Parents who experience a miscarriage before 24 weeks of pregnancy will be entitled to bereavement leave under a planned law change.

The government is set to amend the Employment Rights Bill to give parents the legal right to take time off work to grieve if they experience pregnancy loss at any stage.

As it stands, bereavement leave is only available to parents who lose an unborn child after 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said the change will give “people time away from work to grieve”.

“No one who is going through the heartbreak of pregnancy loss should have to go back to work before they are ready,” Rayner said.

Parents are currently entitled to a fortnight’s leave if they suffer pregnancy loss after 24 weeks, or if a child younger than 18 dies.

The extended right to leave will be for “at least” one week, though the exact length is still being consulted on.

The Employment Rights Bill, which includes further measures to protect in law the right of employees to have time off to grieve the loss of a loved one, is already making its way through Parliament.

Labour MP Sarah Owen, who chairs the Women and Equalities Committee, has previously campaigned for the change.

In 2021, she told MPs that after her own miscarriage she felt physically better in a few days but had “all the classic signs” of grieving.

“I could not eat, I could not sleep. I really did not hold much hope that life would ever get brighter,” she said.

In March, business minister Justin Madders told MPs he accepted the principle of bereavement leave for pregnancy loss and promised to look at adding the right to the Employment Rights Bill.

Vicki Robinson, chief executive of the Miscarriage Association, welcomed the announcement.

She said it was “a hugely important step that acknowledges the often very significant impact of pre-24-week loss, not only for those experiencing the physical loss, but for their partners too”.

Early years teachers in England will be offered tax-free payments of £4,500 to work in nurseries in disadvantaged areas as part of government efforts to boost standards.

The incentives are designed to attract and retain fully qualified staff in 20 areas, the education department said on Monday without confirming exactly which places would benefit.

The scheme is part of a wider strategy designed to narrow the attainment gap among pre-school children due to be unveiled on Monday.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the plans would “help give our youngest children the very best start in life” – but the Conservatives said Labour’s tax changes had hit nurseries hard.

The government said it would spend £1.5 billion on its so-called Best Start in Life strategy, which builds on Labour’s campaign pledge to reform services for the youngest children in order to drive up education and health standards.

The education department said only one in 10 nurseries currently have a specialist early years teacher.

The direct payments to trained teachers are intended to incentivise staff to work in areas with the most acute needs.

Payments will begin next year, though no details about the eligibility criteria have been published.

Also included in the package of reforms is a proposal to increase the number of Ofsted inspection nurseries undergo, including ensuring all new providers are assessed within 18 months.

Announcing the plans, Phillipson said “the best way of reducing inequalities is by tackling them early”.

On Sunday, the government also said it would fund new local hubs to offer youth services and support for parents, which are modelled on the Sure Start centres set up under the New Labour government and largely closed after 2010.

Neil Leith of the Early Years Alliance said the early years announcement was a “positive development” but warned the strategy would only work “if it is backed up with the tangible support – financial or otherwise”.

Shadow education minister Neil O’Brien said that an increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions had left nurseries across the country “on the brink”.

Some have had to “hike fees or shut their doors”, he said, adding: “Families are being left to face higher childcare costs and fewer places.”

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