Asda is to introduce further family leave benefits for its employees as it aims to increase the support available for its 140,000 employees across its stores.

One of the new policies is an increased maternity and adoption leave pay, which has gone up to 26 weeks from the initial 12 weeks before.

Additionally, the supermarket giant doubled its paternity leave and now offers its staff four weeks of fully paid leave, as well as expanding the paternity leave to include secondary carers.

As part of the new benefits, the supermarket giant will also offer 26 weeks of paid leave for employees acting as the primary caretaker for other children.

The supermarket is also improving its support for staff members that go through pregnancy loss; new policies also offer two weeks paid for staff members who experience pregnancy loss before 24 weeks.

Subscribe to Grocery Gazette for free

Sign up here to get the latest grocery and food news each morning

Helen Selby, General Counsel & Interim Chief People Officer at Asda, said: “We’re proud to be introducing new and enhanced family-friendly policies, which underline our commitment to fostering an inclusive and colleague-focused workplace.

“We want our colleagues to feel supported during some of the most important—and occasionally most challenging—moments in their lives. These changes further build on the progress we’ve made over the last year in supporting the beating heart of our business—our fantastic colleagues.”

These added benefits build on Asda’s commitment to improving staff livelihood, previously investing £80m in retail pay in March to increase the hourly rates for in-store staff.

Jayne Allport, Usdaw National Officer added: “Following ongoing discussions between Asda and Usdaw, we are pleased that the company has committed to providing valuable, additional support for our members when they need it most.”

The new developments come after Asda introduced neonatal care leave in November last year, which allows staff to receive up to 12 weeks of paid leave if their baby needs post-birth treatment.