shoes represents a child gone too soon and a family learning to live with an unimaginable loss.”

He added: “Faced with impossible choices, many parents reduce their hours, take unpaid leave, leave work altogether, or are forced out of employment because they simply cannot balance work with being by their child’s side through treatment, hospital admissions, emergencies and end-of-life care.

“The result is a cruel paradox. By the time a child dies, many parents are no longer in employment and therefore cannot meet the qualifying criteria for statutory bereavement pay and leave.”

Disability living allowance is also stopped at midnight following the death of a child, Mr Menai-Davis said.

“There is no automatic mental health support for parents. There is no guaranteed support for siblings. There is no structured pathway to help families rebuild their lives,” he added.

He continued: “The answer is not simply more bereavement leave. Many parents will never qualify for it.

“The answer is a bereaved parent support package that is not reliant on employment status, alongside a compassionate transition of financial support after a child’s death.

“No parent should be excluded because they were forced to leave work to be with their child. Support should continue for a defined period after bereavement, recognising that the financial, emotional and practical consequences of losing a child do not end on the day they die.”

Labour MP Mary Kelly Foy, whose daughter had cerebral palsy and died aged 27, said the impact of losing a child is “always profound”.

The MP for City of Durham paid tribute to both of Hugh’s parents for their “extraordinary determination every day in turning personal heartbreak into a campaign for justice and compassion”.

She said: “As we mark this day, we honour not only the memories of the children we have lost, but also the tireless work of bereaved parents who continue to fight so that no other family have to endure unnecessary hardship.

“Their voices must be heard, and their campaign deserves our continued support until meaningful change is delivered.”

Christine Jardine, Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West, said: “It is vital the Government listens to calls for improving financial and emotional support to bereaved parents and those looking after their terminally ill children.

“At one of the most difficult times in their lives, we have a moral responsibility to provide as much support as possible to ensure they have not just the time they need with their family, but the financial support to ensure they can make their family a priority for as long as necessary.

“I will continue to push the Government’s new cross-departmental bereavement group to put bereaved families front and centre, so no one is without the support they need when they need it.”

Ann Davies, Plaid Cymru MP for Caerfyrddin, said: “Each child is a lost potential, a lost future, and I can only begin to imagine the pain that you all have been through.

“My hope and prayer is that you all have time to live with and love your children without financial worry. That we can support you in the most basic and practical way to remain with your child at their most vulnerable time.”

A “walk in our shoes” event is also taking place in Liverpool.