Following the death of his six-year-old son Hugh in 2021, PGA professional and golf club co-owner Ceri Menai-Davis is hoping to change employment law so that parents are offered more protection if their child becomes critically ill.
Ceri and his wife Frances run the charity It’s Never You, dedicated to supporting parents whose lives are turned upside down by a child’s life-threatening illness. The charity has raised over £500,000 to date, providing emotional and financial support to hundreds of families.
Most recently, Ceri raised £38,000 by walking the 2025 London Marathon carrying a 20kg rucksack, the weight Hugh was when he passed away with the names of 450 children affected by cancer stitched into it.
But Ceri’s mission didn’t stop there. Over the past three years, he has become one of the most vocal advocates in Westminster for employment rights reform. Since 2023, he has spearheaded the campaign for Hugh’s Law, a proposed change to UK employment legislation that would give parents of critically ill children day one paid leave and job protection.
Currently, there is no legal right to take paid time off when your child is diagnosed with a life-threatening condition, leaving many parents forced to quit their jobs, rely on food banks, or fall into debt during the most traumatic time of their lives.
At the heart of the campaign is a call for urgent legal reform. Under current law, parents must rely on unpaid Carer’s Leave, capped at just one week per year and entirely at the employer’s discretion.
“Parents shouldn’t have to choose between going to work or staying by their child’s bedside in hospital,” said Menai-Davis. “But the current system forces them to make that choice.”
Unlike maternity, paternity, adoption, and neonatal leave, there is no employment right that recognises the specific and urgent needs of parents when a child becomes seriously ill. Disability benefits such as DLA are delayed by a 90-day qualification period, with many families waiting up to 20 weeks after that for payment. Universal Credit, meanwhile, excludes many working parents due to strict means testing.
“A child’s illness doesn’t wait for eligibility windows or paperwork,” Ceri added. “Hugh’s Law is about dignity, equality, and common sense.”
In 2024, a Private Members’ Bill for Hugh’s Law reached its second reading in parliament, championed by Sir Oliver Heald. The then Minister for Employment Jo Churchill publicly asked for the bill to be withdrawn so the government could begin work on a formal proposal.
Since then, Ceri has worked with his new MP Chris Hinchliff, held multiple meetings with Minister for Disability and Social Care Sir Stephen Timms, and received words of support from the prime minister at PMQs. In March 2025, Hugh’s Law was the focus of a dedicated Westminster Hall debate after a cross party letter with 80 MPs asked for the reform, drawing attention from across the political spectrum.
Most recently, the campaign took a major step forward as Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson tabled an amendment to the Employment Rights Bill in the House of Lords on behalf of Ceri and Frances. If passed, it would enshrine a new statutory right to leave and pay for parents facing critical childhood illness, bringing the law in line with existing protections such as Neonatal Care Leave.
“We support parents when their baby is born prematurely and rightly so,” said Menai-Davis. “But if that same child is diagnosed with cancer a few months later, the support disappears. That’s a legal and moral contradiction and it’s costing families everything. My fear is that golf professionals and others in this industry may one day find themselves in the same position we were, with no support. I’m trying to change that.”
Ceri is an AGMS graduate of the University of Birmingham, and alongside his family runs two of the UK’s most progressive golf venues: The Shire London and The Inspiration Club. But he says the campaign for Hugh’s Law is now his life’s work.
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