Sudden Unexpected Death in Childhood

Sally Jameson Excerpts

Tuesday 24th March 2026 Westminster Hall

[Sally Jameson (Doncaster Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir John. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Andy MacNae) for securing this important debate.

I pay tribute to my constituents Nathan and Fiona Robinson, whose son Alfie tragically passed away. I first met them before I was elected, and I have since met them again and heard their story. I am standing here today to speak on their behalf, and on behalf of other families who have suffered the same. I want to endorse everything that has been said in today’s debate—I will not repeat a lot of it, due to the time limit. I have some specific asks over and above those from SUDC UK, which are incredibly important and which I endorse; but based on Nathan and Fiona’s experience, I want to make sure that their voices and asks are also heard.

First, I ask the Minister to consider working with the Department for Business and Trade on expanding bereavement pay. Fiona had to return to work only two weeks after her son passed away. I know that the Department is looking at bereavement pay very closely as part of its review, but if the Health Minister could also contribute it would add extra weight, emphasising how important that is.

Fiona had to return to work prior to Alfie’s funeral and then had to take just a single day of annual leave to attend it. I think we can all agree that, in such horrific circumstances, that is not an acceptable position. I hope that the Government will consider intervening on this as part of the review. It is so important, because families often have to wait six to eight weeks for a post-mortem. That they should have to return to work before they have had that outcome is something we can no longer accept.

Secondly, as we have heard today, police training can often be quite patchy. We all accept that the police have a job to do, but it is so important that there is a dedicated family liaison officer, so that in the initial moments, hours, days and weeks, families are properly supported by the police. It is important to have someone there who can deliver difficult news and factual information in a sensitive way for the people who are suffering—whether that is graphic coroner’s phone calls or anything else. I hope the Minister will consider working with the Home Office and the Policing Minister to deliver a more holistic approach to how families are treated in the early days and weeks of this unimaginable loss.

Thirdly, Nathan and Fiona relayed to me that they would like to see better training in schools, and even a dedicated teacher or teaching assistant in every school who is trained to support a child if they have a sibling who passes away in these circumstances. Again, that support can be quite patchy, based on whether the school has a teacher, teaching assistant or member of staff who has similar experience or training in dealing with this issue. It is such a small change, which would not cost a lot of money but would make such a big difference to families who suffer with child loss.

Inquest dates have already been covered by other Members, but Nathan and Fiona had to wait more than six months for an inquest, which is completely agonising. That gets added on to the other things I have raised, about the need for better police liaison and having to return to work after two weeks, which means having to continue with life while waiting that long for an inquest. I really think we can do better than that.

I pay tribute to Nathan and Fiona for sharing their story with me, and all the families in the Public Gallery today. It is incredibly brave and it takes a huge amount of strength to share stories like theirs. I hope that the Minister will see today as a new dawn and the start of change in this area, to help families today and in the future.