Business Masters 2019: chosen charity revealed
TheBusinessDesk.com is proud to announce our chosen charity for our forthcoming Business Masters Awards, to be held on 4 April at the Crowne Plaza in Nottingham.
Forever Stars is dedicated to supporting families who’ve suffered a stillbirth or infant loss.
Richard Daniels founded Forever Stars with his wife Michelle when they were dealt one of life’s hardest blows when their beautiful daughter Emily was stillborn.
Together, they now work tirelessly to raise the necessary funds to build facilities and to improve care for parents who also find their precious child has gone too soon.
Forever Stars an East Midlands-based charity which is dedicated to supporting families who’ve suffered a stillbirth or infant loss, has called upon the region’s businesses to take a lead on the sensitive subject of bereavement leave ahead of the legislation’s introduction in 2020.
Late in 2018, the government confirmed that parents and primary carers who suffer the loss of a child will be entitled to at least two weeks’ paid parental bereavement leave.
Richard sat down with TheBusinessDesk.com editor Sam Metcalf to explain the situation and to talk about a subject that many find hugely difficult to discuss, especially in the workplace.
He said: “My wife Michelle and I were dealt one of life’s hardest blows when our beautiful daughter Emily was stillborn. After processing our personal grief, we now strive to provide facilities and on-going resources to support bereaved families in order to help them come to terms with their loss in a healthy environment that both enables the family to move forward and embrace the memory of their baby.
“One of the biggest challenges is that quite understandably, people do not talk about this hugely emotional subject and so its prevalence is somewhat under the radar, even considering that everyday in the UK, 15 babies die before or during birth and every 90 minutes, a family has to endure the devastation of losing a child.
“Obviously, it isn’t something that one easily brings up at work or if it is known, it is often tiptoed around for fear of causing further grief or offence. So we welcome the news on this legislation which has been hard won by a lot of very committed campaigners which will raise awareness whilst giving people that much-needed break under times of huge emotional turmoil.
“However, ahead of the official start in 2020, we’d love to see businesses in the region start to adopt these principles earlier. If they can’t, maybe start thinking about how they can prepare and make small changes now that could make a huge difference to their employees in the near and longer-term future.”
Under the new legislation, parents or carers will be entitled to at least two weeks’ leave following the loss of a child under the age of 18 or a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy.
Employees with 26 weeks’ continuous service will receive paid leave at the statutory rate and other staff will be entitled to unpaid leave.
Richard added: “As a charity, we want Nottingham and the region to be seen as beacons of excellence in this area. We want to have the best facilities, the best working environments and to lead the conversation on a subject that is understandably not often discussed. That’s why our major project, the Remembrance Garden launched under our #ForeverInBloom appeal this time last year is so critical. It is not only a place to reflect and remember, it is a symbol of something that we need to talk about more and not be afraid to ask more questions about.
“Our role as a charity is to raise awareness and funds for that massive project, the role of businesses is to take a look at how they can offer the best support possible to their employees. I’d implore any business owners reading this that feel they might benefit from a chat with us about how they can address this very sensitive area to get in touch with us. We’d be delighted to talk to them.”
