We have been involved in raising the profile of end of life care (which contributed to the Government publishing the first-ever national commitment on end of life care and sharing our expertise about the impacts of bereavement on people’s lives.

For further information or requests for parliamentary briefings please get in touch at campaigns@suerydercare.org

Key activities include:

• Hosting an event in Parliament to launch our research report A better route through grief: Support for people facing grief across the UK. The event was chaired by Dr Rima Makarem, our Chair of Trustees and we heard speeches from the panel which included, Dr Rosena Allin-Khan MP (Shadow Minister for Mental Health), Clover Stroud (author, journalist and Sue Ryder Ambassador), Dr Julian Abel (Director of Compassionate Communities UK) and Bianca Neumann (Head of Bereavement at Sue Ryder).
• Worked with the sector, including Marie Curie, Hospice UK, Together for Short Lives and Alzheimer's Society, to campaign for palliative care services to be considered in the Health and Care Bill. We were delighted that when the Bill passed it included an amendment that makes it a legal requirement for all Integrated Care Boards to commission appropriate palliative services in England.
• Campaigning for the government to end the funding crisis facing the independent hospice sector and commit to covering 70% of the costs of specialist palliative care provision. Our research shows hospices will be required to fundraise almost £600 million each year in order to stay open and meet the increasing demand for our care over the next decade. To ensure these vital services can continue to support all those who need it, we exhibited at the Conservative and Labour Party Conferences, calling on MPs to urgently commit to an increase in statutory funding in order to properly #FundHospiceCare (September 2021).
• Advocating for the government to introduce statutory bereavement leave for all employees for the loss of a close relative or partner. Currently in the UK, there is no statutory right to paid leave, leaving potentially thousands of workers unprotected. Our research shows workplace grief costs the UK economy £23 billion per year but this cost could be significantly mitigated by ensuring workers have time off to grieve.
• In Scotland, we worked with a wide coalition of organisations to develop Scotland’s Bereavement Charter (May 2020) which is being taken forward to enable anyone who is grieving to feel supported in their grief.