If your baby dies before birth, no one independent investigates.
If the same baby takes one breath, they do.
This is a legal gap, not a clinical one.
Extend coronial investigation to stillbirths where concerns about care exist.
What you can do now
Ask your MP why this still hasn’t been fixed
Share this site
The injustice in 30 seconds
Stillbirths are not investigated by coroners
Neonatal deaths are
The difference can be seconds
The law has allowed for change since 2019
It still hasn’t happened - seven years on
Learn more
In 2019, Parliament required the Government to report on whether coroners should investigate stillbirths.
More than seven years later, that report has still not been published.
Seven years on, families are still waiting.
This campaign focuses on stillbirth, coronial oversight, and the lack of coroner investigation in baby deaths in the UK.
At present, whether a baby’s death can be independently investigated by a coroner may depend on whether the baby took a breath.
In England and Wales, coroners can investigate the death of a baby who is born alive and dies shortly afterwards. But if the same baby is stillborn, a coroner has no jurisdiction.
This leaves an investigation gap at the point families most need independent scrutiny: where serious concerns about care may exist, but no independent authority can examine what happened.
Parliament recognised this gap in the Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration etc.) Act 2019
"An Act to make provision about the registration of marriage; to make provision for the extension of civil partnerships to couples not of the same sex; to make provision for a report on the registration of pregnancy loss; to make provision about the investigation of still-births; and for connected purposes."
Section 4 requires the Government to report on whether coroners should have powers to investigate stillbirths.
More than seven years later, that report has still not been published.
Parliament required the Government to address this issue in 2019.
Families affected by stillbirth are still waiting for that answer.
Until that report is published and acted upon, families affected by stillbirth remain without access to independent coronial investigation.
Same harm should mean the same access to justice.
The difference can come down to a single breath.
Call for independent coronial investigation after stillbirth
Extend coronial investigation to stillbirths where concerns about care exist.
Explore the issue:
About
The problem
The law
The change
The timeline
The briefing
One day from justice
The resources
Media
Contact
What can you do?
Read the 2-minute briefing
Write to your MP
Share this site